Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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entered chapel. There are accounts of dismissal for no less a cause than to be found idle in their rooms, and in one instance a group of young men was dropped from the roll for barring the class room door, and not attending class, in which case the instructor escaped from personal attack thru a back window. But from those classes went men to become future presidents of their country, congressmen, governors, ministers, authors, men of law and learning. Those pioneer men, despite the hard life they lead, were interested in literary pursuits, and immediately after the opening of school were founded the literary societies of Miami Union, tDecember, 18241, and Erodelphian, Uanuary, 182 5; It was the rivalry between these two organizations, and the struggles within themselves that gave rise to the fraternal organizations of Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, and Sigma Chi. So nourished the Yale of the West until the first fire of the guns of the Civil War echoed thru the hills and met the ears of Miami students and faculty. An antagonism soon arose which was a blow to Miami as an institution, and the young heroes of both sides rushed to the defense of their home lands. A faculty resolution of September, 1861, read: 8Resolved that if any student openly expressed sentiments of sympathy with the so-called Southern Confederacy, or of hostility to the legitimate government of the United States he shall for this offense immediately be dismissed. 8 Many students were dropped, and in 1862, thirty-three students enlisted for the defense of their country, and took Professor McFarland as their captain. The institution did not have sufficient revenues, and Old Miami closed her doors in 1873. Miami then entered a period of reconstruction by opening her halls for learning once more in 1885, and she rose in standing and rank to the best of institutions of her kind. In 1887 women were admitted to the College of Liberal Arts, and in 1902 the Ohio State Teachers,College, giving a two year course, was added. In 1914 courses for the training of high school teachers were established leading to a degree of Bachelor of Science in Education. We know Miami of today, and with a past as she holds, we cannot help but be proud to pass thru her halls, and call her Alma Mater.

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Miamfs History with such initiative and spirit was not satisfied. He has been born a pioneer and was to remain .a pioneer. He had come to the country of the Miamis. Marietta on the Ohio had long been settled, and trading posts were established in the tributary streams following the invasions of Generals St. Claire, and Anthony Wayne. The old territorial government of the Ordinance of Northwest Territory of 1787 was no longer possible, and Ohio became a state in 1803. Those rough frontiersmen, with a hard, winding trail to their backs, and the savage, hostile, redskin before them, were well aware that education was to take a great part in making successful what they had begun. The Indian wig-wam then gave way to the frontiersmanis log hut, and stretches of Virgin forest were cleared in industrial and agricultural pursuits. , This territory was a part of the Symmes, Purchase, and the Ordinance of 1787 provided that a township be reserved for academic purposes. Under those conditions sites were chosen for investigation at Cincinnati, Hamilton, Yellow Springs, Dayton, and Lebanon, but after much deliberation and dispute the State Legislature of 1809 provided for the establishment of Miami University in the Village to be called Oxford, west of the Great Miami River. Among the hrst buildings on the Miami Campus, for those eager for science and learning, were some log structures, one of which is now marked by the stone near the east end of Brice Hall. The hrst construction work of the present Main Building was begun in 1820. THE Independence of the Thirteen Colonies had been won, but the man It was announced in a newspaper of 1824 that: 2Miami University will be opened on the first day of November, next; tuition $10.00; board $1.00 to $1.25 a week; estimate of total expenses for the year $93.00? That small but enthusiastic and aggressive group of back-woodsmen little dreamed that soon they were to be joined by sons of many states, and that the campus they trod upon was to become the campus of one of the greatest institutions of learning of the West. President Bishop lead the institution onward during those strenuous days, and soon more construction was begun, including the present N orth and South Dormitories. It was at this time that Old Miami had within her halls William H. McGuffey, who came as an under-graduate from Washington College, Penn., and was elected to the faculty as professor of languages and philosophy in 1826. At this time he published his famous readers and spellers, and made his studies of children. Student life at Miami at that time must have been indeed a hard path, for after the tiring journey on foot or stage-coach thru the traditional mud-holes about Oxford, they entered a daily routine of study, recitation, and prayer hours, and some were even compelled to prepare their own food. Then, we read of numerous accounts of dismissals by the faculty for mis-conduct and hghting in the village taverns, intoxication, or even pouring water on the girls as they

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Presidents of the University Robert Hamilton Bishop, D. D., President 1824-1841. George Junkin, D. D., President, 1841-1844. John McArthur, President pro tempore, 1844-1845. Erasmus D. McMaster, D. D., L. L. D., President, 1845-1849. William C. Anderson, D. D., President, 1849-1854. Orange Nash Stoddard, President, pro tempore, 1854. John w. Hall, D. D., President, 1854-1866. Robert Livingston Stanton, D. D., President, 1866-1871. Andrew Dousa Hepburn, D. D., L. L. D., President, 1871-1873. Robert White McFarland, D. D., President, 1885-1888. Ethelbert Dudley Warfleld, D. D., L. L. D., President, 1888-1891. William Oxley Thompson, D. D., L. L. D., President, 1891-1899. William Jasper McSurely, D. D., President, pro tempore 1899. David Stanton Tappan, D. D., L. L. D., President, 1899-1902. Guy Potter Benton, D. D., L. L. D. President, 1902-1911. Edgar Ewing Brandon, University D., Acting President, 1909-1910. Raymond Molyneaux Hughes, M. 8., President, 1911.