Hastings College - Bronco Yearbook (Hastings, NE)

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Leff: Students and friends Watch a football game from the Johnson Stadium, which was built by stu- dents and Mr. P. L, Johnson in 1911, and destroyed by fire in 1925. :et its expenses largely from gifts, for the endow- Wfhittierians and the Pestalozzians, both of which :nt was exceedingly smallg and tuition, as late as admitted college and academy men and women. 87, was only eight dollars a term. Other activities at this time consisted of debating, By 1897 more than 800 students from 14 dif- Oratory' and Composmon' rent states had been enrolled in the school. There Following Dr. Pattison's resignation in 1900, :re other evidences that this was an age of progress. Dean William N. Filson, one of the most versatile ie library, which was located in Ringland Hall, now men in the history of the college, was called upon to ntained 3,500 volumes plus hundreds of magazines. act as president. Mr. Filson had first joined the adents participated in two literary societies, the faculty in 1893 as instructor in Latin, and after Dr. Below: Academy students of the ,90,s pose for the camera man in front of McCormick Hall. At this time they out- numbered the regular students. c ' S 1 1 X xi 'x x x x x xxtsx: 9

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building housed administrative offices, library, class- rooms, and girls' dormitory until early in the 1900,s. The official name is now Ringland Hall, in honor of the first president of the college. After the first buildings were completed and the confusion of starting the college resolved into a semblance of order, the school settled down to begin its academic work. James H. H. Hewett, a transfer student from Peru, was the first graduate of Hastings College in 1885, three years after the school was established. The enrollment gradually increased and reached a total of 208 students in 1897. The faculty likewise increased steadily to keep pace with the en- rollment. Drought and grasshoppers again besieged the Midwest in the late '80's, and there was no further increase in enrollment until 1897. The drop in farm income resulting from the drought greatly affected gifts to the college, and in 1889 the institution had a 837,000 debt. With such a debt the trustees con- templated closing the college, but heartening word came from Mrs. Cyrus H. McCormick, she would give the college 515,000 for endowment provided the 837,000 debt be removed by the citizens of Hast- ings. Needless to say, the money was raised. The faculty, members of the executive committee, and other citizens of Hastings united in the effort, raised the 537,000 which cancelled the entire debt, and saved the life of the college. The graduating classes during those first years of the struggling young college were exceedingly small, but from their ranks have come many worthy men and women. From the senior class of nine in 1892 have come two distinguished alumni of Hast- ings College, Miss Janet L. Carpenter and Mr. Robert Moritz. Miss Carpenter returned to her alma mater in 1906 after several years of experience in other schools. Lrff: Students of the gay nineties gave a performance typifing the period. She taught first in the Greek and Latin Department and then in the English Department. Quoting Dean F. E. Weyer, Miss Carpenter has not only served the institution longer than has anyone else in the history of the college, but she has also had an indis- pensable part in promoting the scholarship standards, cultural tone, and spiritual life of the institution. Mr. Moritz, after completing graduate work, returned to the college as instructor of mathe- matics. In 1904 he became head of the Mathematics Department at the University of Washington, a posi- tion he held until he was succeeded by Dr. Allen Carpenter, '01, brother of Miss Janet Carpenter. Hastings College faced another financial crisis in the '90's. Crop failures combined with the finan- cial panic to bring trying times to the college. In this time of emergency Dr. Ringland was called upon in 1896 to distribute relief and loans to the needy people of western Nebraska who had been affected by the drought. This work made it impossible for him to perform his usual duties as president, and as a result the college came through this second crisis with a substantial debt. To climax events, Dr. Ringland felt it necessary to resign his position as president of the college to accept full time work as synodical missionary in Ohio. Salem G. Pattison, who was chosen to succeed Dr. Ringland, was president during the four years which have often been called the transition period of Hastings College. Throughout his term a con- stant effort was made to relieve the financial crisis of the college. A program was instituted whereby students could earn part of their expenses by work- ing on a farm or in a dairy, but this plan proved un- successful and was discontinued after a few years. A drive also was started to increase the original 515,000 endowment, but it met with little immediate success. At this time the college still found it necessary to

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Rigbfz Korean students present- ed a play in the Little Theater dur- ing the summer of 1910. Ringland's resignation had served first as acting president and later as president for two years, in 1902 he resumed his duties as dean of the college, when Dr. E. Van Dyke Wight, pastor of the Hastings Presbyterian Church, was called to the presidency. In addition to his duties as dean, Mr. Filson also served as registrar and track coach. The new president, Dr. Wight, had become well acquainted with the college and its problems during his five years as Bible instructor, thus when he be- came president in 1902, he understood the situation which confronted the college, and he immediately began his campaign to raise building funds. He was able to make many contacts with people in the east- ern part of the United States and to arouse interest in the college a'mong friends. In 1902 the board of trustees set an endowment goal of S50,000. This figure was soon reached, and the campaign continued until the endowment rose to 5,100,000 in 1906. Among outstanding contributors at this time were Dr. D. K. Pierson of Pittsburgh, John H. Converse of Philadelphia, and ex-president Grover Cleveland of Princeton, N. Hastings College continued to advance in other ways. In 1906 Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, made a gift of 520,000 to the college for the con- struction of a library, and the building was ready for occupancy by 1906. The dedication of Alexander Hall, girls, dormitory, in 1907 came as the culmina- tion of Dr. Wightis presidency. The new building, the third on the campus, was named in honor of Samuel Alexander, one of the founders of the col- lege and for many years vice-president of the board of trustees. Dr. Wight resigned his position in 1907. Dr. A. E. Turner, the fourth president of Hast- ings College, took office in 1907 and at once the college seemed to have an awakening. New interest was shown in the school by almost everyone, even the students themselves caught the new spirit. New societies were organized, athletics came to the fore, and the college became very much alive. The college was gradually developing an active interest in athletics. Baseball was one of the first games to attract students, and in the '90's students themselves laid out a diamond behind McCormick Hall. built bleachers, and there enjoyed the sport. Football increased in popularity and the college be- gan to schedule games in 1895. Hastings players at this time had a volunteer coach who was either a faculty member or one of the business men from down town. The team battled with opponents from Nebraska University, Grand Island College, York College, Hastings Fire Department, as well as Hast- ings, Lincoln, and Omaha High Schools. Doane, with whom Hastings has played more times than with any other team, first become an opponent in 1900. The Department of Athletics grew rapidly from 1907 to 1912. In 1908 August Holste, a graduate of the University of Chicago and a pupil of the fa- mous Alonzo Stagg, was employed as the first full- time athletic coach. His first football team claimed for the college its first conference title in 1908, the same year in which Hastings joined with other Ne- braska colleges to form the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 1910 the team repeated its success and in so doing set a precedent for the many titles which the Broncos have captured in later years. The first gymnasium of Hastings College was a wooden structure built in 1911 just south of what is now Clarke Hall. Mr. P. L. Johnson, then secre- tary of the board of trustees and treasurer of the