Colorado College - Nugget Yearbook (Colorado Springs, CO)

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Color CoIIrnr¥r r llooft If tt 1)t-:Srfrrn The Minor disgustedly phrased it, on giving the reasons for this discontinuance of his paper, a lack of something or other. A master mind was needed — an administrator, executor, scholar, Christian, to stamp the impress of his personality on this nugget of pure gold and give it character, give it shape, give it worth. The office of President had been vacant since 1885. A vigorous campaign had been undertaken in New England under the leadership of Prof. Geo. N. Marden. The money necessary to pay the debts was secured, and in 1 888 Rev. Wm. F. Slocum, then of Baltimore, was called to the presidency. And Colorado College found itself. That distinctiveness of character that makes it essentially Colorado College, not a college, our present President has given to it. Do you know who is the best Tiger of us all? Who, whenever his signal has been called — the need of the College! — has tucked the ball under his arm and carried it over for a touchdown every time? Did you ever hear this? Rah! Rah! Rexy! Bully for Prexy! Rah! Rah! Rah! Sis — Rah — Boom ! President Slocum ! Give him room! Although it may in some degree anticipate, I cannot refrain from quoting here the closing words of President David Starr Jordan ' s address on the occasion of the dedi- cation of Palmer Hall: I cannot close this address without a word in praise of the honored President of Colorado College. It is the highest duty, the noblest privilege of the President of the College to give the institution its personality. Others may give money and buildings, the state may create machinery by which the College works; it remains for him to make it a living person, an Alma Mater, an influence in the formation of char- acter and citizenship. Sixteen years Dr. Slocum has struggled for Colorado College. Sixteen years of courage, devotion, persistence of a type few other colleges have known. He has sought far and wide for good men, for men of his kind. He has seen richer mstitutions draw these men away, and then he has begun his search once more, and each time he has closed the ranks with men of the Colorado spirit. Every great university has been enriched by men drawn from Colorado College. Greater institutions have stood ready to bid for his own services-, and in no mean fashion. This I know well, though not from him. But he will not leave the work of his lif e to begin another, simply because the other stands in a larger yard. There is gold in Colorado; there is silver; there is untold wealth in her mines. But Colorado is not made by mines. She has been made by men. She has had many red letter days. This twenty-third day of February, 1 904, is not the least of them all, but none has been fraught with greater hope to the state than that day when William Frederick Slocum came to the presidency of Colorado College. When the President came, there were seven instructors and about twenty-five stu- dents, not one a regular college student. The College possessions consisted of a campus of fifty-one acres and one stone building. Life was immediately put into the work. Order was brought out of chaos, and progress at last began. I regret that the character of this sketch prohibits my taking up in more detail the history of the College since President Slocum ' s coming. For that is the beginning of the modern era, the era of the fulfillment. But it would stretch to almost impossible 23

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the expense of putting the grounds in proper condition for the game, with the under- standing that the winning team take the football. Yours respectfully, L. B. VELLA, Sec C. C. A. A. ' On November 2 we read the inevitable — Mr. Harry Johnson had his ankle se- verely sprained last Saturday in a game of football. January 4, ' 84 — Prof. Strieby called the male students together to form a fire brigade. Soon after appears the following amusing items: Football has again been revived as an amusement during recess. For some time the highly interesting and rather dangerous pastime of shinny has been the favorite amusement, but football has again assumed its former prominent position. Last Saturday evening the students at the Club House had a spelling match. March 7 — Prof. Loud is now teaching a class in Analytical Geometry. Several of the students have received admonitions from the faculty for lack of punctuality at chapel exercises. In September, 1 884, the two literary societies combined, forming one society called the Phoenix Literary Society. The Mirror was discontinued for lack of support or something or other. In November, 85, The Pike ' s Peak Echo was started. It was published bi- monthly, running throughout the year. (This was rather a long life for a college paper then. It is the earliest publication of this kind we now have on file in the library.) It had for a motto: I speak of what I have heard. It was virile, energetic, ambitious. As an exchange put it: It did not play true to its name. It ' speaking ' in greater measure ' of what it thought ' than of ' what it heard. ' For instance, in January, 1886, it startles us by saying: Mr. was con- spicuous at the last meeting of the Phoenix by his absence. When a gentleman signifies his willingness to join the society and take his share, of its burdens, and then flunks the first time he is put on the program, it looks as if he cared very little for the society and its welfare. Boulder is mentioned in March, 1886, as having a student body of about 75, and it will graduate a class of 6 this year. Student life was very plainly factional. The College, as Kipling said of the ship on its first voyage, had not found itself. There was, however, a latent force, a vital- ity in the student body (and the character of the student body is the character of the college, is it not?) that augured well for the future. Once organized, unified and all this youthful, untried strength would assume a character and an individuality supreme over every faction. College spirit — they had no conception of; that is, in our modern sense of it. Take our athletics, for instance. There is no more unifying influence in college life than its athletics, when they are clean. Why? Because they foster a college spirit. It is our team, though we may not know a man that is on it, personally. They represent us. If they lose, we lose; if they win, it is our victory. So, in this middle period of the ' 80s, the transitional period between the old and the new, though spirit was eager, keen, abundant, it worked against itself, and seemed even weaker than it was. Athletics, because of the lack of the unifying principle of Colorado College patriotism behind, was merely an outlet for the superfluous spirits of the individual, and shinny served as well as football. There was, as the editor of 22

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Colorado CoHc e¥r r ilaofe ItAttfllit-Scfrct lengths my sketch already grown cumbersome. I will then merely run over the most important points in the progress of the College from 1 888 to the present day. But the first point that claims my attention is a subtraction, not an acquisition. Shortly after the coming of President Slocum there resigned from the Board of Trustees one of the Old Guard. Jas. H. Kerr became connected with the college a very few months after its founding, and was continuously connected with it until 1 889. In the early days he taught in the College in mining, metallurgy and kindred subjects. From 1878 he was a member of the Board of Trustees, part of the time serving as its Presi- dent. For years he was Vice-President of the College and during a greater part of the interum from 1 885 to 1 888, was acting President. To his steadfastness and the courage of his faith in the future of the College, in times of crisis, is the College immeasurably indebted. At one time a horse-car line bid for a passage through the Campus. It was during the dark period of ' 85 to ' 88. Money was an urgent necessity, and the committee had accepted the offer, when Mr. Kerr, as acting President, insisted that they recall their acceptance. At another time an offer was made of a thousand dollars an acre for twenty acres of the College Campus. He refused flatly to break up the Campus at any price, in spite of the fact that he received over a score of letters from leading citizens urging him for the good of the College to do so. He gave the first specimens to the College, thus starting the Mineralogical and Geo- logical Cabinet. He gave thousands of dollars in unpaid services, in money and in schol- arships. He is truly one of the honored Fathers of Colorado College. In 1 888 the President ' s residence was purchased. This had been built in President Tenney ' s time, but had later been sold. Hagerman Hall was completed in 1 889. This year the Woman ' s Educational Society was formed and immediately set about building a girls ' dormitory, Montgomery Hall, finished in 1891. In 1890 the Preparatory School was first called Cutler Academy. The next year the Gymnasium was built by student con- tributions. Prof. Cajori came in 1889; Prof. Gile, Prof. Parsons and Prof. Noyes in 1892. Coburn Library, the gift of the late N. P. Coburn of Newton, Mass., and the Wolcott Observatory, the gift of H. R. Wolcott of Denver, followed in 1 894! Dr. O. K. Pearsons, of Chicago, offered $50,000 to the College on condition that they raise an additional $150,000 in the next two years. Ticknor hall came next, in 1879, the name of the donor, Miss Elizabeth Cheney, remaining unknown for several years. Per- kins Hall followed in 1900, McGregor Hall in 1903, and Palmer Hall in 1904. In raising the $150,000 necessary to secure the additional $50,000 promised by Dr. Pearsons, the students in 1896 pledged themselves to raise $10,000, to be knowr. as the Students ' Endowment Fund. In 1900 an offer of $50,000 was made to equip a Science Building on condition that $60,000 additional be secured to build the building. When the corner stone was laid March 3rd, 1902, the fund had been increased to $240,000; when completed in 1904 it had reached a total cost of $330,000. Prof. Ahlers came in ' 95; Miss Loomis in ' 97; P rof. Brehant in ' 99; Prof. Pat- tison in 1900; Dr. Shedd and Dr. Urdahl in 1901 ; Miss Brown, Prof. Hills, Miss Flubbard, Miss Park and Mrs. Faust in ' 03; Dr. Finlay and Dr. Schneider in 04. The Colorado Collegian, a monthly paper, started October, 1890. This was succeeded by The Tiger, a weekly, June 15, 1899. 24