Westminster College - Blue Jay Yearbook (Fulton, MO)

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Thomas D. H' vvfl 0 ' A , 0 N '- O Westminster Qllullege FRANC L. MCCLUER, '16. HE HARDY PIONEERS of the stern frontier lands of our nation's I history looked to the churches among them to establish and care for the educational needs of their children. Nor has this later day left us Without the need of the church college, rather does the hurry and bustle of our complex life make it all the more necessary that the training of the heart keep pace With that of the mind. Westminster College Was founded as a small college and as a college only. lt was intended to be a thoroughly human institution in which personality should transcend machinery. The high hopes its founders had for it have not been in vain. The college Was founded in 1849 as Fulton College and chartered by the State of Missouri as Westminster Collegein 1853. The first annual cata- log, that of -1853-54, shows that the faculty then consisted of four men: Professor William VanDoren, Professor Samuel S. Laws, Professor expense for the Baird,and Pro- fessor James G. Smith, the first graduate of the college. O n e hundred a n d fourteen s t u- dents Were en- rolled thatyear. It is interest- ing to note the s t a tement 'of this c a t a lo g t h a t Board- ing, including Washing, fires, and lights, in F u l t o n , o r Within a rea- s 0 n a b l e dis- t a n c e , W a s 31.50 to 253.00 a Week. The 1 1 SAMUEL S. LAWS, A.M., D.D., LL.D. First President y e a r is esti- m a t e d a t some W h e r e b e t W e en one h u n d red and one hun d r e d and fifty dol- lars. Some- of the,-faculty rules ' of that early day give u s suggestive hints of the life of the t i m e. F o r example, No student is allowed to have or carry Weap- o n s , s W o rd canes, pistols, or any other t h a n p e n knives, and the f'U6 '-l as i -4 pf:-1 4 .

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V if .pg- 3 ., fn 2 so 'A ' WWW 'A A 'A ' 'NW ' . Q V .,,, ,M 'y I i . VVVVVV WwM.,,,0 1, .. , f, 7 1 ,I fm, ... . Z e f ee as ' V .fr ,g K A.. ' N A ...... . ,,,, W QZXZ S jg.. We W . -Y W- 1... .,,, ,..... s.,,,. ., ,,.r:: ,... W. ,,,,, ... .ag:1:1-- , .. ..... ,,. ,, ... .- in ' sending or accepting of a challenge subjects to the highest penalty. Further on we read: Attendance on circuses is not allowed, and attend- ance on shows, or any public entertainments, when forbidden, is an of- fensef' The rapid growth of the college before the civil war is attested by the steady increase in the total enrollment and in the number of graduates each succeeding year. Indeed, the position attained in this time made it pos- sible for Westminster to be the only college in Missouri to continue its work unbroken through the war, though, of course, the war resulted in a great decrease in attendance and in the loss of some valuable securities. This position enabled the college to lead in matters of educational policy. Dr. M. M. Fisher, Professor of Latin at Westminster from 1855 to 1876, writes in his History of Westminster College: Westminster College was the first institution in the West, if not in the whole country, that put the English School on a level with the classics, and insisted on a masterly knowledge of the noble English as a mental gymnastic inferior to no other. This policy was largely the result of the influence of the first incumbent of the Chair of English, Prof. Clark Strong, a Yale graduate, who came to the Westminster faculty in 1857. The ability of its faculty members, indeed, has been the chief source of Westminster's usefulness. The college has ever been fortunate in her lead- ership. The first president of the institution was the Reverend Samuel S. Laws, Ph.D., LL.D. Dr. Laws was a remarkable man, inventor of the OLD WESTMINSTER HALL Erected 1853 six