Colorado College - Nugget Yearbook (Colorado Springs, CO)

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Colorado College 3Tr r lloofc If attfttyt-Setoen was no property except some seven hundred dollars in a mortgaged budding and lot, and there were debts for services rendered, etc., equal at least to the value of the property. A general reorganization was effected. Certain Massachusetts gentlemen (Jas. G. Butt- rick, Samuel Crooks, Henry Cutler, A. A. Sweet, B. T. Thompson and E. H. Cutler) agreed upon the recommendation of the American College and Educational Society, which had adopted the College as one of its beneficiaries, to aid it so far as it should seem wise to do so. They pledged certain money to the endowment of the College, which made it possible for the work to be carried forward with renewed vigor. President Tenney was a worker. He had great faith in the high mission of the College. He had great plans for its future and did not spare himself in his efforts to bring them to realization. Quoting one who knew him and worked with him: God forbid that we should overlook, or fail to do justice to, that worker, who, in the late seventies, brought the first enduring strength to Colorado College, and who grandly organized the scattered philan- thropic forces east and west in the interest of practical learning When the books in which are recorded the acts of those who gave themselves to Colorado College are opened there will be found written in letters of gold, large enough to be read even by those who run, the name of one whose good deeds and noble motives will grow brighter with each rising of the sun, as long as Colorado College has an existence — the name of that prince of optimists, ex-President E. P. Tenney. As an insight into the devotion, the noble, heroic unselfishness of those in whose hands the life of the College was then entrusted, the following report speaks eloquently: In respect to the salaries of the instructors it is suitable to say that the President has, in three years (from ' 76 to ' 79) relinquished $1,740 of the amount legally due him from the College, and that his service for the College has put him to the loss of almost as much more; that he has subscribed to the endowment books, to be paid by bequest, a sum exceeding all that he has received from the College in three years ; that he has subscribed to the endowment as much as he has received in two years, to be paid within a given time from his salary, unless he finds some one else to pay it, and that he has insured his life for the benefit of the College to such an amount as to make it sure that the College will continue its work in case the Lord prefers to have him work else- where. ¥ Prof. Kerr has given to the College most valuable services without charge, and paid out for the College several hundred dollars. Prof. Loud has most generously denied himself in this work. It will require time, patience, hard work, unquestioning faith and abundant bless- ings of Providence to establish the College upon a sound basis. It is not perhaps too much to say that the outlook for the future of Colorado College is hopeful. Whether or not the ' fruit thereof shall be like Lebanon ' depends upon One who is able to make it grow, but it is certain that there is now a ' handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. ' Have faith in God. According to your faith be it unto you. In 1877 the catalogue shows: 1 Sophomore, 2 Freshmen (College); 22, Prepar- atory School; 25, Normal School; 16, Special; 66, in all departments. In this catalogue appears the name of Frank H. Loud (Amherst), A. B., Pro ' , of Mathematics. The next year we find five students registered in the College proper. In July, 1878, Salt Lake Academy and Santa Fe Academy were opened in these respective cities, under the auspices of the College. They ranked, practically, as prepar- 18

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eoloyafro Concur ITcarlloofe ll ugfjt-Sc cii in a sentence from their first announcement: ' The character which is most desired for this College is that of thorough scholarship and fervent piety, each assisting the other, and neither ever offered as a compensation for the defects of the other. ' The ideal of a Christian college is a large one. It is not attained in the first year. It is not attained in the twenty-eighth year. We do not know exactly how full an equip- ment, how universal an outlook upon science, the first builders pictured to themseives as the fulfillment of the desire of their hearts. Certainly it was larger than they saw in the actual institution of that time. Almost as certainly it was much smaller than has since been realized. But their ideal, like every noble ideal, expanded as they worked up into it. It will expand for hundreds of years to come. As the first in the state, in point of time, it received and still bears the name of Colorado College. The University of Colorado did not open until ' 77; the initial term of the State Agricultural College began in ' 79; while the University of Denver and the State School of Mines began in 1 880. Thus, in two rooms in the second floor of the Wanless building (now the First National Bank block) Colorado College was started under such auspices, and with such ideals as Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, Williams and Amherst of New Eng- land, Oberlin of Ohio, Olivet of Michigan, Beloit and Ripan of Wisconsin, Carleton of Minnesota, Iowa at Grinnel, Oakland in California, Pacific University of Oregon, and many others, had already been founded. Prof. T. N. Haskell was financial agent; Rev. Jonathan Edwards was professor in charge; Prof. French of Chicago taught whatever he could not get others to teach; Mr. S. C. Robinson of Gunnison had a class in mathematics and another in physics, and the Rev. E. N. Bartlett was instructor in Latin. In the winter of ' 74 the College moved into their first school building, a two-room frame structure on the corner of Platte avenue and Tejon street, west of Acacia park, as it was then called. In 1875 Rev. Jas. G. Dougherty was made first president of Colo- rado College, succeeding Dr. Edwards, who had resigned. 1 he times were hard. It was a time of financial distress the whole country over. T he infant institution, but barely on its feet, fought its way from day to day, refusing to be downed. On every side was seen only discouragement and despair. Colorado Springs had no financial basis and never could have. Sneering, contemptuous words everywhere were heard about the idea of establishing a college here. There is no more chance of establishing an efficient college here than there is of establishing springs here, said one. Why, the idea of a college here is simply an outgrowth of a scheme to bunco people out of hard-earned money, a New England deacon is quoted as saying, of whom ' tis added, his daily prayer was to get money enough to carry him back to old Connecticut. Hundreds of people left ; other hundreds remained only because they could not get away. It was against such conditions that President Dougherty struggled. He k pt the College alive. No greater praise could be spoken of him. He planned wisely, worked faithfully and sacrificed much health, time and money to lay proper foundations. Under other circumstances his sacrifices and his labors would certainly have been more effective. He soon went East, however, and Prof. Jas. H. Kerr was left in charge. He had one assistant, Miss Mary C. Mackenzie, afterwards Mrs. Frederick E. Robinson. They gave their best of heart and time, to carrying on of the work. In 1876 Rev. E. P. Tenney was called to the presidency. When he came there 17

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Colorado College ¥cat ool; If Attflfjf-Scfrcu atory schools of the College. Prof. Strieby was preceptor of the Santa Fe Academy for the next two years, coming then to Colorado College to organize the department of Chemistry and Metallurgy, which he has been at the head of ever since. Beginning 1 880 these academies were turned over to the management of the New West Educational Commission. This year the College was divided into three terms, the tuition twenty-five dollars a year. In 1881, under Prof. Strieby, special courses in Assaying, Blow-piping and Chem- ical Analysis were offered for students who have not the time for a regular course in Mining Engineering. Sinc ' e 1876 instruction in Mining and Metallurgy and in related studies had been carried on under Prof. Kerr. Of this department the announcement reads: Students admitted at any time, and the period required for anyone to complete a course will de- pend entirely upon his capacity and energy. In 1880 the course of instruction included: ] — College course for degree of B. A. 2 — Preparatory School. 3 — Normal School. 4 — Mining, Metallurgy and winter scientific studies. . 5 — The Cutler Training School. The winter scientific studies embraced Chemistry, Geology, Surveying, Assaying, Blow-piping and Mineralogy and Physics. The session lasted six months, from Novem- ber 1 to May 1 . This course was well attended, many students coming in during the winter months to pick up a little schooling, then out again for the summer, prospecting, working in mines, on ranches and the like. The Cutler Training School was designed to fit pupils for special forms of Christian work in the new West. The instruction was adapted to the wants of the student, having reference to his previous mental discipline and attainments and his contemplated field of work. It was during this year the Rev. George N. Maiden came, as Professor of History, Political Science and Metaphysics. An interesting item is found in regard to making expenses. The work is usually farm labor in summer, and in the wcodyard in winter, wages 1 5 cents per hour. Prof. Tenney did everything in his power to help those who wished to earn their way. He built irrigating ditches, barbed wire fences, established a woodyard, ran a dairy, etc. The bulletin goes on: No incompetent persons, or those unwilling to earn what they receive, are employed. Idlers at once discharged! During the late seventies, active canvassing had been going on to secure money to aid in building Palmer Hall. Tradition tells an interesting anecdote in that connec- tion. Among the most energetic canvassers for the building fund was Helent Hunt Jackson (H. H.), who drove over the country among the ranches, soliciting subscrip- tions. At one place a ranchman ' s wife, having no money, contributed four pounds of butter from her morning ' s churning; and at a fair then being held for the benefit of the College, this butter netted one hundred and eighty dollars. On May 31, 1882, was dedicated Palmer (now Cutler) Hall; the first of the stone buildings on the Campus. It did not then have the two wings; they were added later. President Tenney had postponed his inaugural address until this occasion. 19