University of Maryland Eastern Shore Campus - Hawk Yearbook (Princess Anne, MD)

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MARYLAND STATE COLLEGE HAS LONG HISTORY 1886-1948 Residents of Somerset County who like progress can point with pride to Maryland State College, the local Eastern Shore Institution, which has grown from humble origins to a great enterprise for the education of youths of Maryland. The Col- lege is now a recognized landmark rendering many worth- while services to the citizens of the State. First Classes Held in Olney Founded in 1886, the College held its first classes in an old colonial dwelling called Olney. This building was situated near the outskirts of town on the old unpaved road to Salis- bury. Ezekiel Haynie, a physician of Snow Hill, built Olney in 1798 when George Washington was still alive. Bearing no in- scription or plaque, Olney still stands in the center of the campus, now being used as a faculty residence. It is said to be the oldest building on any college campus for Negro students. Although the name of Ezekiel Haynie went out of exist- ence, the descendants of Haynie lived on under such family names as Done, Stewart, and Jones, A great-great-great granddaughter of Haynie, Mrs. Doris Maslin Cohn, now lives in Princess Anne, having published letters of her ancestor in the Maryland Historical Magazine. With many claimants, Olney remained in possession of the heirs of Haynie until a court decision in 1867 ordered the property to be sold under the trusteeship of Isaac D. Jones, then a lawyer of Princess Anne and Attorney General of the State. Jones sold the entire Haynie estate to his friend, James U. Dennis, one of the wealthiest men of the County. Eventu- ally, Olney passed through the hands of Louis W. Morris, Beulah Hirst, Aaron D. Woodruff, and John A.B. Wilson. Morris and Woodruff were local residents and Wilson was presiding elder in the Methodist Church. Persuaded by Joseph R. Waters, a native of Fairmount, Wilson sold the property to the school despite some local objections. John F. Goucher, after whom Goucher College was named, made the down payment. By the time Olney was deeded to the school, it was badly m need of repairs, having deterioated to the extent of being used as a granary. Trees, weeds, and tall grass were all around Olney when the school first opened. Inside the build- ing the walls were beginning to crumble. The elegance of Olney in Haynie ' s day had passed, never being entirely recap- tured or recreated. College officials now say that Olney will be torn down, but the building is still in use despite some destruction by a fire in 1919 and the telling effects of time and age. First Students and Teachers The first students enrolled in September of 1886 were put to work cleaning the grounds and making repairs on Olney. There were only nine studens to enroll, there were thirty- seven in attandance. Most of the first students came from the County, bearing such well known family names as Dennis, Gale, Maddox, Tilghman, and Waters. One of the first stu- dents, James I. Dennis, now resides on Antioch Street. The first teachers were Benjamin O. Bird, the principal, his wife Portia, and an assistant named Jacob C. Dunn. Bird and his wife were natives of Virginia, but Dunn came from Queen Anne ' s County. Bird was a faithful worker for school and community and for many years the school preserved his memory through the Bird Lyceum, a student organization that passed out of existence by the 1930 s. In 1940 one of his daughters. Crystal Bird Fauset, a former member of the Leg- islature of Pennsylvania, dedicated a new mechanic arts building in memory of her father. This building and two others were constructed from Federal funds. Bird died in 1897 and was buried on the campus after services in the local Metropolitan Methodist Church. College Given Many Names The College has had several names in its history and the various names seem to have indicated the type of program and control in existence at the school. There have been such names as the Delaware Conference Academy, Industrial Branch of Morgan College, Princess Anne Academy, Eastern Branch of the Maryland Agricultural College, Princess Anne College, and since 1947, Maryland State College. Oldtimers slip up by referring to early names. Occasionally, the word Academy is still heard. This is ironic because the College today is as different from the old Academy in purpose and scope as night is from day. Methodist Control Most of the names were given when the school was under control of the Methodist Church. Methodists really took the lead in founding the school. They administered it until the State took over completely in 1936. Early Methodists set up the school as a Branch of the Centenary Biblical Institute of Baltimore with the idea in mind that the school would be a preparatory one. Receiving support from various Methodist Conferences during the early years, the school took the name of the Dela- ware Conference in which it was located. Although gradu- ation certificates were given yearly beginning in 1887, there was no four year high school graduating class until 1904. A member of this class, Mrs. Anna Handy Maddox, now lives in

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President ' s Home

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the County. Methodist discipHne and leadership were planted early in the history of the school and continued strongly in force until 1936 even though Methodist financial support ceased to be noteworthy after the turn of the century. Federal and State Support Most of the financial support after 1900 came from Federal land-grant funds under the Morrill Acts and the Nelson A- mendment. In order for the State of Maryland to continue to receive Federal funds under an act of 1812, it was necessary for the State to give its legislative assent to the Morrill Act of 1890. This act set up the principle that no land-grant funds for education were to be used in any state where a distinc- tion of race or color is made. Land-grant funds went to the Maryland Agricultural College in College Park, a predecessor of the present University of Maryland. Receiving only six thousand dollars in appropriations from the State, officials in College Park did not wish to lose the badly needed Federal funds which made up a large part of the budget. Accordingly, the President of the Maryland Agri- cultural College, Henry E. Alvord, was very interested in having Federal funds continue at his college until the Assem- bly could meet and take action on the Morrill Act of 1890. The Assembly was then meeting biannually on even number- ed years and would not hold its next session until 1892, two years after the Morrill Act of 1890 became effective. This would delay the receipt of funds at College Park. So Alvord got in touch with Goucher and the two men drew up a con- John A. B. Wilson 1848-1906 Minister, Founder First Four Year Graduating Class - 1904 8