Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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HISTORY OF VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY. MARY M. COBB. 7 HOUGHT is the germ of life from which spring all the main 1537 achievements. The charming piece of music, the wonderful :35, picture, the beautiful statue, and the masterpiece of litera- r' ? ture, all had their beginnings as a single thought in the mind of the artist. This idea was carefully nourished and devel- oped until it was given to the world tia joy forever. But the work- ings of the mind are not ooniined to art alone; the more practical and perhaps more Vital interests of life are also the products of thought. Much of our present day life is the result of study. Institutions are no exception to this rule. Valparaiso University stands today the product of a single thought in the mind of H. B. Brown. This thought was nourished until it developed into a resolution, and the resolution into a reality. Professor Brown first mentioned his idea of founding a school to Mr. Bogarte in the summer of 1873. He outlined his idea of the school and said if he could find a suitable location he hoped to build up and main- tain a school of at least 300 students, although that was setting the mark rather high. Shortly after this he heard of the closing of a college in Valparaiso, Ind, and a consequently empty building. He at once went to this town and leased the building, which was the present 01d College minus the west wing. This building with a half a dozen residences stood on a hill somewhat apart from a small town of about 2,000 inhabitants. But this was the ideal place for which Mr. Brown was looking, and 011 September 16, 1873, he opened the first session of the Northern Indiana Normal School. The work was organized in three departments with four teachers besides himself: M. E. Bogarte, Miss Mantie Baldwin, B. F. Perrine, and Miss Ida Hutchinson. The building, though small, was large enough for the thirty-iive students who assembled. What is now Recital Hall. served as Chapel Room, and at commencement time its stage nicely seated the graduates and faculty, and its walls reverberated to the eloquent words of the graduatesi addresses. As there were 110 dormitories or boarding hails the few students encountered much difficulty in finding accommodations in the way of board and rooms. But as the school continued to grow, East and South Halls and Heritage were built and still later Lembke and Altruria, so that now the school boards 1,200 students and rooms 600. The others are accommodated in private halls and homes. No other school in America furnishes accommodation for so many of its students. Pro- fessor Kinsey, who became a partner with Prof. Brown in 1881, has made a scientific study of the different foods and their values, and controls the commissariat. The University is chiefly indebted to him for the success it has attained in reducing the cost of living.

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itage Hall Heir East and South Halls