Wabash College - Wabash Yearbook (Crawfordsville, IN)

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,,, L WElJESl'l In Its FUI'1T1EllVB SETS Wahash was g'i'ow'ing'. anal 'gg'row1'li requirezl new hiiilchngs anrl new ifleas. The main wing' of Center Hall was hiiilt in 1856. An unsuc- eessfulr attempt' was inaile To estahlish a law school in 1854-. 'l'he l'ollege, ahouf 11850, hail also alleiliplefl lo ineorporale agricnlfure ancl civil eng'iiieei'ing' inlo The curriciiliiin hui with no inure success than The law school. Une of The most striking' llifferences between Wahash of Today anrl The XVahash 100 years ago is the make-up of The stiulent hmh' anlfl sfmlenl' life. The college rle,Q'ree was noi' con- Slfl91'l,'ll the iileal preparation for a business career as it is loilay. Of the 1351 gracluates bc- tween 1842 and 1861, 47 hecanie ministers, 41 enlerecl law. ineflicine clainierl 12, anml The re- maining 9 slayeml in The acaileinic world as Teacliers. The Temperance inoveinenl was strong mluring' this perioml, ancl more Than one Wahash man was askecl To leave hecause of his aflaclinienlc To the holtle. IT is interesting' to lllblk' that smoking has always heen perinifierel. ln 1846 sfiiclenfs pairl a total. college hill of 3486. Social life lluring' this perioil was iniprovecl hy The presence of The ''Crawforilsville Female Seniinaryf' a sorl' of finishing' school. Extrzi-ciirricular life in these early years centerec1 on oratory and debating. The literary societies, Philoinathean, Lyceum and Eupher- onean, kept their own libraries and held fre- Page Six

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The founding fathers kneel in the snow on the bflnks of Sugar Creek given the credit, can be singled out as the Founder. He was educated at Miami and was the Presbyterian minister in Crawfordsville at the time of the founding. The oifer of land for the College came from Major VVilliamson Dunn, who is also considered a founder of Hanover and Indiana University. According to Drs. Gronert and Osborne, Ed- mund O. Hovey is the man to whom VVabash College undoubtedly owes more than to any other man. llovey was a life-long trustee from the founding and served on the faculty from 1831 until his death in 1877. During his student years at Dartmouth he met Caleb Mills, who was destined to become the first VVabash teacher. Mills is remembered not only for his contribution to VVabash but also for his suc- cessful eiforts in . raising educational standards in Indi- ana as a whole. The indiana leg- ' islature granted VVabash a charter over protests by some of the people ot' Crawfordsville during the Winter session of 1833-34. Caleb Mins The provisions of the charter, a compromise, 1 made it impossible for the Presbyterian Church to keep absolute control of the College. Then on Decem- ber Iii, 1833, Caleb Mills taught the first class at Wa- bash College in newly-com- pleted Forest Hall. One of the most pressing needs of the College was a president. Elihu Baldwin. the minister of a prosperous and fashionable New York church, came to VVabash in January, 1836, to begin an administration due to last until his death in 1840. In the spring of 1835 the trus- tees bought 160 acres of land including the present compus. Construc- tion of a new dormitory was soon begun, and the future of the College seemed to offer prog- ress and prosperity. Then, fire struck the aImost-completed dorm in September of 1838. The fire was a financial disaster, but the spirit of the college community and its friends was not to be so easily broken. The struggle was not easy, and the odds were high, but de- termined attempts at fund-raising brought Wa- bash through its first, and perhaps most im- portant, crisis. Dr. Charles White, second president of Wa- bash College, began his twenty-year administra- tion in the summer of 18-ll. VVhite was also an Eastern minister and the brother-in-law of llovey. ln the early years of lVhite's lead- ership. NVabash had to pass through a '2-1. if - ' ..... - Miva... is . V s.. - as W9 'nie Q , .. , f ,M ff? . , Y sal . M if 1 . difficult phase of its ever-recurring crisis - finances. if Money was needed for new buildings his ,ss S 241432. and to pay the fac- f ulty members. To this end. lVabash owes much to wealthy churchmen of the East. Page Five Edmond O. Honey

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quent debates. Competition was keen, and many l1ours were devoted to preparing orations and debate speeches. The first Wabasli fraternity was Beta Theta Pi, established in 1848. The facultyfrowned on secret organizations, and the present posi- tion ot' fraternities was not secured until after the Civil VVar. A resolution passed by the Phi Delts in 1860 illustrates the fear of faculty action: That in tl1e eve11t of any member of the lndiana Beta of Phi Delta Theta being questioned by any member of the f2lUl1l1f' regarding said Society, its existence or functions, that then and there said society ceases to have an existence in NVabash College. Wabash, with its strong religious founda- tions, had long been a supporter of the Aboli- tionist movement. Negro students were admitted even before 1860. NVhen the Civil War came, the College was virtually unanimous in its support of Lincoln and the North. The student body trained under the leadership of Lew Wallace, and most of the students left for the battlefield. As a result, in 18641 only three men met the graduation requirements. Cf the soldiers recruited from the student body some were to return, but many did not. In 1902 formal recognition was given to these men when the Memorial Tablet on Center Hall was dedicated. In 1861 Dr. -Joseph Tuttle. only 48 at the time, was selected to become the new President of the College, a job he held until his resigna- tion in 1892. Tuttle. a native of New Jersey. had studied at Newark Academy. Marietta Vol- lege. and the Lane Theological Seminary before coming to Wabash. During his time, the Vollege went through a period of continuing growth and experimen- tation with tlie eurrieuluin. In 1867 the Bache- lor of Science degree was first offered. The program attained neither success nor popular- ity and was soon dropped. In 1887 VVabasb offered a program leading to the Pb.D. AI- though several students attempted to complete requirements, none ever finished, and this. too. was dropped. Military Science was offered for a nine-year period after the Civil VVar. fre: ff . ew 2 Q9 f' Presidcfnt Tuttle STORE 'i.,M f , ,W J t ww : .lin mm- M .X , ' v ff? , .L , .WW EW ' W l efj.t.J5' Crawfordsuiilc in the 1860's Page Seven .li-4