Brigham Young University - Banyan Yearbook (Provo, UT)

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EARLY four decades have passed, since the 16th day of October, 1875, when the Brigham Young Academy, now the Brigham Young Uni- versity, held its opening session. Our first ten years were spent in Lewis Hall, a two-story brick building, which site is now occupied by the Farmers and Merchants ' Bank. Those who put time and money into the erection of that building had no idea that it would ever be used for a school. It was an amusement hall up stairs, with a stage at the end. Down stairs it was a dry goods store. When Dr. Maeser, with his two assistants, and his little band of earnest students, (the original twenty-nine), first invaded that build- ing, they made the amusement hall a house of prayer by day, and at night dedicated it to lectures and wholesome amusements. The curtain was retained and the stage converted into a class room. Accounts from early students tell us that mice and bats held high carnival there by night, and not infrequently during the day, some mouse, braver than his fellows, would sally forth to the dismay of the ladies and utter destruction of discipline of the school. But all this was of small moment for the great teacher was there, as also a class of students with whom large exchange of soul was possible. Every decade of the history of the institution has produced good and efficient business men, but the first decade is marked by the presence of these persons who are first among our statesmen, college presidents, and lawyers. Senator Reed Smoot and Senator George Sutherland are of this number, also Judge William H. King, who served in the lower house of Congress. James E. Talmage has stood as Chief Executive both of the L. D. S. Uni- versity and of the University of Utah. Dr. Benjamin Cluff, Jr., was the second president of the Brigham Young University, while Joseph M. Tanner served as president both of the B. Y. College, and the State Agricultural College, of Logan. George H. Brimhall is president of the Brigham Young University. Added to the names of the two eminent lawyers who have represented us in Congress we would add the names of Judge Scimuel R. Thurman and Judge Joshua Greenwood. The major part of the time of the second decade was spent in the Z. C. M. L Ware House, at the foot of Academy Avenue. Fire had consumed Lewis Hall and for a brief period we were homed in the basement of the old tabernacle cind in S. S. Jones ' store on Academy Avenue. But the Ware House became our permanent home — that strange rectangular building, without ornament or architectural design, built for a packing house, its red bricks dulled long ago by the smoke of passing engines. Partitions were placed within the building, that suitable rooms for devotional exercises and class recitations might be provided. Many will recall those old class rooms, with their white pine board partitions on three sides, and windows let in the sun in roughest possible manner. Nothing could present a greater contrast than the class room at the old Ware House, and the class room in the Maeser Memorial. At the Memorial every touch of wood and every window is an ornament ; at the Ware House every win- dow and every touch of wood shocked one ' s sense of finish. None ever there will 12

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forget how often the shriek of the railroad locomotive broke into the sequence and harmony of our class recitations. A marsh, close at hand, sometimes bearing cresses, which we added to our noon meal, at other times putting forth the harsh nettle, with which we stung both hands and feet, was our only campus. Gymnasium we had none. But those days are hallowed days, to the students of that time, for they brought hours of exaltation to both mind and spirit. The faculty was consid- erably enlarged. This second decade brought forth two groups of students, dis- tinguishing themselves particularly in medicine and mathematics. A group of five or six, who have turned to medicine, will be remembered by the students of that day, for of that number are Dr. George Middleton, Dr. Samuel H. Allen, and Dr. E. G. Gowans l !!8f| A «««s»- On the list of those inclined towards mathematics we shall place the names of Dr. Richard R. Lyman, head of the department of Civil Engineering, at the University of Utah, Caleb Tanner, State engineer for many years, and Professor Earnest D. Partridge and Professor Joseph L. Home. There are some other persons of this period who must not be passed by. First on the list is State Supt. A. C. Nelson, and in quick succession follow the names of B. S. Hinkley, of the Deseret Gymnasium, Salt Lake, Edwin S. Hinkley. dean of our College, and Prof. A. C. Lund who had done so much to make the next decade famous for musical artists. Before we had reached the third decade our first principal headed the pro- cession which led us triumphantly to our new home, on North Academy Avenue, the present High School Building. We were very proud of our new home. Here Dr. Maeser resigned and Dr. Benjamin Cluff, Jr., was made president. President Cluff ' s term expired two and one-half years before the completion of the third decade, and since that time Dr. Geo. H. Brimhall has been president. The school increased and expanded on all sides. Not one building but a group of buildings soon graced the campus, made lovely by the presence of trees and flowers both rare and beautiful. Things unknown before now became part of the school life and activity. Lit- erary contests, athletic contests, curt and manual training, and agriculture exhibi- tions, dramatic performances, and the presentation of operas, very unusual for a school of our years and experience, all became part of the regular regime. Teachers, preachers, and business men are found again upon the roll of honor. Some of their names are household words where the story of the institution ' s growth is told, for they are of the number who have contributed most gener- ously for our material comfort. The names of Jos. R. Murdock, Wm. J. Knight, Raymond Knight, W. L. Mangrum, Eugene R. Allen, Inez K. Allen and Jennie B. Knight are suggestive of this last group. Another group of physicians are noted, as also a group of college professors, but this third decade is conspicuous in our history for the artists. The names of Mrs. Fay Loose Stiehl and David Reese are given merely to suggest the noted group of soloists who came before and after Mabel Borg. William Hansen, Asael Nelson, Ralph Booth and Clarence Hawkins are of another group efficient in in- strumental work. Orson Campbell, Calvin Fletcher, and Aretta Young must tell the stoi-y of our painters; while that of Annie Pike Greenwood. Susa Talmage and Elsie Carol Chamberlain must bring to mind those famous in song and story. The fourth decade is more than half gone. We have passed from the building on North Academy Avenue, where daily the fruiter ' s cart is heard, to the hill side. In a palace of white, with the majestic rockies behind us, God ' s blue sky above us, and His blue lake in front, we have planted our College. Its work has just begun. Its students are not yet thoroughly tested, but a throng behind are crying, See that you fail us in nothing. Yours the tiled and marble stair. Make his utterance false who declared, that this is an age of gold but net a golden age. 13