American International College - Taper Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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I A XC I have but one lamp Iwf , X by which my feet are guided, ij i and that is the lamp of experience. I know of Q 5 ' no way of judging of the future but by the past. A . . . Patrick H y GRY GF AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

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l DR. CHESTER sTowE MCGOWN IN MEMORIAM For thirty-five years Dr. Chester Stowe McGown, as President of American Inter- national College, was a leader with a farsighted vision, meeting every new crisis with forti- tude and courage, but ever planning for a better college, one which would give a greater opportunity for college training to a greater number of deserving young men and women. Our college of today is the result of this prophetic vision. Dr. McGown was a friend and adviser to all, to the foreign student in a new and strange land, to those men and women whose college careers were interrupted by military service, to the faculty whose sacrifice of time and resources was repeatedly appreciated by him, and to the people of Springfield who knew him to be a man of high ideals. For his love of people, his sense of loyalty, his unselfish service to his fellow men, his sympathetic understanding of the problems of others, and his untiring devotion to the ideals for which American International College stands, Dr. McGown will always be held in the highest respect and esteem.

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l SAMUEL H. LEE CALVIN E. AMARON RAYMOND DEWITT MALLA Q1895-19085 0886-18933 fl908-1911, A man with a dream can go far, and a man with the convictions to back up that dream can go farther. Such a man was Calvin E. Amaron, son of a Swiss missionary living in the last century among the Laurentian hills of Canada. His mission in life was to help the French-Canadian people of his parish to a better and fuller life. And when his parish became the factory town of Lowell, Massachusetts, Calvin Amaron's mission remained unchanged, yet it extended far beyond the confines of his little Protestant church, for he had the founding of a school for his people as his greatest dream. So, in the year 1885, Reverend Amaron, with a group of six other ministers, signed the articles of incorpora- tion for an institution of higher learning, and on Sep- tember 18, 1885, a charter was granted to the French- Protestant College, of Lowell, Massachusetts. The group, headed by the chairman of the corpora- tion, Rev. john M. Greene, rented a house in Lowell, obtained a faculty of four, and with students number- ing no more than twenty-five, began the work that weighed so heavily in those beginning years. Funds were small and finances scarce, a total of only 55320 was all that the faculty received during that Hrst year. The second year, 1886, saw the inauguration of Cal- vin Amaron as the first president of the school, and the beginnings of a fund for the construction of a 315,000 building in memory of one of the founders, the late Reverend Owen Street. The third year of the school brought its removal to its present site in Springfield, Massachusetts. There had been an influx of French Canadians into that region, the interest in education was quite prevalent, and sub- scriptions of money were being received from people living in that area. These considerations, together with the fact that a lot worth 31,000 was offered to the Col- lege, prompted the decision to remove the College to Springfield. October, 1888, President Amaron, his two sisters and his nephew opened the school in a rented house on Wilbraham Avenue. There were thirteen students en- rolled. The City Hospital, located on the lot that had been donated, had been intended for use, but it was learned that the building could not be vacated until the following Spring. Construction was now begun on Owen Street Hall, and at the end of the first year in its new home, the College treasury held a balance of 31240. Fall of 1889 found Owen Street Hall ready for occu- pancy. Here were located rooms for the Chapel, the library, an administrative office, and classrooms. The students and some of the faculty lived in rooms on the upper floors. The former City Hospital, now also ready for use, became known as The Cottage. It held the din- ingroom, the laundry, and additional rooms for those members of faculty not housed in Owen Street Hall. Removal from Lowell brought a charter revision, and on May 15, 1890, the college was authorized to grant such honorary testimonials and confer such honor degrees and diplomas as are granted or conferred by any university, college, or seminary of learning in the Commonwealth. President Amaron, in progressively striving to bene- fit a larger group, initiated a drive for funds with which