Florida Southern College - Interlachen Yearbook (Lakeland, FL)

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(moldett Anniversary — 188S • lUiio Bishop. A building and lots were acquired, and the following were chosen for membership on the board of trustees : T. W. Moore, F. Pasco, Henry E. Partridge, A. Peeler, R. H. Barnett,, Thurlow Bishop, C. A. Saunders, clerical members; and R. M. Dickenson, L.J. Dollins, H. T. Arnold and J. C. Bryson, lay members. ORLANDO SCHOOL OPENED The school was opened in 1883, with Rev. C. A. Saunders as principal, a lovable character who has made his home at Pompano during recent years. He was born in Manatee County, four miles south of Bradenton, May 31, 1853- He entered the sub- freshman class at Emory College and was graduated with honors in 1876, one year after he had been licensed to preach. Joining the Florida Conference at the Tampa session, November, 1877, he served missions, circuits, stations and two districts. Now retired from active work in the ministry, he is remembered by many friends as an indefatigable worker who took charge of the Orlando school with splendid enthusiasm. There was considerable public interest in the new school, but onlv scant funds were available. The work of the school was carried on in a build- ing of four rooms. Inasmuch as there was no public school in Orlando then, the Wesleyan Insti- tute offered public school courses along with its other studies. The trustees of Wesleyan Institute, through their secretary, Rev. F. Pasco, submitted the following request to the conference which met in Orlando in January, 1886: The board of trustees of the Wesleyan Institute, Orlando, Florida, ask of this body permission to sell the present property and purchase more eligible property in order to remove the debt upon the institution, and hereafter proceed upon a cash basis. They further ask the conference for permission to ask for propositions from various localities, for the location of the school after being sold, in order that it may be placed upon a larger basis, with the understanding that if the school should be removed from Orlando, the amounts paid by the citizens of Orlando for the present building be refunded to those of them who may desire it. Permission was granted in accordance with this request, and a committee was appointed to adver- tise for bids. This committee included Rev. C. A. Saunders, chairman, Rev. Thurlow Bishop and Rev. H. E. Partridge. It was agreed that no bids were to be received after April 1, 1886, and that the communitv making the highest bid should have negotiable securities on deposit in a desig- nated bank notlater than thirty days after announce- ment that the bid had been accepted. FIRST STEPS AT LEESBURG The committee met in Leesburg in April, 1886, and voted to locate the college in that community, Dr. T. W. Moore Thurlow Bishop, the bid amounting to $12,974.30, which was di- vided as follows: $2,466.64 in cash, $2,607.66 in notes and $7,800.00 in land and buildings. Rev. T. W. Moore and R. M. Dickinson were added to the committee, which took immediate steps to prepare the buildings for the opening of school in the fall. Teachers were employed onlv until the next session of conference. First clerical trustees for the new institution in Leesburg were Rev. C. A. Saunders, Rev. F. Pasco, Rev. T. W. Moore, Rev. Thurlow Bishop, Rev. R. H. Barnett, Rev. T. W. Tomkies, Rev. H. E. Par- tridge, Rev. C. E. Pelot and Rev. W. F. Norton. Lav members were George M. Lee, T. J. Lovelace, L. B. Lee, A. E. Phillips, W. J. Barnett, Dr. C. L. Mitchell, J. F. White, C. W. White and George F. Davis. These were elected at a meeting held in Tallahassee on December 16, 1886. The business of the Leesburg institution was attended to by the Orlando trustees until the Tallahassee election was held. The first meeting of these new trustees was held in Tallahassee on December 18, 1886, immediatelv after the membership had been confirmed by the conference then in session there, was elected chairman and Rev secretary. An executive committee composed of the follow- ing was elected: Dr. T. W. Moore, Rev. Thurlow Bishop, Rev. C. A. Saunders, Dr. C. L. Mitchell, L. B. Lee, George M. Lee and T. J. Lovelace. Rev. F. Pasco was appointed to draft a constitu- tion and by-laws for the trustees, and Rev. F. Pasco and Rev. C. A. Saunders were appointed to draft curricula for the academy and for the college. Rev. R. H. Barnett was elected co llege a gent. His salary was set at $800 a year, but later was raised to $1,000. Dr. Mitchell, who was appointed to secure a charter for the institution, served energetic- ally and faithfully in many ways, and, in recogni- tion of his unselfish labors, the trustees voted a perpetual scholarship to him. L. B. Lee was the first treasurer of the board. It was voted to call the institution The High School and College of the Florida Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, but this name was too long for the public. The name finally was reduced to The Florida Conference College. EXPANSION BEGUN Encouraged by the enthusiasm which had been inspired by the new school, the trustees decided to make plans for expansion, and immediately voted that the executive committee be authorized to build a duplicate of the present boarding house as soon as they are sure that they can raise $500 in cash from the assets of the board. The agent was authorized to sell lands already secured to the board in order to provide for the construction of the building. Page Seven

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i.A-.Jii-; waiaadu rmrwitf The Story of Southern College Page Six The building was constructed across the road from a well which was part of the Indian village, and the curbstones of this well still may be seen by those who find interest in visiting the landmarks of Florida ' s history. Rev. John C. Ley, a member of the Florida Con- ference, served as principal of the Micanopy project until he was sent to the front as chaplain of the Second Florida Regiment in the Civil War. George Arnau, then a member of the editorial staff of Cotton States, also served as principal. These men tried heroically to build up the small institution that had been entrusted to them, but those were perilous and uncertain days of conflict, and the task of obtaining money for the operation of the school was extremely difficult. The people were having to look after their personal safety and try to keep their crops planted and harvested. Under such precarious conditions, the school finally was forced to close its doors. This left the Methodist youth of Florida dependent upon Emory College, at Oxford, Georgia, and Wesleyan Female College, at Macon, Georgia, for their higher education. The courses then regarded as studies in higher edu- cation were but comparatively short journeys into the field of learning, of course, but they provided a great impetus to interest in the South ' s uncharted educational program. Soon after the close of the Civil War, Dr.Josephus Anderson, then one of the most magnanimous mem- bers of the Florida Conference, turned his efforts toward the raising of funds for training young ministers. A man of brilliance and influence, he soon had enough money in hand to send three promising young men on their way toward better preparation. But the raising of this money was no easy matter. The conference was small, minis- ters were receiving but a mere pittance, and the distractions of the Reconstruction Period were at hand. THREE YOUNG MINISTERS HELPED The three young men given assistance by Dr. Anderson were Henry E. Partridge, William H. LaPrade and Thomas W. Smith. All three fol- lowed ministerial careers, serving with sincere devotion and distinction. Mr. Partridge served a year as president of Southern College when the institution was at Leesburg. His administration will be discussed later. Mr. Partridge entered the freshman class at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the fall of 1867, and Mr. Smith entered later. Mr.r LaPrade attended Emory College. Each received the degree of bachelor of arts. Mr. Partridge, one of the most beloved and respected of Florida ' s min- isters, spent his entire career in Florida, except for five years in Mississippi. He now lives at Orlando and visits Southern at every opportunity. Mr. LaPrade served in the North Georgia Conference, and Mr. Smith in the North Carolina Conference. In order to provide for the education of its young people on a larger scale, however, the Florida Con- ference eventually began to take more definite steps toward establishing a permanent fund. At the session held in Quincy in January, 1876, the members adopted a resolution offered by Henry E. Partridge and James P. DePass which provided for a fund to aid in the education of the sons of deceased ministers. The board appointed to handle this fund included Henry E. Partridge, T. W. Moore, James P. DePass, R. Turnbull, C. E. Dowman, B. B. Blackwell, J. Wofford Tucker, J. M. Hendry and C. A. Fulwood. The first beneficiary of this fund was George B. Glover, who attended Emory Col- lege and later began the practice of medicine. The fund eventually was made available only to young men planning to f ollow the calling of the ministry. William M. Mcintosh, the first bene- ficiary under this arrangement, became an evangel- ist in the Florida Conference. To perpetuate the fund, the board finally adopted the policy of ex- tending the aid as a loan. A committee composed of T. W. Moore, J. M. Hendry and T. A. Carruth, submitted a report to the Florida Conference held in Quincy, January, 1876, which read in part as follows: Notwith- standing we have no church schools within the bounds of our conference, we have not lost our interest in the cause of education. Nor have we forgotten that the school room was, from the be- ginning of Methodism, regarded as an efficient means of furnishing to the world an intelligent Christianity. . . . While we feel deeply concerned in the success of Emory College as an institution meeting our immediate wants as a male college, we are ready to extend our sympathy, and when we have the ability, our assistance, to those efforts so successfully made in other quarters to furnish to our youth the means of a higher university edu- cation. TWO HIGH SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED E. L. T. Blake, in his educational report to the conference held in Tallahassee, December, 1879, lamented the fact that too few private schools were being sponsored by the church, at the same time announcing the establishing of two high schools in which religious influence, training and prin- ciples should hold prominent place. One of these was located at Apopka City, under the prin- cipalship of Rev. O. W. Ransom, who had two assistants. Colonel E. C. Morgan was chairman of the board of trustees. The other school was located at Ocala, under the principalship of Rev. M. W. Sands. Rev. Henry E. Partridge was chair- man of the board. When the report was made the Apopka City Seminary had one hundred and five students, and the Ocala Seminary had sixty-one. A school known as the South Florida Institute, 1 later known as the Wesleyan Seminary and as the Wesleyan Institute, was established in Orlando by Florida Methodists in 1883- This new venture was made possible largelv through the initiative of Rev. C. A. Fulwood, presiding elder of the Jack- sonville district, Rev. C. E. Pelot and Rev. Thurlow • •••••

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BC3C3E3B5: The Story of Southern College i ' age ! A report to the conference in December, 1886, showed that the Leesburg school had lour teachers and fifty -eight pupils. Land and buildings were valued at $12,000. HOLLINGSWORTH ELECTED Joshua Hollingsworth, first official president of The Florida Conference College, was elected by the trustees on June 1, 1887, and he served two years, illness forcing him to resign. He was born near Galloway, a small community in Polk County, Florida, June 13, 1858, a son of S. T. and Sarah Pearce Hollingsworth. He attended public school at Galloway, and later studied under a private instructor at Dade City. He received his college training at Emory College, and was graduated in 1885. He taught a year in a public school in Mis- souri, after which he began his two-year adminis- tration at Leesburg. He died August 11, 1889, at Lithia Springs, Georgia, and was buried at Oxford, Georgia. Miss Stella Henderson and Miss Nannie B. Gaines were elected assistants to President Hollingsworth, and Miss Fannie Harrington was elected music teacher. President Hollingsworth had complete charge of the boarding department, assuming all financial obligations and paying insurance on the buildings and furniture. Each student in the academic department was charged a tuition fee of $45 a year. The fee in the college department was $50. Fifteen dollars a month was charged for board. Each boarding student was required to furnish one pair of sheets, one pair of pillow cases, two blankets and several towels. Campus regulations were drafted by a committee of trustees composed of Rev. C. A. Saunders, Rev. T. W. Tomkies and Rev. Thurlow Bishop. The distinction made between men and women students at that time is interestingly indicated in a provision as set forth in the minutes of the trustees: The regular course of study for this institution (shall) embrace English, mathematics, sciences, Latin and Greek and one of the modern languages for males, and some for females, with the exception of Greek. COMMENCEMENT PLANS MADE Plans for commencement exercises were made June 2, 1887, and these were made by the trustees, instead of the president. The program included a sermon on the Sunday morning preceding com- mencement day — the minister to be selected by the faculty — an afternoon concert of sacred songs under the leadership of the music teacher, and a sermon at night for ministerial students, the speaker to be selected by the facultv. It was Ordered that on Monday of commence- ment week at 9 a. m., there shall be declamations from ten voting men or boys selected by the faculty on trial declamations. Monday night shall be set apart for a sermon to young ladies by someone selected by the faculty. Tuesday morning at 9 a. m., readings by ten young girls selected by faculty on trial readings. Tuesday afternoon, awarding of prizes and address by some person selected by faculty, fol- lowed by musical concert under direction of the principal of the department. Tuesday night, literary address, speaker to be selected by the faculty. Wednesday morning at 9 a. m., original essays by six voting men and six young ladies, young men to speak, young ladies to read their essays. Essay- ists to be selected by faculty on highest standings in class. Free tuition for one year in the college depart- ment was voted to the student in the academic department making the highest grades during his final year of preparatory work, and free tuition for the four-year course was voted to young men studying for the ministry. Students in the aca- demic department were not permitted to advance to a higher grade if their deportment fell below sixty-five, and students in the college department were required to make at least seventy in deport- ment in order to advance to another grade. In December, 1887, at the annual Methodist con- ference held in Leesburg, H. H. Kennedy, chairman of the board of education, reported as follows: Our own Florida Conference High School and College, Leesburg, Florida, is yet an infant, and is the child of many prayers and of fond and sanguine hope. It demands special recognition and interest, as designed to meet an imperative demand of our work, affording a golden opportunity for the pro- motion of Christian education in our state. It has a facultv of four faithful and competent teachers and seventy-five scholars, and its property is esti- mated to be worth $13,000. It is well patronized in the community, but only to a limited extent abroad. The prospect was encouraging for the present session until the yellow fever panic came upon us. The time has come when prompt, de- cisive, effective action must be taken to put it upon its proper footing as a conference college in fact as in name. The Florida Conference cannot afford to have it wear the name without its measuring up to it in its work. The fault is ours. Our preachers and people must realize the situation and take hold of this enterprise. It must be pressed. The active effort of every preacher, and every member and every friend of the church is needed. The present liabilities of the institution amount to $1,800, and there are assets in notes and land amounting to about $] ,300 outside of the value of property used) no part of which is available now. There is pressing need of financial aid. Your committee recommend : That a collection be taken during this session of the Conference to meet this need. That the insti- tution be called The Florida Conference College. That the Bishop be requested to appoint Rev. T. W. Moore as agent to travel through the conference -••• ' ♦•♦••■♦ ' ♦ % ' •