DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

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been agitated in the Conferences of the sturdy circuit riders, whose tireless energy had blazed a path in the wilderness alike for education and religion. Strangely enough a petition for a charter to the Indiana Legislature met with great opposition. It was evident that only one vote in the Senate stood between the promoters of the bill and its success. They therefore waited patiently uutil, on January 10, 1837, the absence, enforced by intoxication, of an opposing member, opened the way for its passage. The charter was a liberal one, and it was long before the new institution grew too large for its limitations. On June 20, 1837, the corner-stone of the -first building was laid. Henry Bascom. afterwards a Methodist Episcopal Bishop tChurch Southl delivered an address to an audience of 20,000 people who had gathered from all over In- diana, proving the tremendous interest Which attended the birth of this new child of the Church. In 1840 the doors of this large structure, which was at that time the finest building in the State, were thrown open to students, and for almost forty years it continued to be the main building of Asbury University. A preparatory school had been opened three years before by Cyrus Nutt, of Allegheny College. This was principally attended by the ragged urchins of the little town. The first foreign student was T. A. GoodWin, Who spoke from the Columbian boulder last Commencement. He came by stage and on foot from Brookville, and was hailed as a curiosity. No popular interest would attach itself to any detailed historical account of the institution during the first half century of its growth. It was much the same as that of many another aspiring school in the West- ern Reserve. Had its friends and the Methodist Church not rallied about it 011 many occasions, the struggles of the university with poverty would have been too much for its strength. Year after year the trustees were stared in the face by an annual deficit. In 1846 a Law Department was added, with Richard W. Thompson, afterwards Secretary of the Navy, as Dean. About the same time a Medical School was founded at Indianapolis. Both schools flourished fof a time, but succumbed in a few years to the greatest enemy of the institutionepoverty. 111 1870 the corner-stone of East College was laid and it was eight yeah; before the impecunious institution could complete the necessary building D111- ing this time the total endowment of the University was less than $150, 000 111 1883 the friends of Asbury University saw that the doors of a university 0v er- crowded with students must be closed if something which would put the institur tiou 011 a better financial standing were not done at once. 12

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Yet the West has had its place, and an important place, in American higher education. It has given to many a man who never would have sought the gates of a New England college a thorough preparation for a useful life, and while its colleges and universities have educated more politicians than poets, more it states- menH than scientists-ewhile they are not so rich in tradition or great in reputa- tion as their sisters of the East, still they have filled nobly more limited spheres and made the world richer and better for their existence. In later years several of these schools of higher learning, enriched by magnificent endowments, have had opened to them opportunities which, wisely improved, will place them on an equal footing with the time-hallowed colleges and universities of New England. The Western Reserve was fortunate'in the character of the pioneers who, more than a half century ago, laid patiently and wisely the foundation for its future greatness. Engaged in a veritable struggle for existence, discouraged in their endeavors for the creation of educational opportunity by every unfavorable environment which a new country could throw about them, western settlers planned an educational system before a clearing had been fairly made or the home had gained a place in the wilderness. 'The fulnllment of these plans called for unselfish sacrifice and patient persistence through years of discourage- ment. But unselfishness and patience are characteristic of those whqbuild for future generations. l Many institutions thus founded, more ambitious than worthy, lacking in endowment and poorly equipped, have been crushed out by the more wealthy and fortunate colleges and universities. This was a natural result of the devel- opment of the West. The narrow field which the smaller schools occupied was destroyed by better means of communication, and the wider opportunities offered by their greater eompetitors. In Indiana, especially, the past few years have been marked by the decay of a number of feeble but pretentious institu- tions of learning which once cramped the growth of the better and more worthy schools. This is a cause for congratulation on the part of educators. The fittest, few in number, have survived, and have grown as the field has widened. In this Indiana has been more fortunate than her neighboring states, many of whom are still blessed with a score of universities mutually injurious. DePauw University, originally called Asbury University, was one of the hrst educational institutions which Methodism established in the West. Little more than fifty years ago the first student, yet living, was graduated. For ten years before the question of the founding of this lt college 'l or ll seminary ll had II

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