Berea College - Chimes Yearbook (Berea, KY)

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A Hundred Years of Progress . . . Berea College aims to carry the opportunity for higher education to one of the finest stocks of original Americans that are found in this country. We all know that they are of the finest and most patriotic elements of the nation, and the splendid work that Berea College is doing among them is thoroughly deserving of all appreciation. — Warren G. Harding. This is a brief and, we hope not too inadequate history of a college and its presidents. THE FIRST BEREA SCHOOL HOUSE In 1853 Cassius M. Clay, with a view toward estab- lishing in this area a center of free speech, non-slave-hold- ing interests, began to dispose of his large tract of land in the region, which included present-day Berea. There was nothing here at the time except a dense thicket of brush which later went by the name of The Bresh. Even in succeeding years Principal Rogers ' son remarked that a man who stepped six feet off the bridle paths could not be seen. Meanwhile, a preacher by the name of John G. Fee had been teaching the doctrine of impartial love anywhere he could find a pulpit in the region along the Ohio River. It was this man who attracted the attention of Clay. So that Fee and his wife might be induced to make their home here, and perhaps to be the core of Clay ' s settlement, he offered Fee ten acres as a gift. Incidentally, these ten acres were not the first college property. Fee settled here sometime in 1854 and for a short while preached in the Old Glade Church. The following year, 1855, the first rude school house was built, but it must be remembered that Mr. Fee ' s early work was chiefly of an evangelical nature, The planting of new churches and the conversion of new souls ... Let us for a moment gather an impression of Fee the man. He was not a Hell-fire-and-damnation preacher. Rogers ' recollection of Fee ' s preaching was, His manner is calm but earnest, and grows in intensity as he proceeds, with shoulders thrown up and head bent forward. He makes his points clearly and quotes scripture for everyone of his propositions. And then there is the account of the famous Big Bend incident of 1858 where Fee went to conduct a service despite the warning of friends. In the middle of the meeting three men entered, and seizing Fee by the collar of his coat, dragged him to the door. Outside, dangling a rope before him, they swore he would be hanged unless he promised to leave the county and never return. Refusing to give such a promise, he and one of his companions were marched to the Kentucky River. At the bank of the river they took Fee ' s friend, ordered him to strip and flogged him with sycamore switches so that red welts showed on his back. Fee was threatened with five hundred times as much. When he remained adamant and refused, the mob mounted their horses and marched the two captives a short distance. Un- able to overcome Fee ' s firm stand, the mob left them.

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Jhe Centennial Chime A 1855- 1955 YEARBOOK OF BEREA COLLEGE S31 COLLEGE STATION BEREA. KENTUCKY Last spring five naive individuals sat together in the Hangout. We ' ll make it the best book ever. It will be something to keep to help remember How will we get enough money.. That will be no trouble... It will not be too hard. Tie will not make the seme mistakes of years past.... Now five tired but wiser people work furiously to complete the last few pages. It has been hard work but not without its re- wards of a job done. TBe learned much that is involved in col- lecting, arranging, and producing material suitable for a year- book. This year ' s book is the result of a pioneering experience into the field of offset printing. Vie think it is rather appropriate for the commemoration of a school that is a pioneer in its field. e, five haven ' t been in this thing lot of thanks to all the staff membe the CHIMES in print and in the hands tion of our thanks go to the people us.... Mattson ' s Studio for the clas for the cover page; the Yearbook Hou and binding of our book and for thei gled through our copy. V» ' e give our Pus sell Samr.ons and Dr. Elizabeth Pe the History. We will not forget the faculty members of The CHIMES Commi by ourselves. we owe a rs who have helped in getting of its readers. A large por- who have done business with s portraits and the picture se for the actual printing r patience with us as we strug appreciation to Mike Meth, ck for their help in compiling help that was given by the ttee . This book may not be like the one we imagined last spring, but it is our effort to present a token of BEREA ' S 100TH BIRTHDAY. DAVE ALLEN FERME DEMEY LOUISE PEACE ANN WILLIAMS ELIZABETH POTTER

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Still another aspect of Fee ' s personality can be seen in his break with Cassius M. Clay at a public meeting near Slate Lick on July 4, 1856. There is a little doubt that Fee had been countenanced, so to speak, by many men in the area due to Clay ' s power and prestige. Even so, realizing the protection which Clay gave him, Fee dared to maintain there was a higher law condemning slavery and that a man should break with the constitution and the courts when they declared slavery legal. Fee ' s public statement of his position caused the two men to go their separate ways. Notwithstanding these things, Fee became the patriarch of Berea and remained so until his death in 1901. The next consequential figure upon the Ridge was J. A. R. Rogers. He came in 1858 to a defenseless com- munity. It must be remembered that besides Fee ' s home and a few other houses, there was still nothing here. Thus Rogers and his wife toiled on with fifteen pupils. This was a strange and new experience for the young girl-wife, reared in the comforts of a Philadelphia home ... Let us not leave the impression that it was an unhappy year. Far from it! This was an adaptable couple who accepted the challenges of a man and wife, thoroughly steeped in a classical education, starting to teach fifteen pupils, many of whom could not yet read or write. Rogers ' liberal at- titude is shown, for example, in speaking of the hymns taught these children. Perhaps some of the hymns would not bear criticism, but the simple truths they taught reach- ed the simple hearts ... By 1858 the idea of founding a college on the Ridge had grown until the moment was ripe for formal organi- zation. Consequently in the same year, a constitution was drawn up and signed by John G. Fee, J. A. R. Rogers, J. S. Davis, George Candee, William Strapp, John G. Hanson, John Smith, T. J. Renfro, and John Brunam, al- though it was not until 1866 that the new organization was incorporated. Between the writing of the constitution and the incorporation, the exile of the Bereans and the Civil War intervened. John Brown ' s raid at Harper ' s Ferry stirred the South and fear of slave insurrection was everywhere. Berea stood for liberty in a slave state, and soon the handful of citizens on the Ridge, who went entirely unarmed, became the center of rumors and suspicion in the minds of Kentucky people. Fee, in the East at the time, was thought to be raising John Browns for Kentucky. Another story afoot was that a shipment of smuggled guns had been intercepted on the way to Berea. The whole state of affairs culminated in an ensemble of sixty men serving notice on eleven Berea families to leave their homes in ten days or suffer the consequences. An appeal to the Governor failed, and The farewells were uttered and the exiles mounted their various vehicles to begin the march. They formed a motley but not dangerous pro- cession, these ' people who were a menace to Kentucky. ' Patriach, and babes in arms, a bride and groom, men and women in the prime of life, young people and children of all ages, moved slowly from the hill. Before the exile, the leaders of the school bargained for 109 acres of land on the Ridge and during the War, Fee raised the money with which to pay for the Wooline Purchase. The exiles did return, Rogers as early as 1862, and the real start, the real period of development for Berea College, was yet to begin. At this stage, in 1866, The college possessed 109 acres of uncleared woodlands, worth only a few dollars per acre, it had no endowment, no credit, no buildings of any kind. The years which followed were an attempt to remedy the situation, a remedy which be- -7—