Louisiana Polytechnic Institute - Lagniappe Yearbook (Ruston, LA)

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4 jrrKo XTA a INTI API OUR HISTORY The Louisiana Polytechnic Institute is not old enough to enjoy the misty background of tradition out of which strange heroic stories grow; but from the very time of its creation people have been connected with it who have visions and have dreamed dreams. Those who have guided its destiny through the little more than a quarter of a century of its his¬ tory have been people who have caught the spirit of the times, and have aspired always for it to maintain a place of first rank among the edu¬ cational institutions of our State. The school was created by an Act of the General Assembly in 1894. It was called the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana. The Con¬ stitutional Convention of 1898, changed the name to the Louisiana In¬ dustrial Institute. The bill creating the school was proposed by Mr. G. M. Lomax, Representative from Lincoln Parish at that time. The other Lincoln Parish member of the General Assembly was Mr. J. T. M. Han¬ cock, and it was largely through the efforts of these two men that the school was located at Ruston, at that time a town only ten years old, and of less than fifteen hundred people. The first session began in September, 1895, with an enrollment of two hundred students and six teachers. Col. A. T. Prescott was presi¬ dent and also a member of the teaching staff. The school was conducted in a small two-stor} brick building and a small frame building for Mechanics. Two years later the first Commencement was celebrated, and Mr. Harry Howard was the first graduate. No one who has ever been graduated from the school has been more loyal nor more devoted in service to his Alma Mater than has Mr. Howard. In 1898 a Girls’ Dormitory was built, the faculty was increased from six to twelve, and the student body reached three hundred in number. At this time Col. Prescott resigned as president to accept a position in the Louisiana State University, and Prof. W. C. Robinson was elected to take his place. He served two years as president after which he re¬ sumed the chair of Mathematics, and Prof. James B. Aswell became president. During the four years of Prof. Aswell’s presidency, the school gained a wide reputation as a pioneer in industrial education in Louis- Page fifteen

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S ElThe LiA 3 IVIAPPE - 1925 iana. Both the student body and the faculty doubled in number, and two new buildings were added to the school plant. The Boys’ Hall was built in 1901, and the Mechanics Building in 1904. In 1904, Prof. Aswell resigned to become State Superintendent of Education, and Dr. W. E. Taylor was made president. For eight years Dr. Taylor had been connected with the school as Professor of Biology. He had endeared himself to all who knew him, because of his many excellent qualities of both mind and heart. He was honored for both his lovable character and his brilliant scholar¬ ship. He served two years as president when he was called to assume the leadership of Louisiana College, a Baptist institution being founded at that time in Pineville, Louisiana. Mr. C. E. Byrd, of Shreveport, served as president during the ses¬ sion 1906-1907, after which he returned to Shreveport to resume his work as Superintendent of Education in Caddo Parish. It was then that Mr. Keeny came to assume the leadership of the school. His has been the only uninterrupted period of leadership that the school has known. During this time the institution has passed through many criti¬ cal periods. It has experienced both joys and sorrows. It has had its moments of elation, and it has had its moments of despair. In June, 1914, the school had its first sorrow, in the death of Prof. Carvill H. Carson. For fourteen years he had been associated with the institution as Professor of Physics and Chemistry. He was greatly loved by all who knew him. One could not sit in his classes five hours each week and not feel the influence of a great character. His ideals were as beautiful and as lofty as pictures in the sky. One could not help but be inspired by them, and one could not fail to get from them a vision of a greater service and a fuller life. In the spring of 1914 war clouds gathered along the horizon, and the sound of arms was heard from distant shores. It was the beginning of a new epoch in the history of this institution. These halls began to echo to the sound of the bugle call, and to resound to the tramp of marching feet. These grounds were as a military camp, as our country’s call was answered by both teacher and student volunteers. Col. Shat- tuck left Ruston in May, 1917, as Captain of Company F., and Major Prince left at the same time as Captain of Company of Supplies, both of the First Louisiana Infantry. Both of these companies were composed $ Page sixteen