Hastings College - Bronco Yearbook (Hastings, NE)

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iv j 1' , , .y-M1 uf' 57 Qdvancemenw - ' M, ,f ..f, Y-'Suomi K.l?'ZF57i

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ssl le! A Z XX i The Artist Rollin Kirby bas eaugbt tire familiar face and the figure of the first president of Hastings College, Dr. Wil- liam F. Ringlanrl, as well as the expectant, somewhat be- wililererl look of tbe country boy entering on his greatest ail- ventiire-gefting an eduratiov. Mr. Kirby says, We were all C0lU1fl'j' boys then. Mr. Kirby was an Aearleumy stziilent unrler Dr. Ringland. He bas since berome one of the greatest eartoonists of modern times aml bas tloree times been awarileil tbe rovetezl Pulitzer prizev for the best cartoon of the year. For many years bis work appearerl daily in the New York Wforlil, fum' now it appears in lbe New York Post. CCsf5bl1rougl1out Qwr Sixt ears

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The Histor of Gur College Six years after Nebraska became a state and one year before the village of Hastings became incorpor- ated, the enterprising citizens of the young com- munity were considering the establishment of a col- lege in their city. The very fact that they felt the need of a collge shows that the people of the village had brought with them, from states a little farther east, a surprising amount of education and culture. These pioneer men and women realized the import- ance of higher education and had an ambition to make such education available for their children. As a result, on August 19, 1873, A. L. Wigton printed in his paper, the Hastings journal, an article entitled Why Not Have a Presbyterian College? Interest in the proposed college reached a climax when Kearney Presbytery met at Kearney Junction on November 19. By that time enthusiasm for a col- lege was such that Mr. Wigton and the Rev. James Griffes, pastor of the Hastings Presbyterian Church, presented a proposal that a college be located in Hastings. A committee was appointed to formulate plans for raising funds and obtaining land for the college. Mr. Wigton, the Rev. James Griffes, and the Rev. Nahum Gould, pastor of the Kearney Junc- tion Presbyterian Church, were the committee mem- bers. Hastings College was ready to become some- thing more than words. The committee worked arduously at its task and by the next spring had received promises of 5100,- OO0 in land, money, and services. Included in the gifts were forty acres of land immediately south of what is now the business district of Hastings. This land, offered by two railroad companies, would have become the college campus if plans had proceeded as scheduled, but nature took a hand in matters, and for nine years droughts and grasshoppers settled on the broad Nebraska plains. Despite adverse conditions, the village of Hast- ings grew until it numbered several thousand in- habitants in 1881. In this year active work was re- sumed in behalf of the college, but the railroad grants for the campus were no longer available. Ninety-three Hastings men who shared the vision of a college joined in a gift of S11,300, which was to be used for a site, for the first building, and for the cost of maintenance during the first year. The Kear- ney Presbytery then appointed a board of trustees on September 14, 1881 to begin immediately with the work of organization. The first gift of cash after the initial fund followed in 1883 in the form of a 355,000 gift from Cyrus H. McCormick, inventor of the famed McCormick reaper, a man whose name is closely associated with the founding of Hastings College. The newly-appointed board of trustees shared the enthusiasm of the local people for a college and proceeded immediately with their work. For the campus they selected one hundred acres of prairie land lying east of town, twenty acres of which rep- resented a gift from Mr. Joseph H. Hanson, for whom the football field was later named. The other eighty acres were purchased outright. Below: For the first time Nebraska Synod members were able to meet in the newly-completed McCormick Hall, 1884.