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

Page 16 text:

During the first world war the College of Montana was again forced to sus- pend operations. Montana Wesley an, which had just resumed work on the col- legiate level when the war began, managed to continue with a restricted pro- gram built around a Student Army Training Corps unit. In 1923, as a result of negotiations extending over several years, these two colleges united to form Inter mountain Union College which remained on the Helena campus. Year by year it gathered strength, bidding fair to become one of the outstanding liberal arts colleges of the Northwest. Then came the earthquakes of 1935-36 which so seriously damaged the Intermountain buildings that it was decided to abandon the campus. The school moved to Great Falls where it operated for one year. Meanwhile the going was rough at Billings Polytechnic. The depression brought its special problems to all schools and to Poly in particular. Lewis T. Eaton had passed away in 1934. It became increasingly difficult for one man both to direct the educational program and to raise the budget. So, in June 1936, President E. T. Eaton invited the trustees of Intermountain Union College to a home on the Polytechnic campus. This invitation was accepted — IUC coming to Billings that fall. In an affiliation which lasted from 1936-47, Polytechnic offered vocational training, industrial arts, and lower division work. Diplomas were issued in the name of Polytechnic-Intermountain. In 1947 final steps were taken to form Rocky Mountain College by the union of Polytechnic and Intermountain. The new school, the oldest and the youngest in Montana, is an official college of the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congre- gational Churches. After a visit of inspection by a representative of the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools in the fall of 1954, the full accreditation of Rocky Mountain College was continued. It is the only Protestant Church-sup- ported college in an area approximately 800 miles square. With these traditions in mind, let us look upon this anniversary year as a commemoration of our seventy-five years of growth. The members of the Yellowstone staff wish to express their appreciation and thanks to Mr. W. A. Redfield, an alumnus of Montana Wesleyan College — Class of 1923, whose compilation of the above history made our task much simpler. Below is a picture of our college (then the Billings Polytechnic), taken from the rims in 1913. The largest building in the center of the right-hand group is the gym before being recovered with stone. 1tu ■ '

Page 15 text:

Above is pictured the Klein Campus of Montana Wesleyan College in Helena, (united in 1923 with Intermountain Union College) which was later partially destroyed by the earthquakes of 1934-35 At left is Mills Hall, with Helena Hall on the right. These buildings are still standing. These two denominational schools were kept going in the early days through the sacrifice and devotion of friends and faculty members „ The income within the state for educational work was quite limited,, Economic booms and busts seriously affected the support and stability of the schools,, Both were able to continue to the turn of the century. In 1900 the College of Montana suspended operations for four years and in 1904 Montana Wesleyan changed to a strictly preparatory program, maintaining work at this level until 1914. When the Montana Legislature authorized the founding of Montana State College at Bozeman in 1894, the organizing committee borrowed Dr c James Reidp second president of the College of Montana in Deer Lodge, to be the first president of M c S C. Some members of the faculty and several promising stu- dents followed President Reid from Deer Lodge to Bozeman,, Among the latter was a chemistry major who became Dean Cobleigh, beloved teacher and counselor of many generations of M„ S. C„ students. There is reliable authority for the statement that the College of Montana never quite recovered from its loss of leadership to Montana State College. Without a doubt the latter was immeasurably strengthened by being able to draw on leaders with previous administrative and teaching experience in Montana,, When Ernest T. Eaton arrived in Montana from Iowa about 1901 as the new superintendent of schools at Deer Lodge, the College of Montana had suspended classes „ He secured a lease on the campus and, with his brother Lewis T. Eaton, operated Montana College and School of Manual Arts from 1904 to 1907. In the latter year Presbyterian trustees of the College of Montana re- sumed control, reopening the school on the traditional liberal arts program. The Eaton Brothers, moved by a great concern to offer to young people the opportunity to attend a school such as they had conducted in Deer Lodge, came to Billings and established Billings Polytechnic Institute in 1908. Lewis T. Eaton became Educational Director while his brother Ernest was Financial Director; the latter spending most of his time in the East securing gifts for buildings and for operation of the school. As most of the support came from Congregational sources, Poly became known as a Congregational school.

Page 17 text:

VICE-PRESIDENT REV. CLARENCE J. SPELLMAN DEAN DR. ERNEST R. WOOD BUSINESS MANAGER MR. MILTON A. ZIMMERMAN