Macalester College - Quid Nunc Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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and once more deficits increased until they had reached the staggering figure of 35I80,000.00 in 1898. Macalester seemed hopelessly lost. Three presidents in succession had failed to save the college. Then a group of loyal professors consecrated their lives to the task of saving Macalester, and demonstrated anew to the world the conquering power of an unfaltering Christian faith. Following the leadership of Dr. Wallace, who accepted the office of Acting President in 1894, Professor A. W. Anderson, Dr. E. C. Downing, and Dr. G. W. Davis, undertook to keep up college work until they had vindicated the existence of this institution. After several years of extreme self-denial by these men, Pro- fessor D. N. Kingery and Mrs. Julia M. johnson, joined the faculty and en- couraged their efforts. In those years of poverty, from 1885-1899, Macalester graduated one hundred students, most of whom devoted themselves to Christian service as ministers or as missionaries of the Gospel. This result won friends for the college. Foremost among those who espoused its cause were Mr. Thomas H. Dickson, Prof. Thomas Shaw of the University of Minnesota, Mr. George D. Dayton, Mr. R. A. Kirk, and Mr. R. C. jefferson. Dr. Wallace and his loyal colleagues had won friends for Macalester by demonstrating that it was doing a much needed work. The problem thereafter was how to make possible the continuance of this function under adequate circumstances. In the accom- plishment of this task Mr. R. A. Kirk is the outstanding figure. He, in turn, could not have succeeded, had he not been supported by his esteemed friend, Mr. R. C. Jefferson. These two men secured the necessary financial assistance from Mr. james J. Hill and Mr. Frederick Weyerhaeuser and others, to liquidate the debt and to begin the proper endowment of the college. What these men did in' St. Paul was done, in a somewhat smaller measure in Minneapolis by Mr. G. D. Dayton, Mr. T. Janney, Mr. W. H. Dunwoody and Mr. G. W. Wishard. From IQOO to the present time three successive endowment campaigns have given to Macalester the second largest endowment fund of all the colleges in the state, SI,500,000.00. Since 1907 two modern buildings have been added to the campus and many improvements have been made to the curriculum. The faculty has been increased from five in 1885 to thirty-one in 1923. Dr. Thomas M. Hodgman, president from 1907 to 1917, and Dr. E. A. Bess, president since 1918, have done much to advance the best interests of Macalester. And today Macalester has the good fortune to be under the direction of a Board of Trustees whose devotion, financial ability, clear vision, and leadership, is a pledge that every reasonable hope for the proper development of this institution will be realized in the near future. H. D. FUNK Se 7 29 A 955

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Q6 DE Macalester College - A Sketch DR. H. D. FUNK ACALESTER College is now completing the thirty-seventh year of un- interrupted scholastic work. It was founded by Rev. Edward D. Neill, who came to Minnesota as a pioneer missionary in 1849 and established a pre- paratory school in 1853. This Baldwin School, named after Mr. M. W. Baldwin of Philadelphia, he hoped to develop into a university. But the death of his patron and the Civil War interfered with these plans. Returning from the war, and from a consular post in Dublin, in 1873, Dr. Neill renewed his efforts to establish a college of the New England type in Minnesota, and won the support of Mr. Charles Macalester of Philadelphia. This new patron bequeathed the famous Winslow House of Minneapolis for the new college, which Dr. Neill named in honor of the donor. His efforts to secure its endowment as an un- denominational institution having failed, the Trustees and Dr. Neill, in 1880, made overtures to the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Minnesota to adopt Macalester. In 1883 this synod took the college under its care, and in 1884 the present east wing of the Main building was erected. In September, 1885, the college opened with five professors and six freshmen, and with fifty-two 'fpreps in the Baldwin School. From 1895 to IQOO Macalester had a struggling existence. Donations and bequests, which had been expected to supplement an endowment of about 325,000.00, were not forthcoming, and so annually increasing deficits resulted, which amounted to 8131,ooo.oo in 1891. Heroic efforts were made to wipe out this debt in 1892, and enough pledges had been secured to liquidate all obliga- tions, when the panic of 1893 occurred. Subscriptions became uncollectable, me ar

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EWG DE The Future of Macalester HAT does your imagination picture for Macalester twenty-five, fifty, or a hundred years hence? The picture will reflect the ideals you now have, and it would be an interesting study could we have a composite photograph of these ideals as they are today in the minds of faculty, alumni, students, and the Presby- terian Church of Minnesota. First: There is the student body. What will be its size and from what homes will the students come? Minnesotals resources are varied and her soil is fertile. If the present density of population in Minnesota were equal to the present average density of the states east of the Mississippi River, more than seven million people would be living now within her borders, and if the student body of Macalester bore the same relation to the population of our state, as it now bears, we would have thirteen hundred students on our campus. What will the result inevitably be in the not far distant future? Secondly: We must prepare for this increase with adequate buildings, and if we are responsive to the demands, we cannot delay the program. When we endeavor to visualize the future campus, two buildings stand out among the others as preeminently typifying the Macalester spirit. One is the gymnasium with the nearby stadium. Macalester College is not only to give the education found in books, but it is for the development of BISHOP H. Scmum-:R a whole man. The gymnasium will not only afford facilities for developing the body, but in connection with the stadium will be a means for training the social instincts. Football is a wonderful and a masterful game. It teaches leader- ship, self-control, daring, caution, and a rigid respect for the rights of others, all essential in developing character. The other building, second in importance to none, is the College Chapel, which will stand for the moral and spiritual development of the student. The only reason Macalester has for existence is that it is a Christian Col- lege. A Christian College is one that believes and teaches that the principles of the Christian religion are the foundation of all character building. Rev. H. C. Swearingen, D.D., recently said, 'flt is individual relation with Jesus Christ that shapes character and determines destiny. A Chapel on our campus will be notice to the world that Macalester stands for this ideal, and that ideal will be daily inspiration to an ever increasing student body for unborn generations yet to come. BISHOP H. SCHRIBER, Secretary of Board of Trustees of Macalester College. ,mc -304 9?