Mercer University - Cauldron Yearbook (Macon, GA)

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Leah McCauk) door of Administration building at night Mercer: 1870-1910 After almost 40 years in Pen field. Mercer University was moved to Macon in 1871. The idea of moving had been debated for some 20 years, until Alderman Earlsworth Crockett introduced a formal ordinance favoring reloc tion in 1870. Even the strong op- position of Penfield citizens could not prevent the move. Temporary classrooms were oc- cupied in Macon while Mercer s academic building slowly pro gressed. The university hired famed architect G.P. Randall, of Chicago, to erect a building that would serve the institution for centuries to come. Upon comple- tion in 1874. the ornate four-story structure boasted three towers and contained classrooms, of fices. a laboratory, a museum, li- brary quarters, a presidential apartment, and several basement and attic rooms. Meanwhile, a $10,000 dormitory dining hall containing thirty bedrooms, and several four-room cottages were built. In 1873, a fatal meningitis epi demic killed fourteen students. The school closed in an attempt to isolate the disease, but soon re opened with all surviving stu dents Athletics became popular near the turn of the century Mercer started a football team, the Mer cer Baptists , around 1893, but they were put to an eight-year halt in 1897. During this hiatus, golf and track grew in popularity, but they were never to be as popular as baseball and basketball The Baptists resumed in 1905 and continued until World War II. but baseball was Mercer's first inter collegiate sport Chert Francis Jarrell D cke Title Pag»- from the 1899 KINETESCOPE ! 4 Prolog

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