Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

Page 10 text:

THE EARLY DAYS OF WAKE FOREST (;KnH(iE W, I ' as.ha ONE of the prinu ' purposes of our fatliers in formiMf; the liaptist State Coii- ventiou of Nortli Carolina was to provide for the foundinji- of an institution like Wake Forest College. With Samuel Wait as the Afjent of the Convention they went steadily ahnut the work and on February • ' ). 1831. Wait as Prineipal o))ened Wake Forest Institute. F ' ive years later the Institute liy an amended charter be- came a collefic and graduated its first class in .lune. 18. ' i!l. It has had a gre.it and inspirational historv. but in a sketch the scope of this it will be possible only to name the nine Presi.lents and the chief matters of iMi]iortance conuected with the administration of the first six. the last three biiug omitted both because they are still living and their administrations are not yet history.

Page 9 text:

c O LL€ G € WAKE FOREST AND THE MINISTRY SINCE its very coiu-t-ption one hundred years ago Wake Forest tias been es- sentially a school devoted to the cause of Christ and His work. A denomina- tional school, supported and nurtured by the Baptists of the State of North Carolina, it has contributed much to the Herculean task of per] etuating His Kingdom not only in this state but even into the Nation and into the World. Among the men graduating from the school of Religion may be found the names of the foremost preachers of the Baptist Denomination. To recount their names in such a limited space would be impossible. Suffice to say that, it is they who, because of their courage, devotion, and love for Him who is the Father of us all. first brought to their Alma Mater glory, honor, and renown.

Page 11 text:

Tht Prtsidiiits in order are: Samuel Wait. Priiieipal of Institute, 1831-38. and President of College. 1839-4.5; William Hooper. 1817-lit; John Brown White. 1819-53; Washington Manlv Wingate, 1854-79; Thomas Henderson Pritehard, 1879- 82; Charles Elisha Taylor. 1881-1905; William Louis Poteat. 1905-27; Francis Pendleton Gaines, 1927-30; Thurman Delna Kitchin. 1930 . To be mentioned first in Wait ' s administration is the faet that he gave the in- stitution the tone and character that still distinguishes it. Wait was able in a wonderful way to impart to those under his charge something of his own native dignity and seriousness of purpose and to irajjress upon tliem that they must be gentlemen, that they must make religion a part of their lives, that they must be industrious, clean in person and dress and living, self-respecting and respecting others. On a line with these things were the four wonderful revivals of religion in the first five years, which led, in 1835, to the constitution of the Wake Forest Baptist Church. Other epochal events were: the erection of the College Building (finished 1837), which gave the College a local habitation; the formation of the Philomathesian and Euzelian Literary societies (1835); the running of the railroad through the Institution ' s land (18 ' 37); the abandonment of the manual labor feature and the laying out of the town of Wake Forest towards the end of the year 1838.