Lenoir Rhyne College - Hacawa Yearbook (Hickory, NC)

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:;. - ■. -.:- ?0- - ?• -■- ■ , 9 1 p ' V IP force were much increased, courses broadened, standard raised, methods improved, and a name and place won among the colleges of the State and country. Successful departments of music, art, voice, expression, and business were established, and much equipment along these lines and for the library and laboratories was secured. Three large rooms of the main building were finished, and a new front added. In 1902, Oakview Hall for women was erected ; in 1909, it was enlarged. In 1907, Highland Hall for men was erected ; in 1907-8, St. Andrews, the college church, was erected ; in 1912-13, the Yoder Science Building was erected and equipped, and steam heating plants installed. It would be impossible to over-estimate the importance of the erec- tion and equipment of these buildings in the growth and development of the college. Early in the administration of Dr. Fritz, our graduates were admitted to the senior class at our State University, and were graduated in one year. In 1910, after our standard had been raised and faculty strength- ened, our graduates were admitted without examination to graduate work in Carolina and other universities. In 1915, Lenoir College was rated one of the ten A-grade colleges of our State by the educational authorities of the State. In 1915-16, an endowment of $50,000 was raised by President Fritz, assisted by Mrs. R. A. Yoder. In March, 1919, President Fritz resigned, and was recalled as professor of mathematics and astronomy. He continued in charge of the college till January, 1920. During this eighteen-year period, the col- lege was practically self-supporting ; the teachers, being greatly over- woi ' ked and underpaid, still constituted the endowment. For six of these years no appropriation was received from Synod, and the amounts received for the other years were little more than the interest and equipment costs paid by the college. The average yearly enrollment for this period was 270. The number of students enrolled to date is 4,043, and the total number of graduates 450. In the fall of 1919, a campaign for a real endowment was launched, and at the end of two months the goal reached was $310,000. This meant a new lease on life, and a hopeful future for the college. In January, 1920, Dr. John C. Peery took charge as president, and a new era in the history of the college dawned most auspiciously. Eight m % ft-v 1 m m m AMmmm mm wm ■if

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f -lACkVs 1 92 1 ■rr ' T.- ' i l : ' fm LOOKING BACKWARD ONCORDIA HIGH SCHOOL was established at Conover, N. C. in July, 1877, by the Lutherans of western North Carolina. This institution was converted into a college and chartered as Concordia College in 1881 by an association of pastoi ' s and congregations of the Lutheran Tennessee Synod. Synod took the college under its care in 1883, and it remained in this relation till 1892. Dr. R. A. Yoder was principal of Concordia High School, and then for about ten years president of Concordia College. In 1890, the beautiful site now occupied by the college was offered to the Lutherans by Col. J. G. Hall, special trustee for Capt. Walter Lenoir, but was not accepted. Early in 1891, four pastors — Rev. A. L. Grouse, Dr. J. C. Moser, Dr. W. P. Cline, and Dr. R. A. Yoder — supported by a large following of substantial laymen, accepted the offer of Colonel Hall. The new college was opened in the Highland Academy building on the campus, September 1, 1891, as Highland College. The institution was incorporated January 4, 1892, as Lenoir College, in honor of Capt. Walter Lenoir, who had deeded to his trustee, Col. J. G. Hall, the large campus and thirty-eight acre lots adjoining for such purpose. Prof. R. L. Fritz, then a young man, was a co-worker with the Big Four in all this work of founding the college. In 1895, the Lutheran Tennessee Synod took under its care Lenoir College as its institution; and in August, 1899, it assumed the financial obligation of the current expenses of the college. Dr. R. A. Yoder was president of the college from 1891 to 1901. During his administi ' ation, the main building was erected, the institution was given foundation, policy, and character, and great good was accom- plished in the education of a large number of young men and young women for superior service in home, church, and state. Only the Lord and a few intimately associated with the Big Four will ever really know the full measure of hard toil, sacrifice, and devotion yielded this college by these faithful men. Lenoir College .- and -Hhall be, because Cline, Yoder, Grouse, Moser, and Fritz labored as they did and when they did. Dr. R. L. Fritz, an alumnus, was president from 1901 to 1919. Dur- ing his administration, the material equipment, attendance, and teaching Seven .. mmmm m

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