Eastern Kentucky University - Milestone Yearbook (Richmond, KY)

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and Gets l A Bigger Thing ' ENTRAL UNIVERSITY did not endure large- ly because the conditions which created it no longer prevailed. Reconstruction had largely run its course by 1901, the country had been through another crisis — the Depression of 1893 — and had been greatly reunited by what Teddy Roosevelt call- ed a splendid little war. The men who wanted Central University to remain in Richmond did not seek to retain it for the reasons of religious zeal for which it had been founded. For them it was a matter of personal and community pride. They were determined that higher education wouJd continue in Richmond. The seed that had been cast in the community with the founding of Central University in turn gave bud to another institution that bridged the brief educational gap [1901-1906) be- tween Central and Eastern. Waiters Collegiate institute, named for the great benefactor of the original institution — Singleton P. Walters who died in 1885 — offered a classical edu- cation to young men in Richmond, including William Wallace, a current member of the Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents. The men who founded Walters were largely Central graduates, and their names include many families still prominent in Madi- son County. Later, many of the same men would be instrumental in securing Richmond as a location of a state normal school. Waiters soon gave way to the movement in Ken- tucky toward state-supported education. In early years of the 20th Century Kentuckv was already rank- ing low nationally in terms of public education and its teachers, in order to build interest state-wide in ed- ucation, pointed out that the Commonwealth was painfully below her sister states. The Glasgow Times reported We find that Ken- tucky is one of the two states of the Union that does not maintain a system of state normal schools . . . that there are only three states in the Union that show a greater percentage of ignorance among their white population . . . The 1906 General Assembly responded to the hue and cry for improvement in the state ' s educational system. Governor . C. W. Beckham pointed out that it takes money to run educational institutions and cautioned the Assembly to proceed carefully. The legislature debated establishing two or three normal schools, before deciding that it could only fi- nance one, and Bowling Green had the inside track on getting it. However, the people of Richmond and Madison Countv knew the obvious benefits in having a normal school in their community. They also knew that those roots which had nourished educational excellence at Central University and kept alive the hope of higher education through Walters Collegiate Institute, could once again grow with the green of state financing. They had a powerful drawing card in the campus which had housed Central University and which was at the time the home of the collegiate institute. Prominent Richmond citizens, including ere A. Sullivan and W. Rodes Shackelford, led a group lob- bying for Richmond as the location of a state normal school. Sullivan was eventually a member of East- ern ' s first Board of Regents, and both men were grad- uates of Central University. Finally, the State Legislature was convinced that two schools were needed and Eastern became Nor- mal School Mo. 1: Western, Normal School No. 2. The law, signed March 21, 1906, maintained that both schools were to train teachers for the classrooms of the Commonwealth and it also established boards of regents to govern each of the new institutions. Each school was also given S5.000 to equip buildings, im- prove grounds etc., and each was to get S20.000 yearly for salaries and other expenses. The law also set up boundaries for Normal School District No. 1 and No. 2. But Governor Beckham insisted that the enabling legislation not specify the sites for the new normal schools. The act, which had been introduced by Rich- ard W. Miller, a Richmond native and Central Uni- versity graduate, was so amended and a comission was appointed to determine the final locations. With Sullivan and Miller influencing the composition and with Richmond ' s Kentucky Register editor Thomas H. Pickels, another Central University graduate, drumming up local support, it wasn ' t long — from April 12 to May 7. 1906 — before the commission made up its collective mind. Editor Pickels wrote triumphantly and prophetical- ly in his paper: We ' ll get ours all right and Danville can have Central University, and welcome. For we ' ve got a much bigger thing. ' The first Regents were appointed May 9, 1906, and soon thereafter. Dr. Ruric Nevel Roark was named president.

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)nn building familial The End Comes For Old Central U . . . Mem! HE END CAME for Central University April 5, 1901, when Centre College and Central University merged. The campus was to he at Danville, but the name was to he the Central Univer- sity of Kentucky, a name that endured for seventeen years until Centre assumed its original title. During those years, Central Kentucky continued to ring with the then familiar cheer: Chew tobacco Eat tobacco Drink lager beer Central Uni-ver-si-ty We ' re all here. ' By then, wounds of war had healed sufficiently for the Presbyterians and the economy precluded the church ' s supporting two schools. Both Centre and Central had come to be controlled by synods affiliat- ed with the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the charter combining them said that the best interests of both institutions, and of the churches which control and sustain them will be conserved and promoted by the consolidation of said institutions ... The falling leaves of financial crisis spurred a brief winter of discontent as supporters of Central U rea- lized that those deep roots which bore their beloved institution through so many crises, would never give it life again. Richmond ' s . B. McCreary, the Governor of Kentucky, wrote, I introduced the bill in the Legis- lature which gave Central University her charter; I gave money when she was founded; and in the dark days of ' 79, I gave more money to this cause; and to- day I am willing to give again in order to keep the school in Richmond. Breck, the first chancellor, said, To consolidate with Centre would be a coward- ly surrender. But, the second chancellor, Blanton. sum med up the inevitability of the deed when he said, If we combine with Centre, you will not have to change the names on your football suits. You might as well try to stop the Kentucky River as to stop this movement. And the fanatic rivalry with Centre Col- lege in various sports no doubt left Central fans with many fond memories. The 1893 state championship game with Centre was described by the Louisville Courier-Journal as the greatest football game which ever took place in Kentucky in point of interest if not in sport ... The local paper, the Kentucky Register published a complete supplement on the game which Central won 20-18. Central University had built many traditions in its comparatively short existence, both in notable aca- demic achievement and socially. Early chapters of major fraternities had been chartered and the institu- tion, like others, refused to live in a vacuum. Inspired by the Spanish-American War, the Cuba Libre Club took the slogan, Cuba Must be Free, and sported the motto: Down With Spain, Remember the Maine, Red, White and Blue Look out for old C. U. And, only seven years after the first coeds were enrolled, the Leap Year Club of 1900 had the motto: A man, A man, My kingdom for a man . . . Any Man! 100 Years 25

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