Colorado College - Nugget Yearbook (Colorado Springs, CO)

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ON MAY 6, 1874, the association opened the first classes of Colorado College in the old Wanless Building (now the First National Bank Building) with an enrollment of Seventeen Students. The following September a two-room temporary building was erected opposite Acacia Park with the enrollment increased to forty students. For six years this building remained the home of Colorado College. By this time the Panic of 1873 and the grasshoppers of 1874 had completely paralyzed business and hopes. The cry of those who remain- ed in the territory was money for bread, and not money for colleges. President Dougherty went East at this time to appeal for financial assistance but after a most earnest effort reported that nothing could be done at that time in the way of assisting Colorado College financially, and with this report came his resignation. REVEREND EDWARD P. TENNEY was sent out from New England to investigate the reported possibilities of the College and upon his favorable report was elected President of the College, and he assumed his active duties in 1876. President Tenney ' s coming brought new life and hope to the college. President Tenney was an advocate of the highest standards of scholarship and was not satisfied with anything below the standards of Har- vard and Yale. He had, of course, the problem of finance. For the purpose of securing a large en- dowment fund without begging it, he entered upon a land scheme which, when viewed in light of pre- sent day business ventures, was exceedingly far- sighted and prospectively profitable. However, the venture ended in failure, and his office was vacated by the Trustees in 1884. His major con- tribution was the foundation of the present-day campus which began with the construction of Cutler Hall in 1877 and its occupation in January of 1880. The College was run by a faculty committee during the intervening years, and the future of the College was definitely in doubt. This bleak picture continued until 1888.

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THE ADMINISTRATION of William Frederick Slocum as President of Colorado College began in 1888 and would eventually span twenty-nine years, the longest to date. He was an able administrator, educator, and above all, builder. The endowment was enlarged by continued contributions from the East as well as from friends of the College who had come into wealth during the Cripple Creek Gold Strike of 1891. Many of the buildings of the modern era were constructed during Slocum ' s long ad- ministration — Hagerman Hall, a men ' s residence, Montgomery and Ticknor Halls, women ' s residences, Corburn Library, Perkins Fine Arts Hall, McGregor and Bemis Halls, and Cossitt Hall. Last, but hardly least, was the omnipresent Palmer Hall, which still stands today as the campus ' chief source of awe and legend. Yes, General Palmer ' s ageless contribution did block the proposed streetcar line of millionaire miner Winfield S. Stratton when its construction was begun in 1903. When this builder of the Colorado College presidency retired in 1917, Slocum left a valuable legacy. Colorado College had entered the Twentieth Century.