Morris Harvey College - Harveyan Yearbook (Charleston, WV)

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A word of beginning From a debt ridden school at Barboursville, Morris Harvey College has grown to become today the largest independent college and the third leading educational institution in West Virginia. The college was founded in 1888 by the Charleston district conference of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South. It took as its name, Barboursville Seminary, and the new institution was established in a recently- abandoned county court house and jail. In 1889, the West Virginia Conference of the church assumed control of the school and changed the name to Barboursville College. The church exercised stringent controls over the college and its students, formulating all matters of policy and striving to keep the students from “all matters of harmful influ- ence.” In this category were included plays, sports, dancing, social activities, tobacco, and drink- ing. Morris Harvey, wealthy Fayette County Coal operator, in 1901 offered to donate $100,- 000 to the college if the institution were moved to Charleston. When the conference abandoned the idea of relocation, the in- dustrialist made a gift of $5,000 to the college. The trustees were overcome with gratitude and they changed the name of the institu- tion to Morris Harvey College. The church began to loosen its hold on the college and in 1904, non-compulsory military training was established and a magazine, The Oracle, began publication. A baseball team was organized the same year and in 1905 won 17 of its 18 games; football entered the picture soon the reafter. In 1918, campus activities increased mark- edly. Several new student organizations were formed and a lyceum was sponsored. The Comet made its appearance in 1921, followed by The Harveyan, in 1923. While a new building program was under way, the Charleston Chamber of Commerce offered to raise $300,000 for relocating Mor- ris Harvey at or near Charleston. The offer was refused, but another offer of $100,000 to keep the college in the same loca- tion was accepted from the Barboursville Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Leonard Riggleman assumed the post of president of the college in 1931. Indebtedness rose to greater heights dur- ing the days of the depression, and the college was forced to accept farm produce as payment of tuition and fees. Another invitation to relocate came from Charleston in the Spring of 1935. Dr. Riggle- man expressed a desire to accept the pro- posal and called attention to the fact that the college could not continue to operate under existing conditions. “If we go there we live! If we stay here we die! ,, he said. The executive committee of the board of trustees turned the college over to two trus- tees, Dr. Riggleman and Dean Ashby C. Blackwell, for one year. The college opened in Charleston in Sep- tember of 1935 in the Kanawha County Li- brary Building. Later other space was ob- tained and college departments sprouted all over the city. With gross enrollment reaching 1,965 dur- ing 1939, the college felt the need for more space. In December, 1940, the institution pur- chased a 12-acre plot of land in South Ruffner for $47,000. Because the three major branches of the Methodist Church merged as one in 1940, leaving two church supported schools in West Virginia, W. Va. Wesleyan and Morris Harvey, the church relinquished all rights to Morris Harvey on August 1, 1942. In 1946 the college administration obtained six temporary barrack-type buildings from the Federal Government, and the centralized college home was accomplished on Sept. 8, 1947. In the Fall of 1948, the student activities building was completed. A ground breaking ceremony for the new $1,600,000 building was held on January 7, 1950, and opened for classes at the beginning of the 1951 Fall term.

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THE STUDENT ACTIVITIES BUILDING