Florida Southern College - Interlachen Yearbook (Lakeland, FL)

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•••• «••• » » SHADE WILSON WALKER President 1902-07

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Golden Anniversary — 1 85 - lO. ' iJi REMOVAL TO SUTHERLAND EELING that the college would be able to expand more rapidly in some other community, members of the board of trustees, meeting in Leesburg in May, 1900, adopted a resolution urging the conference to take steps toward removal. Rev. C. A. Saunders and W. K. Zewadski were appointed to present the resolution to the conference. James P. DePass, chairman of the board of education, recommended removal, and steps were taken to advertise for bids. Quincy, represented by A. L. Wilson, W. M. Corry and E. C. Love, offered $8,000 and ten acres of land. Orlando, represented bv Rev. L. W. Moore, offered $1,500 and land valued at $1,500. White Springs, represented bv Rev. C. A. Saunders, offered $1,000, thirty acres of what was then known as the Hoboken property and city lots valued at $1,000. The Sutherland Land and Improvement Company offered $5,000 and 440 acres of land for $2,000, in addition to two large buildings. Acceptance of this offer was voted by the trustees and the confer- ence in December, 1901, and the following were appointed trustees for the new property: J. P. Hilburn, I. S. Patterson, R. M. Evans, R. F. Mason, H. A. Hodges, W. M. Poage, W. N. Shears, H. H. Sassnett, L. E. Roberson, H. W. Long, I. S. Gid- dens, W. C. Richardson, D. W. Stanley and D. A. Cole. Rev. R. M. Evans and Dr. W. C. Richardson represented the community of Sutherland and the Sutherland Land and Improvement Company. Mr. Evans was also appointed agent for the college at a salary of $50 a month. PRESIDENT WALKER BEGINS Dr. Shade Wilson Walker, a brilliant, energetic young man, with commanding endowments of personality and impressive executive ability, was elected president of the college when the trustees met at Sutherland on the afternoon of March 27, 1902. His salary was fixed at $1,000 a year, and it was voted to board him and his family in the dormitory for $300 a year. Selection of the faculty was left to President Walker and the executive committee of the board of trustees. Dr. Walker was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee, July 18, 1871, a son of Stephen and Julia Walker. He attended Hopewell Academy and Fayetteville Presbyterian College, and did special work at Harvard University. Southern College has hon- ored him with the degree of doctor of divinity. He married Miss Lottie Patterson, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. W. G. Patterson, in 1892, and joined the conference in 1893. St. Augustine Mission was his first work. His first wife was drowned in April, 1904, when the boat in which she was riding capsized a few miles from the mainland of Sutherland. She and several other persons, in- cluding Dr. Walker, were returning from a picnic at Anclote lighthouse. The boat was capsized by a squall two miles off Hog Island, shortly after one o ' clock in the afternoon, and it was ten o ' clock the following morning before rescuers arrived. Four persons besides Mrs. Walker lost their lives. Six children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Walker during his first marriage. They are Mrs. Walter O. Ropp, Howard Walker, George Walker, Mrs. H. R. Laing, Mrs. W. E. Blount and Shade W. Walker, Jr. Dr. Walker married Miss Grace Parker in 1905. She died in 1927, and he married Miss Lillie Mullins in 1929. They have one child, Patricia. Known as one of the most capable pastors in the Florida Conference, Dr. Walker has served with distinction. He is a man of strong intellectual and spiritual power. He has read widely and inten- sively, and he still spends much time among his large collection of books. His messages have always been received as stimulating and original contributions from a positive personality. He is now doing outstanding work as pastor of First Methodist Church, Jacksonville. His brilliant record includes St. Paul ' s Church, San Jose, Cali- fornia; Johnson Memorial Church, Huntington, West Virginia; First Methodist Church, Sanford, First Methodist Church, St. Petersburg; and the presiding eldership of the Tampa District. He has been a trustee of Southern sixteen years, one of which he served as chairman of the board. He has also been conspicuously successful as an evan- gelistic speaker. Just past thirty when he accepted the presidency of the college which had been placed at Sutherland, Dr. Walker, aware of greater possibilities for the institution, set to work with an enthusiasm that quickly spread among Florida Methodists and caused them to take a more active interest in their school. Pastors and parishioners alike began to talk with more conviction about their school, and it was not long before expansion began. It was Dr. Walker ' s task to reorganize the school and start it anew. Aided by loyal trustees, he planned carefully in starting at Sutherland an institution that was to increase in academic strength, prestige and enrollment. To his judi- cious efforts during those early days in a new loca- tion is due much credit for the sustained prosperity which the school enjoyed in that community for nineteen years. NAME CHANGED Upon being removed to Sutherland, the school became known as the Florida Seminary. The trustees later voted for incorporation under the new name, and this was done in 1904. Page Twenty-five • ••• ♦

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Golden Anniversary — Z88.5 - . .» Dr. Walker had considerable land at his official disposal, of course, but only two buildings — the dormitory for men, then known as the Gulf View Hotel, and the dormitory for women, then known as the San Marino Hotel. As rapidly as funds were available, however, the plant was enlarged to in- clude an administration building, another dormi- tory for men, a gvmnasium, a tea room and a laun- dry. The administration building was erected while Dr. Walker was president. The dormitory for women included 159 rooms. This beautiful frame structure, situated at the top of a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, became the social center of the campus. In it were beauti- fullv appointed reception rooms, literary society rooms, the president ' s suite, recitation rooms, the conservatory of music, the art studio and the dining room and kitchen. The building for men, which still stands, was seve ral hundred yards directly in front of the dor- mitory for women, which was destroyed by fire in 1921. The administration building was erected within a few feet of the dormitory for women. At the same time they elected Dr. Walker to the presidency, the trustees, figuring the tuition on a basis of nine months, fixed the following rates: primary, $10; intermediate, $18; sub-freshman, $25; freshman, $30; sophomore, $40; junior, $42; and senior, $48. The fee for music, art or elocution was set at $27 for nine months, and a matriculatiop fee of $1 was charged. In order to attract as many students as possible, it was decided at a meeting held at Sutherland on the afternoon of April 23, 1902, to announce to the Presbyterian Synod then in session at Punta Gorda, that children of Presbyterian ministers would be admitted without tuition charge. The executive committee of trustees, meeting on August 22, hurrying to get the plant ready for an impressive opening the following month, instructed President Walker to buy the following: Fifty double desks, four desks for teachers, fourteen suites of furniture, fifteen small rocking chairs, thirty-five dining room chairs, eight recitation benches, cutlery, four Rochester lamps, twenty-five hand lamps, three dozen towels, fifty yards of table cloth, twenty-five sheets and two pianos. An interesting paragraph from the minutes of a meeting held by the trustees a little later, follows: A motion was carried that the agent, Rev. J. P. Hilburn, be authorized to accept the horse from Brother J. A. Hendry at $75 on his subscription to the school. OPENING EXERCISES Many friends of the reorganized institution were present for the opening exercises held September 17, 1902, with an enrollment of 107 students. The total reached 208 before the year ended, bringing assurance to President Walker and other friends of the institution that it was well on the way to expansion. Besides President Walker, who taught mental and moral science, the catalogue for 1902-03 an- nounced H. A. Woodward, science and languages, Miss Donella Griffin, mathematics and English, Miss Laurie McRae, preparatory; Miss Annie Still- well, music, art and elocution in the primary de- partment; R. W. Evans, agent; Mrs. L. V. Craig, matron in the dormitory for women; and Mrs. Meader, housekeeper for men students. Miss Bethula Rice later was added as assistant in piano. Rev. J. A. Hendry and Dr. J. P. Hilburn also served as financial agent during Dr. Walker ' s adminis- tration. The Erolethean Literary Society for women stu- dents was organized October 10, 1902. Another literary society for women students, Sigma Delta, was organized the autumn of 1906, the same year in which Philomathean Literary Society for men students was organized as a friendly rival to Phi Sigma. The school began its second year at Sutherland in September, 1903, with an enrollment of 126 and closed with 226. The faculty announced in the catalogue for 1903-04 included W. B. Greer, science and modern languages; Miss Lettie Lynch, ancient languages, Miss Donella Griffin, English; Miss Laurie McRae, history; Miss Slaughter, primary; Miss Annie Stillwell, music; Miss Bethula Rice, assistant in music; Miss Mary Lee Hill, elocution; Miss Eunice Newton, art; Mrs. Wvatt, matron in dormitory for women; Mrs. W. B. Greer, matron in the dormitory for men; Dr. J. P. Hilburn, agent; and Dr. C. H. Logan, college physician. Miss Blackwell later was added as a music teacher. Three teachers for the Spanish, mathematics and commercial departments, had not been elected when the catalogue was published. The academic year 1904-05 was begun with an enrollment of 205- The gratifying total of 310 was reached before the end of the year. It was in March, 1904, that construction of the administration building was begun. This splendid brick structure, destroyed by the fire of 1921, had two stories besides the basement, and was 95 by 137 feet. There were ten recitation rooms on the first floor. The second floor included a chapel 70 by 95 feet, with a seating capacity of 700, a study hall 40 by 50 feet, seating 200, and a room used as a library. The study hall on the second floor later was used as a commercial department. Built at a at a cost of $24,500, this building was completed in time for the commencement exercises in May, 1905. Reporting to the conference held in Orlando in December, 1904, Dr. Hilburn, chairman of the board of trustees, after presenting details of the progress of the school, said: The fact that such an institution has been built up within three years without a dollar ' s worth of property or a cent of endowment to begin with, bespeaks volumes for Rev. S. W. Walker, the president, who has been Page Twenty-seven .«♦•♦• •♦■ •