Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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JOHN S. COFFMAN .IONAS S. HARTZLER The Founders J. S. Coffman was perhaps the most important factor in the founding of Elkhart Institute. As a boy on a Virginia farm he pursued his private studies between the plow handles, sensing a divine call to greater respon- sibilities to come. As the first effective evangelist of the Mennonite Church, he developed a vision of the need of Christian education in the work of the Church. As the first president of the Board of Directors of Elkhart Institute, his efforts were unsparing, and his Wise, courageous, spi1'itual leadership undoubtedly made the successful building of the school possible. Upon his deathbed at the early age of forty-nine, he remarked, I see much that ought to be done and that I might do. But if it is the Lord's will that my work must stop I am perfectly contented and gladly go to my rest, Oh Perfect Rest. The school could have profited from his leadership for many more years, but the essential work had been done, and Goshen College of today gratefully acknowledges her deep debt to this devoted man of God, John S. Coffman. When Elkhart Institute was established the Mennonite Church as a whole was rather cool toward higher education. Someone needed to demon- strate to the church that a man could actively promote and administer higher education and still be a faithful Mennonite. More than any other person, J. S. Hartzler was that man. As an instructor in Bible for nearly twenty years, he set the tone for the Bible School. More than this, he was a member of the first Board of Directors, business manager, and secretary of the school. Much of the early success of the school was due to his busi- ness ability and his arduous efforts during the critical periods of its his- tory. He on the inside, like J. S. Coiman on the outside, was a key figure and in his whole personality a symbol of the fact that Goshen College is a church school, Christian and Mennonite. The college is happy that at the advanced age of eighty-eight, he can join in the fiftieth anniversary. A word of tribute should also be given to H. A. Mumaw, M.D., who established the school in 1894 as a private institutiong likewise to Lewis Kulp and N. E. Byers who helped to guide successfully the school forward in a courageous faith which has been richly rewarded throughout the years. 6 ,

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W- MZL7 ELKI-IAIIT INSTITUTE BUILDING l4II,IiHAIlT, INDIANA History of Elkhart Institute . . , we are thrilled with pleasure as we paint in our mental vision the beautiful picture of a multitude of young men and women going out from this institution . . . trained to make the best of all their faculties, pos- sessed with a will to do right . . . farmed with a trustl that relies solely on the favor of God for success. This quotation from the 1896 dedicatory speech of J. S. Coffman, president of the board of t1'ustees, represents the vision and aspirations of the founders of the Elkhart Institute, which had its beginning August 2, 1894, in Elkhart, Indiana. As a result ol' a grow- ing interest in education in Mennonite circles, the school, consisting of tive students and one instructor, was opened as a private enterprise conducted by H. A. Mumaw, a practicing physician. During the year another in- structor was added, with 158 students enrolled, many for short periods only. In May, 1895, the Elkhart Institute Corporation was formed with a capital stock of SB10,000, later increased to 325,000 The control of the school was vested in a board of nine trustees elected by the stockholders. During the first two years the commercial department received the chief emphasis: but in 1896, when the Institute moved from its rented hall to the newly completed building on Prairie Street, academic and Bible depart- ments were added to the curriculum. Because of the difliculty in securing a faculty which was in harmony with the ideals of the founders, it was not until 1898 that the real history ot' Elkhart Institute began. Under the direction of N. E. Byers as prin- cipal, a new course of study was organized, with major emphasis on a full High School course fcalled Academy at that timel. Gradually the school made p1'ogress until a new location became necessary. In September, 1903, the school was moved to Goshen, Indiana, where as Goshen College it has become the leading institution of higher education in the church. 7