West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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CLASS NINETEEN FIFTEEN The most rapid growth and the greatest develc)]Miient in the school liave taken place during Dr. Philips ' administration. To .speak of the school, its achievements and characteristics is but to enumerate the traits and qualities of its guiding genius, to whose executive ability, unflagging devotion, rare judgment and indomitable courage, the school owes more than any other person. With a jjower of effective and sustained work that almost surpasses comprehension, he unites an ecpiallv re- markable faculty of divining the needs of the future and an ability of so shaping in- fluences and circumstances as to effect their realization. In 1S78 the growth of the school made necessary an addition to the building, and in that year the north wing was constructed to meet the new demands. In 1882 more room was re(|uired and the south wing was added. Next followed, in 1S85, the laundry and museum. During the succeeding year, 1886-7, the Chapel, Dining Room and Sanitary Towers were built. In i8qo the Gymnasium was erected, to be followed in the next three years, in the order named, by the Principal ' s Residence, Infirmary, Recitation Hall, new kitchen and store room. In 181 ) acti ' e l)uilding operations were again made necessary and a handsome AIndel Schf)ol was erected. Nineteen hundred three witnessed the completion of the beautiful and commodious Library Building. A large central Power Plant and Laundry were added in 1905. Wayne Hall (Boys ' Dormitory), the Annex to the Girls ' Dormitory, and a new Kitclien, including store room, l)akery and serx-ants ' dining room, were completed in 191 1. These extensive Ijuilding operations made necessary the purchase of further building sites. Very early in the history of the school four acres were added to the north end of the original cam]nis. Tlie need of an Infirmary and . thletic Field was met by purchasing, in 1899, a tract of fi ' e acres southeast of the campus. In 1895 the large grounds of the Chester County . gricultural Society (Fair Grounds), lying west of the cam])us, was ])urchased, and christened W avne Field. . portion of the northern end of this was used for the erection of the power plant. L ' pon the central ]K)rtion a fine fjuarter-mile running track and base ball field were built, ad- joining which a spacious Grand Stand with dressing rooms was erected. The south- eastern part of this tract is now occupied by Wayne Hall. These additions of prop- erty now gi -e a school campus consisting of fort -eight acres, which has been taste- fully planted with trees and shrubs, forming a suitable setting for this notable group of green-stone buildings. . side from the many direct and obvious educational features there are number- less indirect, less apparent, but almost eqiiall - potent inlhiences which make for higher culture, and better manhood and womanhood. This school has l)een notable for the number of these valuable accessories to the intellectual and moral uplift of its students. . lmost everv student of the school becomes a member of one of the flourishing literary societies. The older of these, The Moore Literary Society, was organized within a very short time after the school was opened. The birth of the .Aryan So- 17

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THE SERPENTINE Chester county, except George Henderson, who is from Philadelphia. With the Board thus constituted it is easy to obtain a quorum at their meetings and to have the majority of the members personally acquainted with the direct interests and needs of the school. From the time when Ezekiel H. Cook was made the first Principal, in 187 1, presiding over a property and equipment valued at ninety-one thousand dollars, and with an enrollment of 170 students, to the year 191 5, with Dr. G. M. Philips the Chief E.xecutive, a property valued at nearly a million dollars, and an enrollment of almost one thousand students, the school has had a steady growth, due to the wise administration of able Trustees, and intelligent and devoted Executives. Not a little of its success is doubtless due to the fact that the school was situated in a community that fa ' ored higher education, at a time when any thing more than an elementary education was the e.xception. This institution was the outgrowth of. and successor to, one of the leading ac- ademies which gave educational distinction to this community. The West Qi es- ter A cadem v, an institution incorporated for the education of youth in the English and other languages, in the useful . rts, Sciences and Literature, dated back to March 27th i8i2. In 1 869 its B oard o f Trustees voted to sell the property and terminate its long and prosperous career in order that they miglit found a new insti- tution l etter suited to the needs of the times. The proceeds of this sale, amounting to twenty-nine thousand dollars, subscriptions from the citizens of West Chester and vicinity aggregating forty-two thousand dollars, an appropriation from the State of fifteen thousand dollars, and a loan of twenty thousand dollars, constituted the neu- cleus of the proposed new Normal School. In 1870, a portion of this fund was used for the purchase of a tract of ten acres in the southern part of the borough. This land was the property of Hon. Wayne MacVeagh. Upon this site the original building, comprising the central portion of what is now known as the main buildiajg, was erected and opened its doors for the enrollment of students ( n the 25th of September, 1871. Prof. Cook, the first Principal, served the school but one year, and was suc- ceeded by Dr. William A. Chandler, who remained less than one year. In 1873 Professor George L. Maris, of West Chester, was elected to the Principalship, and ably guided the affairs of the school for eight years, when he retired to accept a pro- fessorship at Swarthmore College. Dr. George Morris Philips, the incumbent, was made Principal in 1881, and has filled the office with rare skill since. Graduating from Lewisburg University, now Bucknell University, in 1871, Dr. Philips began his teaching career as Pro- fessor of Mathematics in Monongahela College, in ' estern Pennsylvania: this posi- tion he filled for two years, when he resigned to accept a similar position at this school. In 1878 he left West Chester to become Professor of Mathematics and As- tronomy at his Alma Mater. Upon Prof. Maris resignation in 1881, Dr. Philips was recalled to the Normal School to act as its head. 16

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THE SERPENTINE ciety occurred only a few years later, in 1879. The friendly rivalry existing- be- tween these societies has served to keep them always at a high standard of effi- ciency. Since 1892. The Amulet, a high-class school periodical, has been a potent factor in the school life. In 1890 there was organized a strong Young Men ' s Chris- tian Association, to be followed the year after fy the formation of a Young ' omen ' s Association, which have had large influence on the life of the members. Sabbath and mid-week devotional exercises and Sunday morning Bible Classes have been features of the school life for years. For the past twenty-seven years there has been an annual winter course of lectures given in the school chapel for the benefit of the students. To even enumerate the distinguished men and women who have been heard here would require more space than it seems desirable to give. Suffice it to say that they include the most eminent in their res])ective spheres which the country has produced, comprising scholars, statesmen, educators, men of letters, jurists, ex- plorers, artists and nuisicians. The general character of these courses may best be illustrated by the mention of a few names : Three Presidents, Wilson, Taft, and RoQseyelt; one Vice-President, Fairbanks; Speakers of the House of Representa- tives, Senators, Cabinet ofiicers, Justices of the Supreme Court, and other promi- nent public officials have appeared here. Many Presidents of the great Universities and leading Colleges of the country are included in this notable list. Among the musicians may be mentioned : Madam Hcnier, David Bispham, Josef Hofman, Wm. H. Sherwood, Madam Samaroff, and others equally well known. Among the Ex]2l(2i£i:3, nien as: Commander Robert E. Peary and Paul B. du Chaillu. Au- thors, including: Edward b ' verett Hale, William Dean Howells, Henry VanDyke, Thomas Wentworth Iligginson, (ieorge W. Cable, James Whitcomb Riley, Ed- ward Eggleston, Horace Howard Furness, Edward Markham, Hamilton Mabie and Julia Ward Howe. The annual trip of the Senior Class to Washington, D.C., under the guidance of the Principal and other faculty members has proven a valuable educational fea- ture in the final year ' s work. Among the new and advanced educational features open to the students of the school are the courses which were established last year by the University of Penn- sj ' lvania, by means of which they are enabled to take courses here under the regular University Professors and receive credit toward University work. lany of the students are this year carrying such courses while pursuing the regular Normal work, and will be enabled thereby to materiallv shorten their courses when then en- ter that institution. The Department ofPhysical Training has for the past thirteen years, in addi- tion to its regular gymnastic and athletic Closed Meets, also conducted an annual Open Meet, to which all High Schools, Preparatory, Technical, and Normal Schools of the State are eligible. From twenty to thirty or more schools yearly compete here on Wayne Field. The greatest care has been exercised to conduct these ac- cording to the most approved methods and to foster in every way clean sport and