Randolph Macon College - Helianthus Yearbook (Lynchburg, VA)

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ilreeaihent Meter QHI1: iran. QGQOQ President McVicar has entered upon the twenty-fifth year of his presidency of this institution, and it is fitting that gt Sketch of his life though brief and inadequate, should be given to our readers. A Having been born just over the line, in the province of New Bruns- wick, he is ineligible to our national chief magistracy, but his Whole lgfe has been identified with this land of the free and home of the bravef' After graduating with honor from Beloit College in 1856, he spent a year as instructor in that institution. I-le then took a theological course at Union and Andover Seminaries, graduating from the latter in the summer of 1860. Kansas had recently been the theater of stirring events, and gave promise of rapid development, and important influence upon our national welfare. The attention of the nation was turned this way. It presented an attractive field for a young man, anxious to be of service, and willing to undergo privations. In October, 1860, Mr. McVicar.arrivcd at Topeka. The Congrega. tional Church was then pastorless, and he received and accepted a 0311, A correspondent at the time wrote to one of the religious journals of the fact, saying, We are sincerely thankful for so large an addition to our ministerial force. I-Ie continued in this position for six years, a period which included first, the disastrous drouth of 1860, and following that, four yearsiof war, in which Kansas sent a larger proportion of her men into the field than any other state in the Union, and bore on its own soil its full share of the loss and devastation of the conflict. It was a discouraging time for the upbuilding of Christian churches. Yet during those years his church made steady progress, completed its edifice and paid up its debts, thanks to the same financial ability which has stood Washburn so good a turn during later years. 7

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REV. PETER NICVICAR, D.'D

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In 1866 he resigned his pastorate, and later served two terms as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The years of his incumbency were marked by vigor of administration. Many amendments and improve- ments of our school laws were made at his recommendation. Notably by his prompt action, involving an official visit to Washington, he saved 5oo,ooo acres of valuable land to the permanent school fund of the state which was about to be alienated to railway companies. The school funds of the state were invested in no worthless securities during his term of office, and upon his retirement there was no call for an investigation. Upon the resignation of Rev. Dr. Butterfield at the close of 1870, Mr. McVicar succeeded in February, 1871, to the presidency of Washburn College. He had been one of its original incorporators, and from the first as one of its trustees had taken a great interest in thegrowth of the struggling institution. It then occupied a small building at the corner of jackson and Tenth streets in Topeka. College Hill was a stretch of open prairie, with only a few straggling houses between it and the recently erected, and porticoless east wing of the state house. The site was inno- cent of trees or human habitation. Instead of college young men and women, the brightest of the commonwealth resorting here for culture, quails and jack rabbits exclusively enjoyed its advantages. But the new president saw in his vision with the eye of faith, rising in the future the walls of a great institution, whose influence should tell on the state, and on coming generations. He at once threw himself into the realization of this vision. He canvassed the West and visited the East for funds. One after another of its commodious buildings materialized, from Science Hall the earliest, to our splendid chapel the latest of its well planned edifices. The vested funds of the institution slowly grew from 525,000 to 8IO0,000, through his personal solicitation 5 and other valuable property was secured, upon which in time the College hopes to realize. Thus twenty-five of the thirty years of Washburn's history, during which President McVicar's administration has been prolonged, has been characterized by continuous, substantial and permanent growth. While other similar institutions have been wrecked by bad management, or have succumbed to the financial stress of the times, Washburn, under the far eing and 'atchful care of its president, has never lost a dollar of its vested funds. And though sorely in need at present of endowment to . 8