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Page 18 text:
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erected. Later were added the Old Chapel, the Literary Society Halls, and a large building called Danville, where Dr. Harding ' s residence now stands. The College opened on March ist, 1837, with sixty-six student.s, and Dr. Mor- rison as the first President. On August 26th, 1835, it had been named Davidson College in honor of General William David.son, who fell in the battle of Cowan ' s Ford, a few miles west of the site selected by the committee. The original plan of the founders was to have the students pay for their board by labor on the College Farm, but the system soon proved a failure and was abandoned after four years of trial. The next financial scheme was far worse than a simple failure, and came near bankrupting the College. In 1852 the trustees offered to the public four hundred scholarships, each good for twenty years of tuition, at $100 apiece. The.se eight thousand years of tuition were sold at $5.00 per year in advance. All receipts for tuition were soon cut off and within a few years the College faced financial ruin. At this juncture, bj ' the will of Maxwell Chambers, Flsq., of Salisbury, the struggling institution fell heir to a quarter of a million dollars. A clause in its charter limiting its property to 5 200,000 reduced the amount received by the Col- lege to that figure. This was a fabulous sum in those days, and new buildings were erected, new professors elected, apparatus and cabinets purchased, and the College launched on its career of ever-widening activity and n.sefulness. Executive Committee. Board ot Trustees 0! Davidson College. W. J. McK.w Chairman J. Rumple Secretary O. D. D.wis Treasurer Geokc.k K. Wilson Attorney Alkx. R. B. nk.s a. H. White George W. W. tts R. A. Dunn P. M. Bkown
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Page 17 text:
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The Early History o! Davidson College. THE Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who settled Piedmont Carolina a quarter of a century before the Revolution, brought with them to their new home their love of liberty, of religion, and of learning. The first culminated in the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence ; the second bore fruit in scores of vigorous churches and generations of Godly men and women ; the third led to the establishment of numerous high-grade classical academies, and a half-century later burst into flower in the founding of Davidson College. Their patriotism, religion, and love of learning are blended in every word of the motto on the Col- lege seal, Alenda lux 7ibi orta Libertas. In 1760 a classical school was established almost on the present site of David- son College, called Crowfield Academy. It was conducted by some of the most learned and dis tinguished men of that time ; trained and moulded many of the Revolutionary soldiers, orators, and statesmen, and established a reputation so wide as to draw students from the West Indies. Not many miles away a school chartered under the name of the Queen ' s Mu.seum began its career in 1770. King George promptly annulled the charter before the institution was a year old, on the ground that it was a hot-bed of Presbyterianism and treason. In 1771 the Colonial l egislature amended and reenacted the charter, only to have it promptly leannulled by the King. When these irrepressible patriots had shaken off the yoke of the tj ' rant and were battling for their independence, their first act was to revive the school and baptize it Liberty Hall Academy, in 1777. Davidson College was the direct successor of these famous Revolutionary schools. An attempt to found a Western College in the section was made in 1820, but in the endeavor to unite too many discordant interests, the effort suffered shipwreck. The birth of the College might be dated March 12th, 1835. On that day, at Prospect Church, seven miles from the present site of the College, Dr. Robert Hall Morrison pre.sented to the Presbytery of Concord a resolution to establish a Manual Labor School. This was adopted, committees appointed, a site selected, and $30,000 in cash raised within five months. In October, Bethel Presbytery in South Carolina joined Concord, and a little later Morganton Pres- bytery in North and Harmony in South Carolina added their strength to the new and popular movement. During the summer of 1836 the work of building was actively pushed. The Steward ' s Hall, Tammany, a portion of Dr. Martin ' s present residence, and five brick dormitories, of which Elm Row and Oak Row are still standing, were
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