Westminster College - Argo Yearbook (New Wilmington, PA)

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Interior Girls ' Room, Hillside

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r Westminster History It is hard for us, to whom W ' estniinslcr appears as an old and established institution, to reahze that there was (Mice a time when there existed not so much as the name, Westminster College. More than sixty-five years ago, even before the forming of the United Preslnlerian Church, leading men of the Associate Church were aware of the need of a school of higher education for their young people, and particularly for the training of men for the Min- istry. After mucli thought and effort the Presbyteries of Ohio and v henango united in founding the Westminster Collegiate Institute in April, i(S52. The site chosen for this humble forerunner of our present college was the peaceful little village of Xew Wilmington. Su])pose Westminster had been at New Hedfcjrd, — or at Xew Castle. Would it have been Westminster at all? Xew Wilmington has had many rivals for the possession of the college. At first Xew Bedford and Wolf Creek were her competitors; latei Westminster receixed fiattering offers from Xew Castle, Mercer, Poland, Beaver and even from Xenia, Ohio, ' et, in spite of all other inducements Westminster remained true to her nati e town. In those days Xew Wilming- ton was a village of only alx)ut two hundred inhabitants. It is described in the early catalogues as small and free from those causes which might at- tract an idle or a vicious class of people. One of the early students called it a ragged little town, ragged as despair, — all mud and no sidewalks. W ould that he could behold the glory of our pa ed streets! In those days no palatial Sharpsville transported eager students, no auto bus wliirled them to X ew Castle at risk of life and limb. Only by the old-fashioned stage coach could one reach Mercer or Xew Castle. The first session of the College w as held in the Old Seceder Church, now the First U. P. Church, with Professors Vincent and McLean as the faculty. Soon a two-storv brick building was erected, which remained standing until last year on the present lawn of the Second U. P. Church. Later a larger building of three stories was built on the site of the present building, but was destroyed by fire on a February night in 1861. In the time of sorrow that followed, the Old Westminster Spirit showed itself. The students passed resolutions that they would stand by the college, that onl - the building was gone; Westminster still lived. At the cost of great effort and sacrifice, the present bviilding known as Old Alain was erected. The other buildings are of more recent date, each marking a step in the growth of the college. The much desired Hillside was built in i8 S4 and the Mary Thompson Science Hall ten years later. The Clark Chemical Laboratory was added in 1896, while the Conservatory of Music is still in its childhood, being only nine years old. As for the Gym, built as a memorial by the class of ' 80, it has seen its best davs and has reached a state of old age and decay. We trust that its Nine