Wabash College - Wabash Yearbook (Crawfordsville, IN)

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t'enter Hall was expanded by the addition ot' a north wing in 1870 and a south wing two years later. The second tloor ot' the north wing was a t'hapel, and the first' served as a library. Peek llall, a seienee building. was dedicated in 1878. XVhat is now South llall was converted l'1-ont a dormitory to a preparatory building. 'llllis change was necessary. because living von- ditions were so had in South that students were living in private homes. ln 1890 Yandes lii- hrary, named for one ot' the Uollegels most helpful friends, was eoinpleted. The building was intended to lloltl 75,0tltl volumes. all on the first tloor. The railroad was completed in 1870, and in 1883 a new boiler room was built in the niiddle of the campus. Student activities increased in quantity and variety during the Tuttle period. The first re- corded VVabash inter-collegiate baseball game was played with DePauw in 1867. Hazing be- came a part of student life, and the frequent class tights were often bloody. Literary maga- zines of some type or another had always been popular, and in 1890 the first college yearbook. The Ouiatenon, appeared. A new president, George Stockton Bur- roughs, came to 1Vabash in October of 1892. He was a minister and scholar who had done much of his work at Princeton. A visitor to Wabash during this time would have found ten , vi F. ' ,mn . 4 .375 . I 1 i 1 1 j , 1 n 7 .1 Peck Svierirc' Hall-This building wus at one time the lreoflq1mrter.s' for all .science courscfsg it w:1.s' fnally rc'- plucecl by xxfllllgll in 1946. private tennis courts on or around the College. a dark red fence around the grounds Cdating from the not-so-distant days when part of the campus was used as a pasture landj, and a well-forested campus. The student body during the Burroughs administration numbered about 250 men. The fraternities had their quarters above the down- town stores. and student 'timm0rality had grown with the College. This period saw two important. although contradictory. additions to The n1urcle'rou.s- Caveman football team of 1897 is f. V 'W nm 'WPG

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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

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Thc Honey AIIISCUIll-IOCINGCI in Yandes Hall, this museum Contained prcldstoric relics of all description college-life-Pan Hel and Phi Beta Kappa. ln 1898 the affairs of the College were not going so Well. Critics could not agree on what was wrong-but were firmly convinced that Burroughs was responsible. He resigned in June, 1899. College morale was low, and enrollment had dropped to 165 when Dr. NVilliam Kane took over the presidency. By the time of his death in 1906, enrollment was up to 300. College spirit, too, was revived. In 1899 Ted Robinson and Carroll Reagan collaborated in producing a new song- Old VVabash. H Athletics became a more important part of Wabash life as sportswriters began to refer to the strong XVabash teams as the big little men, the good little menf' and tinally in 1904 as the Little Giants. One thread of controversy runs through the history of the Vollege from its foundation al- most to the present. VVabash. just as all schools founded in the early 19th Century, began with a heavy emphasis on classics. both in standards for entrance and in the curriculum. The his- tory of curriculum development is a history of decreasing emphasis on the classics. The change was gradual and marked by many long and bitter controversies. Despite this change. XVabash has never failed to place primary em- phasis on the liberal arts. Dr. George L. Mackintosh, a member of the faculty, was selected as president after the death of Dr. Kane. In the middle of the twenty-year Mackintosh presidency, the curri- cuhun was revamped by the adoption of the semester plan and the quality point system which are still used. Kane House, built as a home for the president during the early years of the century, became the Sigma Chi frater- nity house when the president moved to the newly donated Caleb Mills llouse. The present gymnasium was completed in 1918. The origi- nal plans provided for a swimming pool. but this feature was eliminated for a lack of funds. The student body was also active during this period. Un April 9. 1908. the first' Bachelor appeared. The paper, eleven by sixteen inches. was strikingly similar to the Bachelors of today. All was quiet on the home front during these years. The Student Council had started to function. Alumni organization was revamped. and The Bulletin began to appear. The College was undergoing a period of peaceful and solemn growth . . . then war. Page Nim-