Elon University - Phi Psi Cli Yearbook (Elon, NC)

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-c: The convention adjourned September 1 4, 1 888. The Provisional Board visited in person all the places proposed as possible locations, and on December 20, 1 888, decided to locate it at Mill Point, the present Elon College, seventeen miles east of Greens- boro. The campus, contam ' ng twenty-hve acres, now one of the most beautiful in the South, was then a dense grove of oaks, whence the name Elon, the Hebrew word for oak grove. This land, and twenty-three acres additional, was given by W. H. Trollinger, Haw River, N. C, while the citizens of the community subscribed four thousand dollars. The first cash donation to the college was by Mr. J. P. Bland, Pittsboro, N. C. The first subscription was by Dr. W. S. Long. The first public appeal for money was made at Berea, Nansemond County, Va., January 16, 1889, and resulted in the raising of $636.05, two hundred and fifty dollars of which was contributed by W. J. Lee, Bennett Creek, ' ' a., who has been a trustee since the foundation of the College. The General Assembly of North Carolina chartered the college March 11,1 889. May 7, of the same year, the first shovel of dirt was dug for the foundation of the main building, and May 20 the first brick was laid. The college opened its doors to students September 2, 1890. The location of Elon College is ideal. The climate is the best North Carolina can give. It IS on the Southern Railway, and easily accessible to Greensboro and Raleigh, and yet far enough removed from these cities to insure the necessary peace and quiet. Visitors to the place are at once impressed by the beauty and charm of the location. It is pre-em-nently a college town. There are no industries here. This largely accounts for the high moral tone for which the inst tution and its students are famous. Having authorized the build ng of the college, the Southern Christian Convention (become biennial instead of quadrennial since the extraordinary session at Graham) proceeded to care for its creation. In 1 890, the convention met at Suffolk, and beside? negotiating a loan of four thousand dollars to complete the walls of the college build ' ngs. authorized the appointment of Rev. W. T. Herndon in place of Dr. W. S. Long, who had now become Elon ' s first president, as financial agent, and appealed to its const tuents for contributions; and by the year 1894 these contributions had reached $30,215.14. In 1892, the convention met at Elon College, and 1894, 1896, 1893 respectively at Norfolk. Va., Burlington, N. C and Raleigh, N. C in each instance making generous provision for the College. The convention m Raleigh ( 1 898) is noteworthy for its creation of an eighteen hundred dollar annual income for the College from the Con- ferences, which is equivalent to an endowment of forty-five thousand dollars at four per cent., with absolutely no chance for loss or decline in values, and is thus much better than an endowment. The convent on of 1900, wh ' ch met at Franklin, Va., authorized the raising of twelve thousand dollars as a Twentieth Century Fund for the College. The originator of this movement, and one of its chief promoters, was Dr. E. L. Moflitt, then Editor of The Christian Sun, later Elon ' s third president. The Committee in charge of this trust was Rev. W. C. Wicker, Dr. E. L. Moffitt, and Col. J. F. West. To Colonel West in a large measure belongs the credit of having actively raised this fund, for he was secretary of the committee. The convention of 1902, at Asheboro. N. C, and 1904, at Berea, Nansemond County, Va., endorsed the action of the Raleigh (1898) Convention in asking the Con- ferences to pay their pro rata part of eighteen thousand dollars annually for the College. Fifteen

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convention establish a Theological Department in one of the schools now under the man- agement of our people, and that the convention elect some suitable person to take charge of the same as instructor, and that the convention raise four hundred dollars to purchase books for the said department for the year I 887, and two hundred dollars annually there- after. Dr. W. W. Staley, Suffolk, Va., was chosen as instructor, and the Suffolk Collegiate Institute as the school. But the committee on schools and colleges was not satisfied with this arrangement. In their view, it was not adequate to the demands of the church. Nothing less than a college for the joint education of ministry and laity, on the co-educational plan, would satisfy them. They set to work to the realization of that end. After careful investiga- tion and prayerful discrimination, this committee, composed of Dr. W. S. Long, chairman; Dr. J. P. Barrett, Secretary: Rev. J. W. Holt, Dr. J. U. Newman (by request), and Mr. J. W. Harden, met on June 10, 1887, at Graham, N. C, and leased the Graham Normal College of that place. In the next year, 1 888, the Southern Convention met at Graham in extraordinary session, and ratified this temporary action on the part of its Educational Committee. By taking this summary action, the committee had demonstrated the feasibility of a college for the Christians, South. Success assured, the Conventon at this extraordinary session, after hearing offers of land and money from Burlington, Graham, Gibsonville, Greensboro, and Mill Point (the present Elon College), all in North Carolina, appointed a comm ' ttee to select a location, erect suitable buildings, and get a charter from the State within whose bounds it should be located. The provisional Board in whose hands these matters were placed was made up of Dr. W. S. Long, president; Dr. J. P. Barrett, secretary; F. O. Moring, treasurer; J. H. Harden and Dr. G. S. Watson. Trustees for the college were also named as follows: For two years — E. A. Moffitt. Asheboro, N. C. ; J. M. Smith, Milton, N C. : I. H. Harden, Big Falls, N. C. ; F. O. Moring, Raleigh, N. C. ; S. P. Read, Palmer Springs, Va. For four years — E. T. Pearce, News Ferry, Va. ; W. J. Lee, Bennett Creek, Va. ; P. J. kernodle, Suffolk, Va. : J. F. West, Waverly, Va. ; E. E. Holland, Suffolk, Va. For six years— Rev. W. W. Staley, Suffolk, Va. ; Rev. J. W. Wellons, Franklinton, N. C. ; Rev. W. S. Long, Graham, N. C. ; Dr. G. S. Watson, Union Ridge, N. C. ; Rev. M. L. Hurley, Franklin, Va. Dr. J. P. Barrett was elected financial agent, but resigned because of his heavy duties as Editor of The Christian Sun, and Dr. W. S. Long was appomted in his place. This extraordinary session at Graham was a record-making gathering for the cause of education among the Christians, South. Here it was definitely decided to build a college, to be the gift to the church of the people of the Southern Christian Church, not the property of stockholders. In this movement, the hearts of all the people melted under the leadership of Dr. W. S. Long, Dr. W. W. Staley, Dr. J. P. Barrett, and the other able men whose names appear on the Provisional Board above and among those first fifteen honored trustees. There was no mistaking now. The college was to be built, and it was to be the college of the Christians. Enthusiasm was high, the tide was taken at its flood, the result is beautiful, inspiring to contemplate — Elon College, a glorious and blessed institution, the pride of a denomination, with a past to be grateful for, a present full of vigor and glow, and a future of hopefulness and promise.

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The Portsmouth (Va.) Convention, 1914, increased this annual call to $2,250, and authorized a note drawing four per cent, interest to be given the College, the interest on vvhich shall be paid by this fund. This convention also provided for Elon College Rally Days in all the Churches, at which voluntary offerings shall be taken for the establishment of a Department of Theology in the College. In 1911, a Special Fund of fifty thousand dollars was completed, which placed the College on its feet financially as it had never been before. In 1913, the Alumni set about raising a fund of $26,600 to pay for the Alumni Building, so named because of their generous response to .Alma Mater ' s needs. The physical equipment of the College consists now of seven buildings. The build- ings are valued, with the grounds and their equipment, by expert assessors, at three hundred thousand dollars, and consist of the Administration Building (1890); the East Dormitory (1890); the West Dormitory (1907); the Central Power Station (1907); the Young Men ' s Cooperative Hall (1912); the Alumm Building (1913); and the Young Lad ' es ' Cooperative Hall (1913). Elon has had four presidents. The first was Dr. W. S. Long (1890-94), the founder, the man of large faith and indomitable energy. Dr. W. W. Staley ( 1 894- 1905), succeeded him. For eleven years he served as non-resident president, w!th Dr. J. U. Newman as dean for nine years, and Dr. J. O. Atkinson for two, directing the institution ' s development along the steady Imes of financial integrity and solid scholarship. He left the College with a substantial student-body, a capable faculty, free from debt, and with a considerable endowment — days they of sending the roots deep into the soil preparatory to more rapid progress soon to follow. Those days of larger outlook came under the third president. Dr. E. L. Moffitt (1905-11), and have continued unabated up to this present time. Dr. Moffitt ' s efforts gave the College an increased student- body and two additional buildings, w th many minor improvements. During his term of office, steam heating, electric lighting, sewer, and bath facilities were prov ' ded. The most recent items of special noteworthiness, aside from the erection of new buildings, have been the improvements in the library, the laboratories, the departmental studios, including thirteen piano? for practice and a concert grand piano for the Music Department, and the facilit ' es for physical culture and exercise. The College has two gymnasia, and its recognition in athletic events has been startlingly gratifying. Increased enrollment has naturally come, and this year the four hundred mark has been reached, which is the College ' s capacty. The most gratifying item, however, has been the develop- ment along religious lines. The College pastorship is largely responsible for this, though the various voluntary associat ' ons have had a large place in the generation of the splendid spiritual tone that characterizes the institution throughout. A great compliment was paid our College at Chicago, the fourteenth of January this year, when Elon was admitted as a standard College to membership in the Association of American Colleges. Dean W. P. Lawrence represented the College on this auspicious occasion. I think I may confidently state, with the facts of her glorious quarter-century achieve- ments before me, that the future was never brighter for Elon, because her friends were never so true and numerous nor her faculty and Alumni and students more devoted, loyal, and sympathetic. — President W. A. Harper