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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Relief was found in the munificence 0f 'W'ashington C. DePauw, a glass manufacturer of New Albany. Industry and honesty had made him a million- aire, beloved by every employe in the great glass factories-the largest in Amer- icaewhich he controlled. He was a capitalist who could consistently open a meeting of directors with prayer. Ile had been for years a member of the board of trustees and a warm friend of the University. About to visit Europe in 188x, he wrote a will which provided that a large portion of his great fortune should be applied to the endowment of a New Methodist University which should bear the family name. The trustees of Asbnry appealed to Mr. DePauw to devote this money to the endowment of the University at Greencastle. Gene erously, Mr. DePauw gave up his plan for a memorial university, and with an immediate gift of several hundred thousand dollars lifted Asbury from debt. The Methodist Church gave $300,000 more. In accordance with a promise made at that time, Mr. DePaqu will made provisions for the endowment of the Uni- versity with forty per cent. of his estate-an arrangement which to-day makes DePauw rank seventh in size of endowment among American universities. Against the protest of Mr. DePauw, who is termed the founder of the University, the reorganized institution received his name, the Asbury College of Liberal Arts retaining the name of the great Bishop for whom the University was first named. I 7' This sudden good fortune worked an entire transformation in the univer sity. New buildings were erected, new professofships were added, the schools of theology, law, art and music sprung into existence, while provisions were made for postgraduate work along special lines. The policy of the institution was broadened, the standard was raised. It was the good fortune of the institution to undergo this complete regeneration just at the time when a transformation was taking place in educational ideas, and radical changes were soon easily made which gave to the university a broader held of usefulness, as well as increased efhciency. The horizon widened and brightened. The family of Mr. DePauw assumed the interest he had always felt in the institution, and not only cordially ac- quiesced in the endowment of the university, but began a patronage which has sustained the institution on its more ambitious footing while awaiting the time set for the bestowal 0f the endowment by the provisions of the will. The cul- mination of the new order of things was reached whenl in 1890, John P. D. John, amid the rejoicing of the students and 'citizens of the college town, was inau- gurated President. . t 13