Elmhurst College - Elms Yearbook (Elmhurst, IL)

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HISTORY OF ELMHURST COLLEGE The actual history of Elmhurst College dates back to 1871, although the movements and beginnings that finally resulted in the firm estab- lishment of our school, can be traced back almost ten years farther. ' Elmhurst College is the result of efforts of several church bodies of the middle-west, composed mostly of recent German immigrants, to estab- lish a school in which teachers and pastors could be trained who would form the nucleus in upholding their traditions and beliefs and thus keep them intact for a while at least. This purpose our school fulfilled very ably for many years. It trained teachers and prepared men for entrance to Eden Seminary and thus the ministry. From the latter purpose resulted the name that until so recently has been ours — Proseminary . As such it began in 1871 with two instructors and thirty-one students and not very adequate housing conditions. But growth was rapid. In 1873 the building now known as the Music House was erected, followed in 1878 by the Administration building. Since then a Dining Hall was erected in 1896, Irion Hall in 191 1 — the home of the academy today — the Memorial Library in 1921, and South Hall in 1922. The faculty now numbers twenty and the student body nearly two hundred. In 1919 a reorganization took place with the result that we no longer were a proseminary but Elmhurst Junior College and Elmhurst Academy. Since then the Junior College has been extended to a complete four-year course— the first class graduating in June, 1925. 16

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THE AIM OF E L M H U R S T COLLEGE An aim is always something which lies beyond present achievement. In speaking of the aim of Elmhurst College we are not speaking of its attainment but of a purpose which it seeks to realize in progressive fashion. Between the main goal and the present situation there are often many way-stations , im- mediate purposes, which must be passed on the way to the terminal and we some- times lose sight of our ultimate aim because of the present urgency of attaining a half-way goal. The result of such confusion is sometimes a premature sense of attainment, sometimes a great loss of energy, sometimes a deflection from the road to the main purpose. One of the immediate purposes of Elmhurst College is the attainment of the standard set for four year colleges of liberal arts. It needs to raise a larger, en- dowment, to develop several departments of instruction, to increase the size of its senior college. It is seeking to provide preparation for the various professions, such as teaching, medicine, law, business. It has sought and is seeking to stan- dardize its curriculum, the preparation of its faculty members, the conditions of entrance and of graduation. With all of this emphasis upon standardization we may lose sight of the fact that our ultimate purpose is not the attainment of a common standard but of an effective individuality, not the formation of a standard product but the educa- tion of individualities and personalities. The standard must represent a minimum and not a maximum, if it is not to become a source of danger. This is true of the student and of the school. The student who is content to meet a standard intellectually and morally and does not go beyond that standard in the development of his personality may be losing as much as he is gaining. Part of his education may mark an ascent from a lower standard to a higher one, part of it, undoubtedly, will be a descent from a higher to a lower. It must be the purpose of Elmhurst College to develop men who are not merely good C men in all their attainments but who are men of B and A grade in intellectual as well as in moral and spiritual achievement. One step in this direction has been taken by the provision for honors courses. Much that cannot be accomplished by administrative measures must be done by the students themselves, with their ambitions, their sense of duty and their desire for service. The development of the individuality of the school is another matter. That individuality must grow out of its past. Among the best traditions of our past which the future ought to preserve and develop, which will retain for the school its individuality and help it to perform its individual task in the world are these: its character as a Christian college which does not believe that the support of a Christian denomination involves no special obligations, its character as a school where a large proportion of the students are preparing for some definite branch of Christian work, its character as a school which seeks to transmit the best pro- ducts of its European background to the new civilization of America. H. RiCH.XRD NiEBUHR. IS