Westminster College - Argo Yearbook (New Wilmington, PA)

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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

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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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THEARGO . . ' . -'Ve 3 Appreciation of Robert Gracey Ferguson for Westminster College T- BY W. CH.xkLEs XVALLACE, D. D. 'B C? ln Memoriam of Robert Gracey Ferguson, for Westminster A C H College, l am distinguished, in these obsequies. to speak. ln one sense, tc indeed, it is a superfluous thing to speak of Our Grand Old Man! He does not need the eulogy of any man! His fame is not enhanced, his memory is not lifted to any new place of distinction by any man's rv Q9 word of praise! lt is not necessary, here, to recount his achievements, it for they are in the memory not only of every one of his own one thous- P and foster children of the college, but of every lover of high and gifted D L men who likes lo see achievements which proceed from character, to see those things done which are not done with the selfish purpose of self- 9- aggrandizement, but in order to serve an institution, and prove worthy , ofa religion! For - Crm xtnricrl :mi or uniulalcd lmxl 1 O Hack In ils nmiixioii call llle llufliiig llrenlllf Can llmmfs 'twirl' prurolzc flu' silent tlusl, s ? 4 Ur Fliillvry soaflit' lbs tlllll mid mr nf llunflvf And yet, in memorial one may pause a moment or two beside the hier of a Great Man, and, taught by Thomas Carlyle. in l'leroes and Hero-Worship , reflect upon the divine relation which in all times unites 4 9 a Great Man to other meng and thus, as it were, not exhaust my sub- ject, but so much as break ground upon it, 5, ,s We cannot look, however imperfectly upon a great man, without gaining something by him. l-le is the living light-fountain, which it is 9 good and pleasant to be near. The light which enlightens. which has enlightened the darkness of the world: and this not as a kindled lamp only, but rather as a natural luminary shining by the gift of heaven: a 1 Q flowing light-fountain, as l say, of native, original insight, of manhood P and heroic nobleness,-in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well Gt with them! On any terms whatsoever you will not grudge to wander in such neighborhood for awhile . lt was worth while, wrote Henry Russell Miller in The Old Grad ,I 7' Goes Back, it was worth while to spend four years under Ferguson:- 7 gracious, mellow, lovable, he sweetened, inspired and illumined all he E touched! Led by Doctor Ferguson they gave largely, did that faithful band of the old faculty: they. it seemed to the old grad, must have Gxed F the character of WESTMINSTER,-a simple, unaffected democracy, ' Gb sincerity, a high idealism! They made bricks without straw, but they x 6 made very good bricks indeed. Many noble lives, some notable gf, careers, have been fashioned out of the bricks they made! A A - 1 185Z-1927 if . ' 1 1 . Twenty-six