Furman University - Bonhomie Yearbook (Greenville, SC)

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Furman University—Its Expansion A'I' THK Commencement of June. 1907. an alunnnis who had not visited the institution for a number of years said, “Things do not look as they did when I was a student here. Then he proceeded to remark, W e had only this old building, and the boys lived in lx arding houses off the campus.” At the end of the Civil War Captain Patrick taught a preparatory department in the large front room in the west end of the main building, and Dr. Furman and his three or four professors taught the college classes in the other rooms of the main building. They could not foresee the development of the succeeding forty years. Indeed there was almost no expansion until 18X5, when, by the successful agency of K. II. Griffith, a considerable Endowment Fund was raised. In 1888 the first additional building (Judson Cottage) was put up. and a short while after this Griffith Hall, which tor several years was the home of the Fitting School boarding students. Today there are sixteen buildings on the campus, including several small cottages, and eleven of these are in constant use in the work of the University. Since 1897 six buildings have been erected and three of these since 1906, viz.: the Library Building, the new Fitting School Domitory and the James C. Furman Hall of Science. Some of the Distinguished Ai.vmni This extended enlargement of the material equipment docs not necessarily insure better work than was done in the earlier days. A glance at the list of the Alumni will show that from the beginning Furman University has maintained an exalted ideal of scholarship. The very first class to graduate gave to Southern Baptists their hero missionary. Rev. J. It. Hartwell, recently deceased, and to the South Carolina Brotherhood the incomparable John G. Williams. It will not be considered invidious to name these men. or others, who. from the earlier days, by their achievements and general worth, have added to the luster of Furman's name. The class of 1856 gave to us Col. R. B. Watson, of Ridge Springs, S. C.. the apostle of sunshine, and the pioneer peach grower of South Carolina; Jas. X. Nash, attorney and teacher, of Atlanta. Ga.. and V. 11. Perry, who represented bis district in Congress. . Space will not allow 11s to comment upon these classes year by year, but it will be news to many among us to know that Furman University has furnished professors to Cornell. Rutgers, Chicago University, Johns I Iopkins University. Richmond College, Wake Forest College. Clemson College, the State Normal School of Washington. Mercer University (including its president), Judson College (its president), Howard College, Liberty College (its president), Baylor University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Probably the foremost living Sanskrit scholar is an alumnus of Furman University, Maurice Bloomfield, of Johns Hopkins University, while another alumnus, John, 0

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M. Manly, of Chicago I University, stands at the head of English scholarship in the United States. Editors, lawyers, physicians, missionaries, teachers, preachers, legislators, civil engineers, merchants and planters—the time would fail us to appraise the value of the contribution in manhood which Furman University has made to the good of the State, the nation and the world. This Present Day Obligation The splendid record of the past enjoins upon us. as no mere exhortation could do. the obligation of maintaining in the enlarged Furman of today the ideals and the spirit of the earlier years. Who arc the men upon whom this rcs| onsibility rests? The present Faculty, of course; and we wish we could introduce these men. one by one. to all our Baptist people. In their special training for the positions which they occupy they represent Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins. Cornell, Colby, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania. University of Virginia, University of W isconsin, in this country, and Cambridge (England), Paris. (France), Lcipsig and Berlin. (Germany), abroad. It will be seen that these men are fully competent to maintain the standard set by Furman, Judson. Reynolds and Edwards. The Arts degrees offered by the University today are standard and represent a sound liberal education. Four Links ok Expansion There arc four lines of expansion which lie before us. calling us to increased devotion to the largest single enterprise conducted in common by the Baptists of South Carolina. These are, viz.; ist. Endowment; 2nd, Loan Fund; 3rd, Course of Study; and 4th. .Yew Buildings. Of course expansion in these lines will be accompanied by a steady, but we hope not too rapid, increase in the number of students. The present endowment amounts to about $220,000.00. This looks like a large sum, but it is still inadequate to the enlarged needs of the institution. We need at once a gymnasium, to which a single subscription of §1.000.00 has already been received. This is the next necessity. It must be closely followed by a Social Center building for the use of the Y. M. C. A., and by a new dormitory to accommodate 150 more students. Another full professor in History and Political Science is an immediate and pressing necessity. So that it will be necessary for us to press on with the endowment of the institution as rapidly as possible to the §500.000.00 mark. With the increase of the student body, which this material expansion will certainly secure, it will be increasingly necessary to provide aid for worthy young men who have brains and pluck, but no money. At present our available loan fund, for others than ministerial students, amount to about §3,000.00, and only the interest of some of this money can be distributed. The ideal plan for aiding the 10