Dickinson College - Microcosm Yearbook (Carlisle, PA)

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anus..- Cnixnuzs Nlsmrr, D.D. 1784-1804 HERMAN M. JOHNSON, D.D. 1860-1868 .. A V - James A. MCCAULEY, D.D. 1872-1888 CIILLEGE lIISTOBY N APRIL, 1784, seven months after September 9, 1783, when the General Assembly of Pennsylvania enacted a charter for Dickinson College, academic work first began. Since the charter was granted three days after the signing of the final treaty with Great Britain ending the Revolution- ary War, but four months before ratification by the United States, Dickinson College may be called, by its proud alumni, the last of the Colonial Colleges or the first college to be founded in the United States. On June 9, 1785, after much persuasion from Benjamin Rush, Dickinson's first president, Dr. Charles Nisbet, arrived at Philadelphia from Scotland. Rush, who was mainly responsible for getting Dr. Nisbet to come to the infant college, induced him to come by describing condi- tions in Carlisle with a high degree of optimism. Actually, when Nisbet arrived Carlisle was marshy, and its streets were filled with open and bloody rioting. Principal Nisbet resigned in October of that same year because of dissension and failing health. However, in May of the following year he was reelected. Ar this time he had a faculty of three men: James Ross, Robert Johnston, and Robert Davidson. There was great trouble with financing the college, and much of the time the faculty was not paid in full. The institution was running into debt and there was not sufiicient room, for the college building consisted of only one room, 20 x 20 feet, in which several classes were held at the same time. The government of the college had fallen into the hands of a few of the local trustees whose interference in its affairs did much harm. They had differences of opinion and special meetings with Principal Nisbet over such trivial matters as the fine for lateness at class, and the manner of conducting the public examination of those students who are candidates for degrees. Many times the trustees took action privately by general agreement without the knowl- edge of Dr. Nisbet. They ordered and changed the length of college courses and failed miserably in their attempts at reorganization. It was not until Dr. Nisbet's death that the trustees realized that he was a truly great man and that the king was dead, there was no heir apparent. , The start of the Civil War saw the inauguration of the first president to come from the faculty, Herman Merrills Page 10

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Johnson. About one-third of the student body left at the outbreak of the war, since they were of Southern sympathies. Johnson's troubles were many, for the students left classes to defend the Union when Con- federates invaded the North. It is interesting to note that when the Confederates occupied Carlisle, the oflicers and men who were at one time undergraduates at the college protected it and had a continuous guard around Old West to keep it from harm. It was in this time of darkest financial worries that light broke througl1. In 1866, on the occasion of the Centenary of American Methodism, the college was endowed with S150,000, and thus Dickinson College came under the influence of the Methodist Church. It was then that the scientific course was built up and the system of laboratory assistants, known then as Dutchy's Devils, was established. Johnson's presi- dency also saw the beautification of the campus through the improving of Old West and the landscaping of what had been mere fields. During the presidency of James Andrew McCauley, 1872-1888, there was much internal dissension, yet great improvement. The students refused to attend the classes of Professor Trickett because he demanded too much of them and treated them in an austere manner. It was only after two weeks of absences that the affair was cleared up. In conjunction with the Centenary celebration of the college a new building pro- gram was pursued. In two years the Scientific Building, Bosler Hall, and the Gymnasium were erected. It was a momentous occasion on September 10, 1884, when the first woman was admitted to the college. She was graduated three years later. It was also during the reign of McCauley that James Henry Morgan first came to Dickinson College, as an Adjunct Professor of Greek. James Henry Morgan was elected president in 1914, at a crucial time when the debt was high, endow- ment low, and the enrollment about 250 students. After three years the enrollment was the largest it had ever been, only to fall again at war-time. In 1921 the enrollment of 468 students restored confidence, and soon all debt was wiped out and the endowment was raised to almost 5B1,000,000. Both Old West and Old East were renovated, and tracts of land were bought at the present site of the Alumni Gymnasium and Biddle Field. The scholastic rating of the college continued to grow, and soon it had the recognition of all associations of colleges. When Dr. Morgan left the presidency in 1928 he had restored a faltering college from the depths of financial and academic failure to the lofty place it now holds in the minds of Dickinson men and their associates, the entire collegiate world. JAMES HENRY MORGAN 1914-1928 Page 1 l