Bethel College - Graymaroon Yearbook (North Newton, KS)

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papers that were to be placed in the cor- nerstone. In a leaden box were placed the Bethel Charter, the First Annual Report of the Bethel Board of Directors, in both Eng- lish and German, the roster of the member- ship of the Bethel College Corperation, the roster of the subscribers to the Bethel Col- lege building and other funds, various printed matter relating to Bethel College. A copy of the Resolutions of the General Conference from its beginning to date, copies of various publications such as the Bundestate, Kinder-Bore, Newton An- zeiger, and Newton Republican, the con- stitution of the First Mennonite Church of Newton, a report of the Mennonite Arapa- hoe and Cheyenne Mission, and the roster of the woman ' s society. The ceremony was dismissed soon after the box had been placed in the cornerstone. For one and a half years after the corner- stone had been laid, the building stood un- touched and sceptics called it ein Denkmal echtMennonitscher Dumheit (a monument to Mennonite stupidity). ' Al- though the Mennonites received much rid- icule, they did not lose sight of their goal and in 1 890, the construction of the Proud- foot and Bird designed building was re- sumed. The original plans, however, had to be changed somewhat to allow suffi- cient funds to complete it. One story was cut off, the spire was dropped, and the main entrance to the west was aban- donded. These revisions reduced the cost from $50,000 to $35,000, and three years later on September 20, 1893, Bethel ' s doors were opened for dedicatory ser- vices. The dedication day meant that the Mennonite dream for higher education was finally being realized. It was a day of celebration, not only for the Mennonites, but also for the town of Newton. The New- ton Daily Republican reported, ' The ' 4 . , - The first library was a small room on the second floor of the finished Proudfoot and Bird designed building. Because learning in those days was catechetical, library assignments played a minor role so it was not important to have a large, well indexed library. However, as learning methods changed, the small library did begin to cause problems; therefore, as de- mand on the library increased, it began to expand. In 1893, there were only a few volumes of books, but by 1899, it was reported that the library had 1,080 books, all donated and the in- crease caused space problems. Besides being small, the library had other problems. One was the amount of time that stu- dents could use it. Because male and female were not allowed to use the library at the same time, they alternated nightly. This situatuion was found to be less than satisfactory as there was not sufficient time allowed to complete library assignments. Although many complaints were made to the board, the rule was not changed during the first year. The rules finally did change to allow more time for study. The library also began to im- prove in quality and increase in size. A room was opened in the basement for storage of books, and in 1 906, it was moved to the northeast room on the main floor which is now occu- pied by the President. The library remained in the Administration Building until 1952 when the 30,000 volumes were moved to the new library. building can be seen for miles. . . , That a successful year is in store for Bethel Col- lege and a brilliant future is assured by the very auspicious beginning. . . . The citi- zens are loyal to the institution and will ever be ready to advertise it, and lend whatever assistence that is within their power. That the institution will grow and prosper in Newton, no one doubts. When the College opened, the faculty consisted of six men. The first President, C. hi. Wedel, began his administration. He originally took the job as principal pro tem, but ended up holding the job until his death in 1910. He had graduated from McKendree College in Lebennon, Illinois and Bloomfield (New jersey) Theological Seminary. In his letter of aceptance, he said that his greatest joy is to instruct youth in the truths of the Bible, and his greatest satisfaction to direct them to the Source of Highest Wisdom. Because of his vast learning and his joy of teaching, he was very popular and was respected by all who knew him. ' The other five men to serve on the original faculty were G. A . Haury, B.A. Lehman, H. D. Penner, B. F. Welty, and David Goerz. The educational goals of Bethel Col- lege were aimed toward religion and lib- eral arts in order to serve the Mennonite church religiously and to supply knowl- edge in all fields of knowledge. ' There- fore, the curriculum that first year was set to cover the major fields of knowledge which were English, foreign languages, history, mathematics, natural sciences, and religion. The curriculum was broken down as follows: English, 30 hours; for- eign languages, 27 hours; mathematics, 25 hours; Bible, 24 hours; natural sciences, 21 hours; German, 29 hours; history, 13 hours. Of a total of 170 hours taught weekly, 110 hour were taught in English and 60 hours taught in German. The hours of English compared to the hours of Ger- man were set up to stress English but not to neglect German. By 1903, it was evident that Bethel was serving the Mennonite Church. Of the 631 students enrolled during the first de- cade, 112 had taken up the teaching pro- fession, and 24 had become ministers, missionaries, and evangelists. ' Bethel however, had only academy status and did notofferany type of degree, but in 1910, it became evident that Bethel would have to expand due to much student as well as fac- ulty pressure. Therefore, it was decided that Bethel should become a four-year col- lege during the 1910-11 school year, even- tually to become accredited in 1916. 1910 also marked the year the first A.B. degress were offered, and the first to graduate were the class of 1912 which consisted of M.J. Galle, F.J. Isaac, J.C. Klieweer, A.J. Regier,

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The above picture is of the completed Proudfoot and Birdbuilding. The building looked like a monument that had grown out of the prairie and could be seen for miles. Although the landscape around the building was barren, efforts to beautify the campus immediately took place as trees and grass were planted. the business manager and was also elected pastor of the Bethel Congregation at Bethel College. Goerz died on May 14, 1914 in Los Angeles where he had gone in attempt to regain his health. J.J.Krehbie! also played a large role in the founding of Bethel. Krehbiel was a wa- gon maker by trade who had moved from Denmark, Iowa in 1879. He was ap- pointed by the Kansas Conference of Mennonites to accept the invitation of Newton to build a college there. He was the first to pledge a $1,000 gift to Bethel and was the first president of the board of trustees where he served for Bethel ' s first twenty years. Even after he refused to ac- cept re-election in 1906, Krehbiel contin- ued to serve Bethel until his death in 1 921 . Bernard Warkentin was the first of the three to drop active connection to Bethel. He served fifteen years on the board of directors as treasurer an refused re-election in 1903. Warkentine was a liberal contrib- utor to the college andhei great business sense proved to be invaluable to Bethel during the early years. He remained a sup- porter of Bethel after 1 903 until he was ac- cidentally shot and killed in Syria while on a world tour in 1908. On August 2, 1887, the board chose the site for the college building. The site was named Mt. Hebron because it was slightly elevated above the rest of the prairie, and after floor plans by William T. Proudfoot and George W. Bird were ap- proved on October 20, construction of the building began in December of 1887. Pro- gress on the building, however, was slow. Before a year had passed, the Mennonites were out of money, and not wanting to go into debt, building was halted until funds could be raised. The shortage of money was due to the fact that the donated real es- tate that was to be sold was not selling well and the lots that did sell brought less money than had been originally estimated. The cash subscriptions were also com|ing ilh slowly. According to a statement by D. Goerz, of the offer of Newton, only about $10,000 in cash have been realized, the balance of the building fund ($50,000) has been raised by the Mennonites them- selves. ' The shortage of money made it impossible to complete the building on schedule, but because the basement had been completed, the board decided to go ahead and hold a cornerstone laying fes- tival. Subsequently, Goerz made a trip to the eastern United States in order to raise money and came back with $10,000. Within two months, over half of the $50,000 had been raised. Thus, the cornerstone laying festival was held on October 12, 1888, and it was at this event that S. F. Sprunger, in his dedi- catory sermon, used the Bethel College motto for his text. The motto is I Cor. 3:11: Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. ' This also was the favorite text of Menno Si- mons, early Mennonite leader. After the dedicatory sermon, the cornerstone laying ceremony took place. It was officiated by A. B. Shelly who, after making a few re- marks and giving a prayer, asked for the

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On the Bethel College seal are the words Faith, Hope, and Charity, three words that were very important to the early Kansas Mennonites. They moved to the United States on the faith and hope that life would be better than in Russia. Likewise, they founded Bethel College on faith and hope. The seal also has the Bethel College motto, Other foundation can no man lay than that which is Jesus Christ from I Corinthians 3:2. The motto was also one of the favorite :exts of Menno Simons (c. 1496-1561) for whom the Mennonites were named. Serving from 1893-1910, Corne- lius H. Wedel was Bethel ' s first President. Rather than do ad- ministration work, Wedel would have preferred the quiet life of a scholar, but on the urgent request from the board of directors, he ac- cepted the call to service. Wedel was devoted to his field of bible studies and was able to inspire many with his enthusiasm for learning. Wedel remained at Bethel until his death in 1910. J.M. Regier, and P.R. Schroeder. The 1912 commencement, besides giving the first A.B. degrees of the college, also set a new precedent on procedure. ; Instead of ora- tions being given by the senior class, there was a commencement speaker who spoke in English. The first was President N.E. Byers of Goshen College. A comnhence- ment speaker has been the custom since 1912. Thus, by 1912, after two decades of being an academy designed to keep Mennonite youth within the church, Bethel College was taking steps towards being an accredited college. Although a few Bethel supporters raised a question of Bethel becoming a Bible college, the main push was toward liberal arts, a tradition around which Bethel developed Steps taken in 1910 were significant because they set Bethel in motion toward an insti- tute of higher learning which has contin- ued to prosper. Peter J. Wedel, The Story of Bethel Col- lege (North Newton: The Mennonite Press 1954), p. 6. Bryan Reber, Founding of Bethel College Was Result of Dreams in Newton ' s Optimistic 80s, Mennonite Weekly Review May 21, 1987, p. 6. ' Wedel, p. 46. Ibi-d., p. 52. ' Bryan Reber, Bethel College Bulletin April, 1987, p. 1. •■Wedel, p. 56. ' ibid., p. 61. ibid., pp. 61-62. ' Ibid., p. 75. ' ibid., p. 87. Ibid., p. 81. ' -James C. Juhnke, Dialogue with a Heri- tage: Cornelius H. Wedel and the Beginnings of Bethel College North Newton; Bethel Col- lege, 1987. Keith Sprunger, Histor ' , Bethel College 1986-1988 Catalog p. 5. ' William Vandever, The Education of Teachers at Bethel College in Kansas, Bethel College Bulletin March 1987, p. 5. For their help in choosing the pictures on both the history and division pages, the MLA, espe- cially Rosemary Moyer, deserves a special thanks. Keith Sprunger is also acknowledged for his advise on the history.