Rocky Mountain College - Yellowstone / Poly Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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FIVE YEARS. THE BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS AS THEY WILL LOOK IN

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Qbenicatiun E3 To a pioneer of Eastern Montana, a promoter of Ecl- ucation ancl one of the foremost champions of the Institute, the Hon. John D. Losekamp, this volume is respectfully cleclicatecl.

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The Story 'of the Polytechnic N the first Annual of the Billings Poly- technic Institute it is especially appropriate to give an account of the beginnings of the movement. History is being made, and in the future this Hrst official record of the founding of the school will of necessity have a prominent place. The birth of the Institute was brought about by the uniting of the ideas and purposes of several persons. T1-in CONCEPTION.-The name Polytech- nic was altogether unknown in the Northwest two years ago. So true was this that scarcely one person in a hundred knew what the term meant when mentioned. In fact the question is still very commonly asked, What is the Polytechnic? One person alone seems to have had a clear conception of a great practical school that should be built in the region-an idea that had de- veloped in his mind through twenty-five years of study of the educational and industrial needs of the section, and with this conception he had thought out the only name entirely suited to such an institution, Polytechnic,-an institution of learning, offering many branches of training both in the arts and sciences with particular reference to their practical application. To Hon. John D. Losekamp is due the credit of originating the idea of a great polytechnic in- stitution for the young people of the Northwest, and it has been largely through his great inter- est that the school exists today. His name will go down in history as The father of the Polytechnic. THE REALIZATION.-The idea remained within the mind of this man clearly thought out and ready to be of service, but years passed before the dream could develop into a reality. Cthers were to share in the movement. In the fall of l902, a young man came to Western Montana to join the educational forces of the State. He soon learned the needs of the region in education and the inadequacy of the public school system to meet these needs. He found that more than ninety-five per cent. of the young people of the State were actually going out into life untouched by a training which would make them intelligent, useful citizens. These conditions were presented to a brother, an educator in the Central West, and he came on the field to study the conditions for himself. The result was that the two brothers determined to open a school where any young man or wo- man might find the opportunity of securing an education that should fit for the practical duties of life. The old buildings of a defunct denomina- tional college were leased, repaired and a school organized in the summer of l904. In three months' time a hundred and fifty young people had poured into the old tumbled-down Y I. O. O. F. Building, where the Institute Opened.