Hastings College - Bronco Yearbook (Hastings, NE)

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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.

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Above: Classes during the years 1882-83 were con- ducted by these faculty members. On September 13, 1882, just one year after the appointment of the board of trustees, the formal op- ening of Hastings College took place at a chapel service in the First Presbyterian Church of Hastings. Inasmuch as work had not yet started on the first building, six rooms were rented on the second floor of Chilcote Building, which stood on the northeast corner of First Street and Hastings Avenue. Classes were held in these rooms for the next two years until McCormick Hall was completed. Forty-four students, all of secondary rank, were enrolled in the first classes. An exceptional group of men and women established at the outset a high standard of scholarship for Hastings College. The faculty consisted of five me'mbers: M. Wil- son, George E. White, and Miss Addie Brewer in the literary department, Miss Lou Vance, art instructor, and John Rees, music instructor. Of the early fac- ulty members of the institution, Miss Janet Car- penter, '92 says: Many of the faculty, indeed most of them, were men and women who were engaged in the work as a missionary enterprise. And indeed it was a 'missionary enterprise .... Our teachers were men and women of culture, mostly from the East, for the NWest at that time could hardly have provided themf' Dr. White went from his position on the Hast- ings College faculty to become president of Anatolia College, Thessalonika, Greece, and still later to be- come president-emeritus of that institution, a posi- tion which he now holds. He is the only living member of the first faculty of Hastings College. The year 1883 was a very significant one in the early history of the college: The Rev. William F. Ringland became the first president of the college, the transformation from prairie to college campus was begun, and the first building was started. Dr. Ringland, pastor of the Hastings Presbyter- ian Church, accepted the presidency of the college in the belief that he could perform the duties of both the college and the church. At the end of the year, however, he found the exacting duties of the presi- dency 'more than enough to require all of his time, and he gave up his pastorate. For thirteen years he served faithfully as the capable leader of the strug- gling young college. On April 25, 1883, the day on which ground was broken for the first building, the citizens of Hastings expressed their interest in the college by assembling on the college grounds for the purpose of setting out trees. Over 200 loyal supporters ioined wholeheartedly in the initial effort to trans- form the campus from a barren plain to a place of beauty. On the same date one year later more trees were planted, making a total of six thousand trees. The cornerstone of the first building was laid July 12, 1883, by J. B. Heartwell, president of the board of trustees. Preceding this event the Hastings town band led a mile-long procession from the busi- ness district to the new campus, a speech was de- livered by the Rev. H. M. Giltner, pioneer Presby- terian minister in Nebraska, and a congratulatory letter was read from Cyrus McCormick, Sr. Also on that same day word came from Cyrus McCormick, Jr. that he was presenting the college with a gift of S3,000, a su'm sufficient to complete payments on the new building. When it was ready for use in Sep- tember, 1884, permission was obtained from Mr. Mc- Cormick to name the building in his honor with the hope that the name would prove attractive to farm youth. Before McCormick Hall was completed, work was begun on a second building. Money for it was raised, for the most part, in Hastings, and the build- ing was finished early in 1885 at a cost of 516,- 799.54. Known as South Hall for many years, this Below: Campus music in 1892-95 was furnished by these members of the first college orchestra.