Ferrum College - Beacon Yearbook (Ferrum, VA)

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W MARCHE o Ferrum Junior College was conceived in the minds and hearts of dedicated churchmen and was born out of the struggle of the years. In its infancy, despite all the hardships they encountered, Virginia Methodists began their untiring efforts to establish an institution of higher learning. Ferrum was founded fifty years ago as a mountain mission project of the Virginia Methodist An- nual Conference and the Woman's Missionary Society. The school's mission was to provide both ele- mentary and secondary education in a Christian atmosphere for the children of southwest Virginia. It was estimated at that time that 10,000 children in the region and 4,000 in Franklin County alone, were receiving no formal education whatsoever. Dr. Benjamin M. Beckham, Presiding Elder of the Danville District of the Virginia Methodist Con- ference, was greatly interested in the building of this mountain school. It was decided to build a school to be located at Ferrum. Dr. Beckham became the principal of the school in November 1913. In September 1914, Ferrum Training School opened its doors in these mountains of Virginia. There was one unfinished building on the grounds, Wesley Hall, and the parsonage. No student was prepared for a higher grade than first year high school, only 99 students were en- rolled during the entire session, and many said that no school could live on the liberal terms offered the students, and that the whole enterprise was but a dream of the principal, and would soon come to naught. The most ardent friends of the school did not dream that Ferrum would ever be a college, nor did they desire that it should. The school's success was immediate. When the trustees held their annual meeting in the spring of 1926, however, they had under their con- trol propertythat had cost over three hundred thousand dollars, and instead of one small school building they had the main school at Ferrum, and in addition six branch schools located in remote sections in the mountains far fromthe railroads, and where there were neither public schools nor churches for the most part, with a total enrollment of nearly '700 students in all. Now, the question arose, Shall we make Ferrum aJunior College? After long and earnest consideration, they unanimously answered this ques- tion in the affirmative. But it was deemed best to move slowly and cautiously, and beyond announcing at Commencement that one year of college work would be offered for the session of 1926-27, the authorities made no effort whatever to secure students. It was determined however, that the work of the college, like that of the high school, should be the finest quality, and courses were provided for, all of strictly college level. The students whose names appear as college students in 1926 decidedto take the college course, and shall ever be remembered as the charter students of Ferrum's College Department, and their names are so recorded in our archives. In this respect they enjoy a distinction that no other Ferrum students ever have enjoyed or ever can. We shall always remember them with peculiar pleasure and pride. There were sixteen of these students, who became the first college class at Ferrum in 1926. Ferrum closed its elementary department in 1923, its branch schools in the thirties, and its second- ary department in 1955. Dedicated men andwomen overcame almost insurmountable hardships to pass their torch of Christian education from hand to hand for this century. Though at times, the arms that held the torch grew weak, their strength was lifted to newer heights. Today the light of a dream shines forth. Fifty years after the mission project began, Ferrum still continues its record of progress. Ferrum has become the largest junior college in Virginia and the largest such Methodist-related institution in the United States. The Beacon salutes the present, past, and future torch-bearers of this institution. It tells of our college, and is proud of its heritage, its Methodist foundation, and its men and women who bore our yes- terdays to mold our tomorrows. ..ff 68 I 0

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SI 'O L Q 5EpALll5 rnt 11 3XINIO,Q Q Q IQII 93 THE METHODIST CHURCH ,il-11 FIIRRIIVI TRAINING SCHOOL Fifty years through struggles and untiring efforts . . . 1964 ' FERRUM COLLEGE . . .

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1 - sm .,: aw W I . - ,. H w --:H fx iw H ,W H NH if A J I, u L ,, x . ei. ,X W E 'H' we Qs A Fw w w : . f. , ig M ig' gym Our first president, Dr. Beckham, talks with our present president, Dr. Arthur ' In tl1e eariiesfgbeginliing. n N Y, M H ' 1 Y Y :SL ,X , ,, ,X M N M M H H ur , , .' ' N' -'M N W iii ' ' H ' ' ' w Y. 355: -'ggi Brzeaking stone for the builgiing, of Beckh:-ini Hall. ' :ill Kfxi ' Y V . K ' ' f' , A J. , , 4' ' mm ,Q W ,, H 'W in ' H Of the first maples that were planted on Ferrums campus has been cut--Pro- gress? '? ? we ,mx uufi M5 --an ,M If 5 if Vx N V! It took everybody's help to make Ferrum.