Westminster College - Argo Yearbook (New Wilmington, PA)

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1 a V tl Sf 4 ? 4 st 'J '.'.'. . .'s65i' One hundred eighteen acres of land were purchased, Eve acres being reserved for the cantpus. Waiting for the completion of a gaunt frame structure, the predecessor of Old Main, the trustees erected a dwelling. ln this house and in both the Associate and Associate Reform- ed churches the first classes were held. ln ltlii the new building was completed at a cost of six thousand dollars. lt was a pathetic thing, and its brief existence was pathetic. There were three stories and no base- ment to the structure. Sixty feet by eighty feet and larger if it can he made for the money: lower story all in the chapel, except the lobbyg second story divided into four or five rooms with convenient ante-chambers for the use of the professors: third story to he left with the committee with the faculty as to its division, the specihcations read. Six years later the building burned to the ground. lt was an agonizing moment. The college had begun with the slenderest of resources. and such a blow in its infancy might well haw: proved fatal. Ilowever, the faculty, students and townspeople bravely faced the necessity of beginning all over again, and within a month plans had been made and a contract let for the erection of Old Main. ln September, ISOZ, it was completed, Originally, there was no corridor on the tirst floor. the six recitation rooms, two apparatus rooms and geological museum opening on the outside. The second floor was intended for a chapel, reading room and two society rooms, and the third for a gymnasium, two society rooms and a library, Several alterations were subsequently made, notably in lSS-l when first floor corridors and a central staicase were introduced, and in 1807, when an addition of twenty-four feet was made at the east end. The quaint old Westminster custom uf circulating petitions began in ISS3, when the trustees elected james Patterson, of Northfield, Ohio, president. Dr. Patterson was a graduate of jefferson college. ' For reasons a little vague. the students did not rejoice at the news. and at once presented a petition to the committee. signed by townspeople as well as students, that it reconsider its action. The trustees were courteous but adamant, and in September. ISS4, the first president was inaugurated. lle resigned his post twelve years later. Dr, Robert Gracey Ferguson in his Early llisiury of llysfrrrirrslvr College, said there were reasons deemed imperative for this resignation, Then followed in an administrative capacity Robert Audley Browne tl8u7-18703. Eliakim Tupper ,leflers flS72-ISSIJ, john li. McClurkin flblbi-ISS-lj, Robert Gracey Ferguson H884- IUUGJ, Robert McWatty Russell tl90ft-llllil. and W. Charles Wallace. the present incumbent. Three eras in Westniinstefs history may be distinguished. ln the Iirst, the sapling was plantedp the second was a period of cultivation under the gentle hand of an artist: the third and present era is one of growth, with the tree stretching its limbs, pleading for room in which to expand. The late Dr. Robert Gracey Ferguson came front the pastorate of thc First United Presbyterian church of Butler to Westminster in ISSN. lle was then forty-two years of age, and from that time until his death in November, 1020, his name and that of Westminster were almost synonymous. Over a thousand young people came under his mellowing influence during the thirty years in which he was actively associated with the college. As president, one alumnus wrote at ltis death, he built for eternity, and not until then can his influence on the lives of his students be justly measured. Old Main was augmented with two additional buildings during Dr. liergusorfs genial regime: the llillside in ISS-l, and Science hall in ISIN: the conservatory being erected in l90ti, and the gymnasium in l9Zl. Westminster's academic growth has far outstripped the growth in such material things as G? 1852-1927 9 . 'X 'K fx' r. . V D . is ' 5 4 st rt V Q n , e -1 il ll 'rrm.ty.r.mf

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Cs W THE ARGO ei -s Q. I I Vi 63 I 9 G3 Ffa Q5 . . X t L-Q D Q 5' t 6 .lt pu ea N fi L 4 D, r , i, gf Tl B' 11 f 1 ' ' ue tograp y o an nstttuuon 2 . BY Wtuaun H. BALDINGER. '20 GD Westminster was born amid much confusion and not without travail. The period was one . .fl of reaction and expansion, -national and educational. Gi Covered wagons fumbled in an endless line across the mid-western plains: newspapers kg- sprouted in profusion: hordes fled from the political unrest of Europe and swept into the -3 adolescent country: the irnell'ectuaI Fillmore was president: Uncle Toni: Cabin was the best X seller: sectional discord culminated in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. ' The school began its struggle fur existence under the maternal eye ot' the Associate D 7 church. Duncan Forbes, a rugged Scotsman, conceived the idea in ISH9. Two years later, in f' presbyterial conference, Edward McElrec moved for the establishment of a college. The minutes of the conference record that the conference was convulsed with laughter. 3' llaving had their fun, however, the committeemen voted unanimously to inaugurate the Westminster Collegiate Institute for the mental and moral training of the youth ot' both gf sexes, affording instruction in the arts and sciences, and the promotion of the pure principles 4 oi Protestant Christianity. Q Among colleges in the United States. Westminster was third to admit women students in S 9' at collegiate equality with men. Oberlin made the innovation in IS33, Lombard University L following in lSil. QA New Bedford, Slippery Rock and New Wilmington contested lor the site ot' the college, Q New Wilmington getting the decision. Since lS52 the history of New Wilmington has been ' that ol' Westminster. '5 31 V A Y 664' 'F ' f - a O Doom 1892 1927 1 oefffm ,f of t Twenty-three

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' . ' ' . THEARGO te' -1 1 1 I 'J S' 4 l fl il endowment, buildings and equipment. ln ISN, there was a teaching stall of seven: in l9Z7, the faculty numbers 33. Soon after coming to Westminster. Dr. Wallace re-organized the faculty, and at present the school's academic standing is exmllecl by few eastern colleges. Westminster has been given Group A rating by the American Association of Colleges and Universities-an association into which but twelve Pennsylvania institutions have been ad- mitted. In addition, Westminster is one of eight Pennsylvania colleges with membership in the American Association ol' University Women. During the three-quarters of a century in which Westminster has existed, the men of the school have been called to three wars: the Civil, Spanish-American, and World wars. The period between lS6l and lSo5 found the student body so depleted of its men that the college almost disbanded. There were seventyeight alumni in government service during the World war, and ninety-six undergraduates. exclusive of the Student Army Training Corps organization. Of these numbers nine died while in service or were killed in action. Too often a school is known alone by its athletic record. This tendency is lamentable. but seemingly unavoidable. Wherefore, to pretend to be in the least comprehensive, the his- tory of a school mllSl contain some reference to athletics. Perhaps Westminster's most notable athletic victories have been, in football, in addition to 'l'ri-Stale Conference games, defeats of Carnegie 'l'eclt and of Washington and jelferson. Carnegie 'liech has been defeated three times, and Washington and jefferson once. ln basketball, there have been victories especially over Princeton, Teclt. Pitt and Haver- ford. ln l9llo Westminster defeated Pitt with the appalling score of lilo-I3. 'lihat is the glory, perhaps, that was Westminsters. ln recent years, defeats have been more numerous than victories, but with a re-organization of the coaching stall' in IOZ6, a new era in athletics is expected. ln its seventy-tive years ol' existence, Westminster has proceeded from a period of high hats and buslles, through the crinoline skirts and turtle-neck sweaters of the Ull's, to the voluminous trousers and the brevity in feminine modes of 10.27. Only New Wilmington and the Amish Dutch have remained unchanged. tv:-,. K f,f Q X 'I ff 1 41 'Aw 'J' W1 Y 4 uv ,ff 24-,qi .ff 1.' , 1 , .- 555 ' ,- , , 'gg f 4 2' ,' ! af M, l ,,, 1... 114 44 if Y' If ,lu xx i? A 144 f' f' 7 ' Mali' 'Z' I 31 X fsfffy N w iv 1 -1 0 v D r- 1 A . D . 4 i rt L . . lf' I1 Q, A 'ff 1' , 5 , 7421 - lg! Auf l ffl .3 iff v ' W7-' 5 '2,,,,, NWI ' f ' 'aw vig: , lg t -xaylfl ,iffy ? ':'f,..,1g, . :W-,Y. 1 ?lf3 'iiflfl -Htl. ' 'et -ivy' W M- Jfoll at -f' gm' wr: ,M'5,'1'1y, ou t. flat!! if: ,fir-, 'fi ':4'e!g:- tae' f L 1 . Uri I 4.21 - ff!! :,wlf'nf -' ' ,,li,l .,...j'l'El c : 'f' - f , -yfi-1--f cw' 1: ,', J l 1-'oil r vit a 'H f 364- 'L' J ffl 'f 1 . t7 , '- , 1 1 H f it .1- 3:41 ,'4 ' f K - -ef A XZ! i , k ' 9 .Aj-5.55 . ff - 5, ,Aj 43.45 Q -I ' ff ,-fr ,,...--f ff ' 1, 41- H ., -' -f 4 f as :e gf 'C ,: FN 1 f 1 Aff sy' 14, V A Y , , A, A.: ,E - QA f,,? ',, '2i '6,,: ff 'L Z ii-P7 aff: . I 'As i 1 iii' Ifrff--gr' Kgh 'T-ff' ' Q' . - - t 1-:eff . ,, f fr' -X ,fx N ty irvfis- Q,.?s.:Q..-fQ , ffullrs afnlc C0115-qeafbr Ute fire y'!85B. YS fran A Sturlanf Slcefcfrrlnic fltxfnyean 1.852-1927 3 'X'l. A Twenty-tive