Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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the available field from which to draw patronage. The Commencement of ' 97 will be the 60th anniversary of the opening of the College. Dur- ing these three-score years there have been eight presidents, forty-one professors, and a number of tutors. Over twenty-four hundred students have been matriculated, and of that number seven hun- dred and sixty-one have graduated. Two hundred and fifty have become ministers, thirty-four college professors, and the other professions share equally well. VICINITY When the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians decided to establish a higher institution of learning they determined to place it in the midst of the many academies which the different Presbyteries had in their charge. We copy the following from a report to Faj ' etteville Presbytery in November, 1 844 : Davidson College is located in a section of country where the influence of such an institution will be appreciated : and be productive of much good. It is easy of access and placed in the midst of a rich section of territory : it will always be sur- rounded by a dense population, out t)f which many young men will become desirious of obtaining an education. These will find this institution, on many accounts, an eligible place of resort. The districts of Spartanburg, York, Lancaster, and Chesterfield in South Carolina, and the counties of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Anson, Lincoln, Ritler- ford, Burke, Iredell, Wilkes, Davy, Rowan, Stanley in North Carolina, will find this the most convenient place for them. Suriy, togctlicr with the counties farther to the west, with Richmond, Moore, Mont- gomery, Robeson, and other eastern counties, will, for various reasons, always contribute more or less to the patronage of this institution. The districts and counties which we have named contain a pop- ulation of over two hundred thousand souls ; a population considerably exceeding that of the State of Connecticut, previous to the establishment of the two denominational colleges, in addition to Yale. Time has proven the prophecy of these thought- ful men of God. Not only was the spot suitable for an educational institution on account of its populous vicinity and the wealth of its people, but on account of its height above the surrounding countrj- and the general healthfulness of the region. Davidson is located upon the granite belt which sweeps from Beattie ' s F ord through the lower part of Iredell, the upper section of Mecklenburg, Southern and p;a.stern Rowan, and striking the Yadkin at Tradinii I- ord. The water that falls

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against the system. The College opened March the 1st, 1837, with sixty-six students; Dr. Morri- son President and Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy ; Rev. P. J. Sparrow, D. D., Professor of Ancient Languages ; and M. D. Johnson, Tutor of Mathematics. The first buildings were four rows of cottages, of which two remain, Oak Row and Elm Row ; the Old Chapel, the Stewart ' s Hall, the President ' s House and Tammany for the Professor of Ancient Languages. The manual labor feature soon succumbed to the inevitable. In 1840 Dr. Morrison retired on account of ill health. Dr. Sparrow soon after became President of Hampden-Sidney, Virginia. Dr. Samuel Williamson was President from 1 84 1 to 1854, assisted by two professors. A severe crisis came in the financial condition of the college in the closing years of his administratinn which was relieved for a season by the sale of scholarships on a scale of liberality, which proved ruinous to the College, though neither buyers nor sellers ever intended them to work that wa ' . The most of these scholarships have been surrendered or compromised and cancelled. A few of them, however, still survive and spring up with a buoy- ancy and activity which would entitle them to be quoted on ' change. The 40,000 raised from this source gave only temporary relief Maxwell Chambers, Esq., w ' as a native of this region of country, and after conducting a pros- perous mercantile business in Charleston, S. C, he removed to Salisbury. N. C, where he died in February, 1855. He gave one-half of his estate of a half million of dollars to his kindred and friends and the other half to the Trustees of Davidson College to advance the cause of Christian educa- tion. This legacy enabled them to provide a mag- nificent building, cabinets, apparatus, and also to employ a large corps of professors. Rev. Drury Lac ' , D. D., served as President for five -ears, and he was succeeded by Rev. J. L. Kirkpatrick, D. D., in i860, and he in 1 866 by Rev. (;. V. McPhail, D. D., who died in office in 1871. The College was not entirely closed during the war, but much of her endow ' ments was lost and her funds reduced to $70,000, from which they ha e slowl) ' increased to $130,000 at the present time. Pnif J. R. Blake served as chairman of the P ' aculty from 1871 to 1877, when Rev. A. D. Hep- burn, D. D., LL. D., was made President, which office he filled till his resignation in 1885. He was succeeded b ' Rev. Luther McKinnon who re- signed in 1 888 on account of long-continued ill health, by which he is still debarred from active serxice. He was succeeded by the present incum- bent, Re -. J. H. Shearer, D. D., LL. D. In 1875-76 the several Presbyteries of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida elected Trustees into the Board, as the other Presbyteries of North Carolina had already done, thus greatly enlarging

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from the east roof of the Old Chapel finds its way into the Yadkin (Pee Dee) River, fifty-six miles away ; that from the west roof flows into the Catawba. The immediate neighborhood around the College is well drained, and contagious diseases are unknown. For eight months in the year the roads are inviting to bicyclists. The College campus contains about seventy-five acres covered with blue grass, and the beautiful walks and drive- ways are shaded by sctjres of elms and oaks. Within a mile lies Lake Wiley, co ering fourteen acres; a little further e find the Cascades, Lover ' s Leap, Diamond Rock, and nian ' other beautiful and picturesque places. The people from this section ha ing been the first in America to express their belief in individual freedom, having declared themselves independent of their mother country before such an action was taken by the States assembled, it is no sm ' prisc that Davidson is surrounded by many places of histori- cal interest. Twehe miles to the south we find the cabin in which the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed ; two miles north the re- mains of the old Log College of North Caro- lina, where Ephraim Brevard and other signers of this declaration were educated ; in the same vicinity, Tarleton ' s Tavern, where the general of the same name butchered man}- Americans ; also Purgatory Swamp, which became a Rendezvous of safety from the Red Coats for the people of that neighborhood; six miles west we find Cowan ' s Ford, where General Lee Davidson met his death in his endeavor to prevent Coniwallis from crossing the Cataw ba ; within several hundred yards of the campus stands the oak under which Centre Church was organized ; eight miles southwest is the Hope- well Church neighborhood, whose people ha e given us more history than any other section of the State within as narrow limits. IMPROVEMENTS During the last decade many improvements have been made in the various departments. A three years ' Bible Course has been established. The English, Greek and Latin courses have been improved, especially the Latin course. A year each has been added to the P ' rcnch and German courses. Political Pxonomv has received much at- tention, and its ticket is now equal to that of any Southern College. Fi ' e new laboratories have been fitted up for the departments of Chemistrs-, Mineralogy, Physics and Electricit ' . Da idson is especially proud of its work in electricity and chemistry. The libraries of the societies and the collesre librarv ha e been consolidated in the