Kalamazoo College - Boiling Pot Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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stable enterprises has been made permanent only as a result of many long and weary struggles. The thirty years following the war was a continual battle against fate. Financial depression and bitter disappointments followed in rapid succession, yet the heroic efforts of its presidents and friends gave us the victory. President John M. Gregoryg Dr. Kendall Brooks, during whose term of oiiice the Ladies Hall was built, mainly through the efforts of the noble and devoted women of the stateg Dr. Monson A. Wilcox, the Rev. Theodore Nelson, D. D3 and in 1892 Dr. Arthur G. Slocum, succeeded in order to the presidency after the resignation of Dr. Stone. The facts of Dr. Slocum's administration are compar- atively familiar. The betterment of our Hnances, the increased endowment, the influx of students, the affilia- tion with Chicago, and the erection of Bowen Hall, stand as memorable evidences of his labor and devotion. It is, then, with a just pride that we own old Kalamazoo as our Alma-mater. The oldest of Michigan's colleges, one of the first institutions to open its doors to women in our country, bearing the proud lineage of long struggle and ultimate triumph she looks forward today from her present prosperity to a bright and promising future. ' H. S. U. '03, 5 21

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rapidly becoming too small, plans were laid for the erection of a four story building upon a commanding site which had been purchased in the western side of the village. The plans provided for the use of the irst floor for class rooms and chapel, leaving the remainder to be used as dormitories for the students, and such indeed was the first use to which the present dormitory was put. In 1854-55 we find matters looking bright for the Institute. The enrollment entire numbering some 250 students, additions to the curriculum being made, and such names among the faculty as those of the President, Dr. Stone, Edward Olney, later professor of Mathematics in the University of Michigan, Daniel Putnam and Mrs. L. H. Stone. In 1855 the corporate name was changed to its present title Kalamazoo College. It should not be forgotten that during these years the struggle for the admission of women to equal standing with men, in our institutions of higher learning, was at its height. The wornan's department of the earlier Institute bears testi- mony to the fact that Kalamazoo College stood even then with open doors to the women of our state. The Kalamazoo Theological Seminary started shortly after this time, and was more or less closely allied, unofiicially, to the College for many years. Kalamazoo Hall, originally intended for the woman's department was dedicated in 1859. The funds from which the hall was erected were donated by the citizens of Kalamazoo with the exception of one thousand dollars given by Caleb Van Husen and some few lesser subscriptions. In 1863 President and Mrs. Stone resigned the positions which they had held for twenty years at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice. Those who record the story of this period pay highest tribute to them for the work which they accomplished. Six years later Dr. Samuel Brooks became professor in Latin, and so today holds the oldest faculty relationship of any of our professors. It would be interesting to pursue in detail the trials and fortunes of the ensuing years. The College like all 90

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'Glasses