Butler University - Carillon / Drift Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 15 text:

Presidents JOHN YOUNG, acting- 1855 to 1857 SAMUEL K. HOSHOUR 1857 to 1860 ALLEN R. BENTON 1860 to 1868 ALLEN R. BENTl )N 1886 to 1891 OTIS A. BURGESS 1868 to 1871 OTIS A. BURGESS 1873 to 1880 WILLIAM F, BLACK 1871 to 1873 HARVEY A . EVEREST 1880 to 1886 SCOT B CTLER 1891 to 1903 SCOT BUTLER 1906 to 1907 WIXFRED E. GARRISON 1903 to 1906 DEMARCHCS C. BROWN, acting . . . .1906 THOMAS C. HOWE 1907

Page 17 text:

History of Butler College Butler College received its charter from the Indiana Legislature in 1849. This charter is ample for university purposes, as will be seen from the following clause defining the purposes and scope of the in- stitution : The objects and purposes contemplated by this act of incorporation are hereby declared to be, to establish, found and build up, maintain, sustain and perpetuate at or in the vicinity of Indianapolis, in the State of Indiana, an in- stitution of learning of the highest class, for the education of the youth of all parts of the United States, and especially the States of the Northwest; to es- tablish in said institution departments or colleges for the instruction of the students in every branch of liberal and professional education; to educate and prepare suitable teachers for the common schools of the country ; to teach and inculcate the Christian faith and Christian morality as taught in the Sa- cred Scriptures, discarding as uninspired and without authority all writings, formulas, creeds and articles of faith subsequent thereto : and for the promo- tion of the sciences and arts. This, the first definite step toward the realization of a Christian college was followed bv the erection of the old buildings on what is now College Avenue, in the city of Indianapolis. Instruction in the School of Liberal Arts began in November, 1855, and this has been the main field of the college work ever since. About 1873, citizens of Irvington ottered a campus of twenty-five acres and $150,000 for the erection of buildings, on condition that the Northwestern Christian University, as it was then called, should re- move to the suburb. The offer was accepted, and by the fall of 1875. the new buildings were in use. The following year the name was changed to Butler University, in honor of Ovid Butler, who had been the most generous donor. 15