Bethel College - Graymaroon Yearbook (North Newton, KS)

Page 9 text:

down the Seminary at the close of the 1 892-93 school that would be in line with the Mennonite church. A major factor in the founding of Bethel College was an economic boom in the 1880s, especially in real estate. The boom caused much investment within Newton, a town which had grown rapidly from its beginning in 1871 . From May until August of its first year, it grew from three to 2,000 people which was quite pheno- menomla. The growth continued and the future looked bright. Headlines in The Newton Republican give some indication of the optimism of the time. ' A steady, A Strong, A Continual Growth— More to Come— Everything to Encourage Us ' and Newton May Become the Interior Me- tropolis of the Country ' were two of the op- timistic headlines. During this period, the foundations of many colleges were laid including South- western College at Winfield, Kansas Wes- leyan at Salina, and Bethany at Lindsborg which were all founded in 1886. Sterling College opened in 1887, McPherson Col- lege in 1888, and Fairmount College at Wichita in 1892. Many other colleges as well were begun but could not survive the beginning steps. With colleges springing up everywhere, Newton also decided to make a bid for a college and offered the Mennonites $100,000 ($15,000 in cash and real estate valued at $85,000) on the condition that they would establish a per- manent college north of the city. The offer seemed quite attractive, but the Kansas Conference of the Mennonites could not decide if they should accept the offer because they felt they could not cope with the problems that may arise. It was at this point that David Goerz, the primary leader for founding the college, suggested forming a private organization which ).J. Krehbiel, a wagon maker by trade, was also a co-founder of Bethel. Krehbiel accepted the invitation from Newton businessmen to build a college north of town. Krehbiel was the sec- ond of the three to withdraw from serving Bethel, Warkentin being the first. He withdrew in 1906 from being president of the board where he had served for fiffteen years. His absence from the board was noted by Goerz in a letter to another board member in 1906 which was tinged with a note of sadness. I am now the only remaining member of the original board and i too will soon have to pack and be off. Upon Krehbiel ' s resignation, he was made an honorary member of the board for life by unanimous vote of the Bethel Cor- poration. Krehbiel continued to attend board meetings for years afterward where he gave advise when needed. would take the responsibility to build and maintain the college. If the college failed, the private organization would take the blame, and if it succeeded, the conference would reap the benefits and have the credit. This suggestion was immediately favored by the conference delagates, and thirty-three people signed the charter to es- tablish Bethel College. On May 23, 1887, the charter was filed with the Secretary of State stating the purpose as: The building and maintaining of a college in the in- terest of higher Christian education under the auspices of the Mennonite Church of North America. The firjst board of direc- tors named on the charter consisted of Jo- han J. Krehbiel, B. Warkentin, David Goerz, H.H. Ewert, D.C. Ruth, Abraham Quiring, C.R. McLain, J.M. Ragsdale, and A.B. Gilbert. Of the first board of directors, the three principal Mennonite founders were David Goerz, Johan j. Krehbiel, and Bernhard Warkentin. Of these, the one who pro- vided the most leadership was David Goerz. Goerz was born on June 2, 1849 near Berdyansk, South Russia, While in Russia, he was good friends with Bernhard Warkentin and kept contact with Warken- tin after he moved to the United States in 1872. Goerz came to New York in 1874, and after a short stop in Summerfield 111., he proceeded to Halstead in 1875. ' Goerz became active in setting up Mennonite education institutions. He played a large role in the Emmental school and also played a key role as secretary of the Hal- stead College Association when it was founded. After the chartering of Bethel College, Goerz served as secretary and was the principal fundraiser for Bethel. He continued to serve Bethel until 1909 when he was granted release due to his failing health. During his stay at Bethel, he was David Goerz, a Russian immigrant in 1874, is considered to be the founder of Bethel be- cause of the heavy burden of leadership he carried during the founding. At the point when it seemed that the plans for Bethel would not be carried out, he suggested that a corporation be formed which would be responsible for building and maintaining the college. If the college failed, the corporation would take the blame, but if it succeeded, the Mennonites would reap the benefits. Goerz continued to provide leadership to Bethel until 1909 when his failing health forced him to take an indefi- nite leave of absence. Goerz was born in 1849 and died in 1914. Bernhard Warkentin was a co-founder of Bethel College. Originally from South Russia, he came to the United States in 1872 and eventually to Halstead where he set up his grain mill. Warkentin played an important role in setting up the Halstead Seminary in 1883 and Bethel College in 1887. Warkentin served on the board of directors from 1887-1903 and was a liberal supporter of Bethel during its early years. Warkentin remained a friend of Bethel for life.

Page 8 text:

THE FOUNDING OF BETHEL COLLEGE By Darrel Knoll The need for higher learning among the Mennonites of Kansas who immigrated to the United States in 1874 led to the chartering of Bethel College on May 23, 1887. Bethel College was the third school set up by the Kansas Mennonites pre- ceeded by the Emmental school in 1882, which moved to Halstead in 1 883, and be- came the Halstead Seminary. Both schools were efforts at better education, but did not quite meet the needs of the students. The result was the founding of a college which was to operate side by side with the Halstead Seminary whose purpose would be to prepare students for college. The Mennonites soon realized, however, that keeping both schools was too costly, so Halstead was closed and the task of educa- tion was left to Bethel College which opened its doors at Newton on September 20, 1893. In order to fully understand the faith and hope that was instrumental in found- ing a college, it is important to have some understanding of the hardships encoun- tered by the Mennonites. The branch of Mennonites who immagrated to Kansas were mostly from Russia but were not Rus- sian. Their original home was Holland, but they had left under severe persecution for Prussia. In Prussia (later Germany) their sit- uation improved, but they were not al- The Halstead Seminary was incorporated on May 5, 1883 and remained in session until 1893 when Bethel opened its doors. The school offered liberal-arts training, and the subjects were taught in both German and English. In the above picture, the students and teachers of the seminary are show n. They were: (seated in foreground) H.H. Ewert and Samuel Burkholder. (Front row left to right) David Toews, W.J. Magaw, C.E, Krehbiel, Ben Ewert, Japhet Amstutz, Simon Burchy, F.N. Funk, J.H. Eigsti, |oel Sprunger, H.E. Bergtholdt, P.J. Wedel, Gerhard Baergen, Cornelius Wall, William Wiegand, Margaretha Andres, and Margaretha Regier. lowed to h ave their own schools and could not worship freely. In 1786, however, Catherine the Great of Russia invited them to settle in the Ukraine of Russia, and of- fered them a better life than they had expe- rienced anywhere. Each family was promised a tract of land, and they were al- lowed to maintain their own schools and churches, to have local government, to keep their native language, originally Dutch but by now German, and to be ex- empted from military service. ' It was here that the need for education began to be realized. The 1870s, however, brought bad news to the Russian Mennonites. The Rus- sian government decided to Russianize all German immigrants who had entered Rus- sia under the offers of the previous monarchs. As a result, many Mennonites chose to move because the changes would not allow them to practice pacifism. In 1872, a committee visited Kansas, and by 1874, the Santa Fe Railroad was bringing Mennonites to Kansas. Within three years, plans for education were being made in or- der to help them integrate into the Ameri- can society. The first official Mennonite school of Kansas began in 1882, but dunng its first year, it was found that it was too small and not adequately prepared. Thus, plans were made for the Halstead Seminary. The Hal- stead College Association, with Bernard Warkentin as president and David Goerz as secretary was incorporated on May 5, 1883. It was dedicated later in the same year on September 16, 1883 and was opened for use. The purpose of the school was to prepare teachers for common schools, for college entrance, and to offer a liberal-arts training. The courses were out- lined for the students and were taught in both English and German. The seminary, however, faced many problems such as at- tendence fluctuation, a shortage of money, a shortage of proper facilities, and a short- age of teachers. In 1 887, a movement was begun which was to meet the needs of not only the local church but the entire Menonite church of North America. It was decided by the Kansas Conference to close

Page 10 text:

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