Wabash College - Wabash Yearbook (Crawfordsville, IN)

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Cnutents Presidents Administration Alumni Classes “Chirty-Ciun Athletics Organizations Album Page Eight The nature and extent of country, the rapidity of its settlement, and consequent destitution of the means of education, its present and prospective population and resources, were taken into account, to- gether with the urgent necessity there would be for competent teach- ers of common schools, and for well educated ministers ;—these, as well as the valuable general influence of such an institution upon all the best interests of the country, were topics fully and ably discussed. Ze ae |) a ee eee a aa aaa I EL ie PO Lat Rah a? iat gh FRO Oe te Clee Senne ae Te

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Elihu Whittelary Baldmin, 3.9. 1834-1840 “Sq One day in the autumn of 1834 a stranger approached the pastor of one of 4 the most famous churches in New York. After he had indicated on a map | the Wabash territory in Indiana and told briefly of the education, civilization, | and religious possibilities of this new part of the United States, with no more ado he said to the pastor, ““We want a college building, and more than all, a college head. Will you, my dear sir, come and help us? Will you be our first head?” The stranger was Professor Hovey, one of the founders of Wabash College, and the New York pastor was Dr. Baldwin, first President of Wabash. President Baldwin was a self-made man, the product of a deeply religious New England home. He was born December 25, 1789. He developed early a fondness for books, in which the village pastor helped him. In 1807 he en- tered Yale College, where he received a religious awakening under the influ- ence of President Dwight. Due to the need to make his own expenses he at- tended college intermittently, though he lost only one year in remaining out to ) work. After graduation from Yale in 1807 he became principal of Fairfield Academy. In 1814 Mr. Baldwin entered Andover Theological Seminary for the three vears of preparation for his chosen profession, the ministry. — In 1817 he was ready to begin his life work. He was appointed to home missionary work in a poor section of New York. For seventeen years he built Rear his church, from nothing to an immense institution for those days. The call to eae serve God again sounded to Baldwin, and so he gave up his prosperous church, He forsook his pleasant life and friends, and prepared to do service in the West. In 1834 he came to Indiana. re a a aa ale ax = a Mnchiy de was ready in about half a year to leave for his new work. First he | solicited funds for the college, and his success amounted to $28,000. In the Hy peta fall of 1835 he began his duties as first president of Wabash. President Bald- ta Y H win’s administration was concerned mainly with getting the college started. Brat Hy He worked hard at administrative affairs, made trips to the East, and stumped bata a the state talking for Wabash. i H In the spring of 1840 he began his intensive preparations for the follow- ahd Fi ing fall. He returned home ill, and the college opened in the fall without him. meant He died shortly after the opening of the school year, 1840, with the words, so | | 4 eee ; . . “- . . . . ri 4 “= fitting to his life, in which he instructed his students, “Tell them to seek first td tad the kingdom of God.” Vw 3 we Page Ten LEN ANSE EIN I ETT. 3 rosmreien The deliberations of this meeting resulted in the unanimous reso- lution that efforts should be made without delay, to establish an insti- tution of learning, in connection with manual labor. LOCATION In fixing upon the location for the College, no selfish or mercenary considerations were allowed to have influence. The simple question, how will the public good, in connection with the enterprise contem- plated, be best promoted? was the only one to be answered. nL ae, ASIC BSTL ET