Drake University - Quax Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

Page 17 text:

itintnriral Svkvtrh. TTAINING, in twenty years, to an annual enrollment of twelve hundred students Qexclusive of five or six hundred summer school studentsj, a faculty of seventy-five members, a plant worth three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and having alumni occupying exalted positions among publicists, teachers, financiers and statesmen, is evidence of vigor worthy to arrest the attention of any observer. It would doubtless be rhetorical, but it would not be true, to state that the rapid growth is a matter of surprise to those in the University twenty years ago. The growth is in part the result of the faith and hope present in those earlier years. But for this confident spirit in both students and faculty, the first year would not have been completed. A three story frame building, The Students' Home, approaching completion, except the plumbing necessary to its heating, greeted the prospective student September 20, 1881. This L- 't 't ' t ' - W-s' M - M ' N-'+--4-M---M----S 'Q building was to serve as class-room and home to most of the CHANCELLOR CARPENTER - ' , ' students-few residences being near enough to furnish students lodging and those few not being opened to students. lt was a cold rainy fall and there was real danger that the student body might adjourn during the six weeks consumed by plumbers in putting the heating plant in condition for use. A big stove was temporarily set up in the main hall and the students' resident in the building warmed themselves as best they might and failed miserably in their attempts to study. A The University was located two miles from the postoffice and railroad stations and the horse cars - drawn by mules when it was not too muddy so that they were not drawn at all - came not half way out. At that time there was little pavement in Des Moines. and the last half mile of sidewalk leading to the University campus was a newly laid two board affair. In the preceding spring the whole neighborhood of the University was overgrown with young timber and underbrush. ln September the underbrush had been largely cleared away and roadways cut thru the timber. lt required stoutohearts to see in this the beginning of a great university. 13

Page 16 text:

,-5 ' 1,-f-L.. - j fl--,. 1 1'-4,1 A BIT OF THE CAMPUS. 12 -g-....-,............v.....,,................ ..,- iv? .,- , . .........-.......--.. --.., .,,. ,

Page 18 text:

There were then no suburban churches and all who would attend church services must go a long distance over primitive roads and by primitive means. The second Sunday was chilly and rainy. A delegation was sent from Student's Home to Chancellor Carpenter asking that he come over to help organize a Sunday school. From that time the University Sunday school has met weekly with very few interrup- tions till it has grown to be the most largely attended Sunday school in the state. It will hardly need stating that in those early years the social opportunities were very meagre. Near the beginning of each term a general social of all the students - The Town Grind - was held in the Students' Home. Students were in a few instances received in the homes of certain considerate people of the city. The chief social opportunities were furnished by a very hospitable couple, familiarly known as Pap and Mother White. These good people came to the site of the future university in the spring of 1881, and immediately began building a residence in the woods in order that they might have a part in the upbuilding of thelnew enterprise. The students very quickly learned that these were friends to be trusted on all occasions. No student ever failed to find a willing and helpful counsellor in Pap White, and very frequently was his counsel sought. Many and many an evening did Pap and Mother White devote to the entertainment of students. Valuable indeed were their services in the early history of Drake University. A word as to the inception of the idea of founding a new educational institution and the general plans for its development. President G. T. Carpenter had spent a score of years trying firmly to establish an institution of higher learning at Oskaloosa under the auspices of the Disciples. The climax of a series of discouragements was reached when several members of his faculty said to him in the fall of 1880 that they saw so little promise of a vigorous future for Oskaloosa College that they would sever their connection at the end of the year. President Carpenter was not yet ready to give up his hope of establishing a strong and permanent institution of Christian education in Iowa. ln consul- tation with D. R. Lucas and J. B. Vawter he selected the capital city, the future metropolis of the state, as the place offering greatest advantages. Where to find money for a beginning was settled by Gen. F. M. Drake's donation of 520,000 to begin the endowment. Options were obtained on lands, in the midst of which it was proposed to erect the buildings and a company was organized to buy the land and give ci their profits to assist in paying for the buildings. The Students' Home' was erected in the summer of 1881. The Main Building in 1882-3. Other buildings have been added as the demand became urgent. lt has been the policy to pay for improvements as they are made and go into debt very little. Beginning with one small building and small, though standard, equipment of apparatus, there have been gradual developments till now Drake has several good substantial buildings and a very serviceable library, museum and laboratories for Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Astronomy. Beginning with a few well chosen teachers, there have been frequent additions till now the services of more than seventy men and women are required. instead cf the Students' Home and its one boarding club, are the scores of residences in the vicinity and the numerous boarding clubs and other boarding houses. Instead of meagre and crude social facilities, the opportunities for the highest social culture are so numerous that the student must decline frequent invitations that he may do thorough work as a student. During the past two years Drake has made long strides toward first place among the colleges of the state in athletics. In state oratorical contests it is expected that her representation will V 1 4 -.,,, l L e f -A-W--as-A--we--.-...aa-.-..- -. .-----,,.,,, . ----.-, .... D-.- .... .... - .--.- .D ,. . . .,.- -..-...a..-.