Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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Q, -er - . ,.' , -'Q'-1,.., A X 'Ryze BREAKING THE GROUND FOR GOSHEN COLLEGE 17

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O. C. Yoder, J. S. Umbel, J. S. Yoder, C. R. Blosser, P. D. Summer and P. E. Whitmer. Later G. J. Lapp, who came from the air tAyrJ was highly instrumental in making things lively. Adjoining the dining hall on the one side was a cellar and on the other a kitchen whose walls, if they could speak, would undoubtedly give us a surprising history concerning the whereabouts of some eggs, pies, ginger- snaps, etc. However, not all the pleasant memories linger around the Institute building. Many were the happy hours spent in the homes which gave us shelter. To us dormitory life was an unknown experience. At that time the students had the privilege of using a large level field for athletic purposes. Upon this the young men had a base ball diamond and track while two or three tennis courts served as a delightful place of recreation to both young men and young women. During the early autumn and warm spring days, students greatly enjoyed strolling out to study in Stude- baker Park, a quiet woodland along the left bank of the Elkhart River. A spot more attractive and as a result not nearly so quiet, located at the junction of the Elkhart with the St. Joe River is known as Island Park. Here, each spring the student body together with professors and friends would spend a day or half day in a social way. At the close of these outing days, ere the sun sank in the west, many of the students might have been seen pad- dling their canoes up the romantic Old St. Joe. Frequently after rowing up the river three or four miles the boats would join and float down to the boat house together. We remember seeing one boat race in which six young women were the participants and Miss Lucinda Yoder won the honors. Miss Emma LeFevre who now graces the home of Pres. Byers was the first graduate from an academic course. Six members of the class of '01 were the first to complete the outlined four year Latin-Scientific course. These members were Olivia Good, I. R. Detweiler, J. L. Steiner, F. S. Ebersole, J. M. Kurtz, and J. S. Umble. Of this number two are now professors in Goshen College, two in high schools, one is a returned missionary from India and at present holds a prominent position on the missionary board of the church while another is engagednin city mission work. It was during the early part of '02 that the coveted enrollment of one hundred was reached. I The students of Elkhart Institute we must say were reserved and usually dignified. This was due in a great measure to the fact that most of them were no longer in their teens and also that they looked on the more serious side of life. One evening we remember seeing a well built man dressed in a blue uniform with a nickel 16

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1 star upon his coat and a billy in his hand standing near the entrance of the Institute building. He allowed no one to leave the campus until he bore upon his left arm the mark of the physician's scalpel. Any student attend- ing Elkhart Institute during the early spring of '02 will well remember that smallpox, vaccination and pest houses were the topics of the day. Entering again in the autumn of 1902 the lawn was more beautiful than ever, the building was the same, with the exception that class rooms had been enlarged where it was possible and the dining hall had previous to this time also been enlarged, yet everything seemed so small and crowded. We became cognizant of the fact that we were many more in number than we had been in 1900 and that the management was looking for a larger home for us. We received but little practical assistance from the citizens of Elkhart but the neighboring city of Goshen welcomed us to a beautiful location on her southern border. Sometime during May '03 this offer was ac- cepted and on June 12 of the same year the dedicatory exercises of the site of the new Goshen College building, were witnessed by over two hundred and 'fifty people. After a dedicatory prayer, Attorney Deahl of Goshen gave a very Htting address of welcome to which Prof. C. H. Smith gave a response. After several other short ad- dresses, the ground outlining the new building was broken, J. S. Hartzler holding the plow drawn by a team belong- ing to C. P. Yoder. In looking forward it seemed almost impossible to think that on Sept. 29, '03 school would open in this new location but by energetic labor the new dormitory planned for, was sufficiently completed to shelter the ingather- ing maidens on the second floor, the first being used for recitation rooms and chapel exercises. The southern section of the basement was a carpenter shop, reading room and dining room combined. There amid the sound of the hammer and saw of the carpenter, professors and students did their work. Swiftly as possible the main build- ing was raised and a few weeks before Christmas the chapel exercises were held in the reading room. By Jan. 6. '04 a sufiicient number of rooms were completed so that the schoolwork could be transferred from the dormitory to the college building and on the evening of Jan. 8, '04, the new building was dedicated. To the student of Elkhart Institute this seems a large building and the dining hall in the dormitory with a capacity of a few more than one hundred seems large enough to suliice for many years. I As 1898 saw one young woman graduating from a two year academy course, 1901 the first class of students completing a four year course, so 1904 saw a class of twelve young men and women complete the newly outlined six year course. 18