Buena Vista University - Log Yearbook (Storm Lake, IA)

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buildings worth 525,000 Trustees were elected by the company and by the Fort Dodge and Sioux City presbyteries. The new name Buena Vista Col- lege, was selected as a tribute to the generous aid and support given to the new school by the people of Buena Vista County. Dr. Cumberland's research has uncovered the fact that President Hays not only worked to set up the curriculum, hire teachers, and supervise building, but he also taught courses in Mental and Moral Sci- ence. Included were such courses as psychology, logic, ethics, Christian science, and political economy. The curriculum was mainly classical, but there was ci scientific course which led to a B.S. degree. Salaries were not high in those days. Rev. George Frocker, professor of ancient languages, received S800 a year. Dr. J. C. Hutchinson, professor of phys- ics and mathematics, was paid twenty-five dollars a month plus railroad fare, and C. R. Aurner, ap- pointed principal of the Normal Department, re- ceived sixty-five dollars a month for nine months. Other members of the original faculty included C. W. Coelln, professor of mathematics, P.B.S. Peters, and N. H. Tyson of the Commercial Department, Miss J. L. Bennett, drawing, and lvliss lda Sisson and lvliss Mabel Marshall, music. Tuition varied from term to term. In the collegiate department, the fall term cost fourteen dollars, the winter term twelve, and the spring term ten. Board and room cost two or three dollars a week. However, the cost of education was still high to parents who worked for the going wage ofa dollar ci day. Fewer students were attracted to Buena Vista than to the Fort Dodge school. At a meeting in October the trustees were faced with the lack of financial backing. They were forced to order a reduction in the faculty and a pay cut for those who remained. E. R. Sisson was appointed to the post of financial agent. His salary was to be ten per cent of all funds he raised plus one dollar for each student he se- cured, The depression of the 1890's hindered his work, however, and many times the salaries of the teachers and staff were not paid at all. The dedica- tion of these people, said Cumberland, was the factor which kept the young college on its feet. After the completion of Old Main in 1892, the town and the school were even more determined to have ci liberal arts college. The new president, A fire destroyed the building on September 27, 1956, it classes, the brick and stone later were fashioned into the housed all the administrative omces, theater, and almost all victory arch.

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George Fracker was an important example of the faculty members whose self-sacrifice allowed the college to remain on its feet. He was a self- taught genius, according to Cumberland, and he stood out as a universal scholar, having mastered Latin, Greek, French, and German. There was no field in which he was not competent. In fact, in Cumberland's words, he was the college at one time early in the college'-s history. His dedication to the school was apparent, since records show that he was only paid about half the time. Gther important people in Buena Vista's his- tory were Alice Wilcox, dean of women and English professor who in her twenty years here did a great deal for the school, and E. F. Blay- ney, a professor from i903 to l9l3, who at times was the only holder of a Ph.D. on the faculty. C. W. Coelln, a German immigrant who was formerly State Superintendent of Educa- tion was outstanding in from 1892 to l896, and F. F. Smith, for whom Smith Hall was named, deserved recognition for his scholarship and ser- vice. Smith was a mem- ber of the college fac- ulty from l9l9 to l952, a record of thirty-three years of teaching sur- passed only by Fracker's thirty-nine and rivaled by George Reynold's tvventy-eight years of teaching and Luman Sampson's twenty-nine. Although he decided in lvlarch of i963 to write B.V.'s history, Dr. Cumberland did most of the work during during his service to the school ministration, which lasted from i942 to l954, were followed by chapters on student life and traditions, and the athletic pro- gram. The Last Dec- ade, the final chapter in the book, treated the years T954 to l966, the decade during which Cumberland felt that the most progress had been made. Although Buena Vista is now well on its way to becoming one of the better liberal arts col- leges in the Midwest, it experienced great diffi- culties during its first year. ln l89i, twenty years after Storm Lake's incorporation, leaders of the l,682 citizens of the town began to hope George Fracker, universal scholar, competent in every field, self-taught genius, fhqf The Sfruggling FQF1' his self sacrifices allowed the college to remain on its feet. F. F. Smith, deserves recognition for his scholarship and service, was a member of the faculty for thirty-three years. the summer of l965. The finished book contained ten chapters. The first, dealing with the college's first year, l89l-l892, was printed in Annals of Iowa in the summer of l965. Later chapters included The Not So Gay Ninetiesf' The Administration of E. E. Reed, l900-l906, and The Struggle Takes Form, which dealt with the decade following Reed. Chapter Five, which was entitled From War to De- pression was referred to by Dr. Cumberland as from bad to worse. The chapters on the Olson ad- Dodge Collegiate Insti- tute would be moved to Storm Lake. The Pilot urged the acceptance of the college because it would mean that fam- ilies of the best citizens would b-ecome prominent residents of Storm Lake, and that property sales would go up along with business profit. President Loyal Hays, who replaced F. L. Kenyon as head of the Institute, had less business-oriented reasons for moving the college, according to Dr. Cumber- land's first chapter. He considered Storm Lake to be a classic little city. The fact that Storm Lake was far from saloons and other temptations of a big city especially appealed to him. ln contrast, Fort Dodge allowed saloons and other morally dangerous elements, reported President Hays. lt was hoped that the quiet groves and parks and the lake would invite students to study and pure living. When the citizens of Rolfe withdrew from the fight and the Fort Dodge trustees failed to raise enough money, Storm Lake was assured of getting the -school. A proposal by the Storm Lake Town Lot and Land Company included the donation of an eight acre lot and an agreement to erect

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J. M. Linn, recalled ThaT aT The Time The people of STorm Lake would have underfaken anyfhing. To Them, Buena VisTa College would become The Yale of The Midwesf. When PresidenT Linn was inauguraTed, carloads of people came from as far as Des Moines. The crowds marched Through The sfreefs wiTh Their ban- ners fiying and Then pushed inTo The ChauTauaua Building unTil There was no sTanding room. A special Train arrived from Des Moines aT The Time of The formal dedicaTion of Old Main. The col- lege coroneT band led a group of faculTy and olTi- cers of The school, high school Teachers and sTudenTs, and cifizens of The communiTy in Their carriages. Al- Though addresses aT ThaT Time lasTed Two hours, The STorm Lake Tribune noTed ThaT The audience gen- erously remained unTil The close. The college communiTy was genuinely proud of The new building. ln facT, The caTalog wenT so far as To say ThaT There is no more beaufiful, nor ap- propriaTe college building in This sfafe, Though many are larger. Sixfy-four years laTer, on Sepfember 27, l956, a fire of undefermined origin desTroyed The build- ing. The fire, which began abouT l0:30 aT nighT, blazed for more Than Three hours before iT could be broughT under confrol. AT ThaT Time The building housed all The adminisTraTive ofTices, TheaTer, band room, book sTore, and almosf all classes. Brick and sTone from ThaT proud building were fashioned inTo The VicTory Arch aT The souTheasT corner of The campus. ln Cumberland's words, IT was The 'spiriT of Old Main' ThaT helped To build The presenT. The book included informaTion on The develop- menT of The school paper and annual, as well as whaT Cumberland called The usual silly college yells. Originally The school colors were salmon and black, buf This was changed when The fooTball sweafers could noT be obfained in salmon. Senior Tree Day was esfablished in l906. AT This Time a Tree surrounded byla seaT was dedicaTed. Each class wore a special aTTire. The seniors, of course, wore Their caps and gowns, The- iuniors wore Togas, The sophomores carried a banner and adorned Them- selves wiTh rose chains, and The freshmen showed up as miners, complefe wiTh picks and shovels. The Tree Day remained a revered cusTom unTil l960. AnoTher Tradirion, The smoking of The peace pipe, began in l9l0 as a formal reconciliafion of The dif- ferences beTween Two classes. The Senior Swing-OUT, which was esrablished in i909, was apparenfly one of The casualfies of The depression, as was The nam- ing of The classes, which resulTed in The freshmen of The class of l9l9 pursuing Their college life wiTh The label The Bolsheviks . Phi Alpha Pi was The firsT sororiTy To be esTab- lished. lTs beginning in i906 was followed a few years laTer by The founding of DelTa Phi BeTa sororiTy, which in iTs firsT year had five members. DelTa Phi Rho fraTerniTy was founded in The l920's, while Gamma Sigma Phi and Kappa Tau DelTa were of more recenT origin. When MaTher House was removed To make way for The new Ballou Library, a landmark disappeared from The Buena VisTa campus. The building had been owned by The college since l903, and during ThaT Time iT had served as a men's dormiTory, a music conservaTory, and a Temporary dwelling place for faculTy members. AT one Time iT was known as Lad ies' CoTTage. MaTher House wa-s replaced by The L. E. Ballou Library, which was complefed in The fall of 1965 aT a cosT of ?p400,000. lT was builT in The Georgian Colonial sTyle, wiTh many modern conveniences. There was room for 60,000 books, and 225 sTudenTs could be seafed aT once. Some of iTs feaTures were carpefing, air condifioning, an elevafor, individual sTudy carrels, seminar rooms, Typing rooms, polar- ized glare-free lighTing, and faculTy carrels. ln l965, in connecfion wiTh The celebraTion of iTs sevenTy-fifTh anniversary, The college launched a drive To move From Goodness To Greafnessf' As a parT of This drive a need of 51,925,000 was sTaTed To provide for greafer Teachers, more books, a pipe organ for Schaller Memorial Chapel, a new field house, a new science cenfer, siTe acquisiTions, and scholarships and endowmenTs for sTudenTs. AT The opening of This drive, Presidenf Halverson renewed The commiTmenT of Buena VisTa To The greaT TradiTions of The church-relaTed liberal arTs college. OUT of The ashes of Old Main, The college has risen To provide beTTer EducaTion for Service. -VVriTTen by Barbara J. UiTTenbogaard