Wheaton Academy - Compass Yearbook (Wheaton, IL)

Page 17 text:

In the year T853 the Great Republic was beung bullt lt was the height of the cllpper shlp era Frank lln Pierce was comlng into offlce at a time of grow mg natlonal dlssenslon on the slavery Issue and Gadsen had made hls notable purchase for the Unuted States government termmatlng the greatest frontler the world had ever known At the time when thus great natlonal frontler had ended another frontler was bemg discovered The far reachlng posslbllltles of this frontler presented themselves to a handful of praurle settlers In the mud western Illmols Vnllage of Wheaton These were courageous men of actuon who belleved In God and the right When they had believed their church the Methodust Epnscopal to take wrong vlews on ques tlons such as llquor traffic secret socletles worldly amusements and particularly slavery they had broken away and formed their own group whlch they named Wesleyan Methodlst Mrs Warren I. Wheaton, oldest lnvmg Academy alumnus, and daughter In law of the man after whom Wheaton us named . . . and one begms They sent thenr chnldren to eastern colleges and umversntles but when these sons came back with Ideas foreign to the convlctlons of their parents the elders were greatly alarmed True to form they took pos mve actuon Kneelmg In the pralrne grass of the sate whuch they had purchased from John C Howard for one hundred and fnfty dollars they dedicated the hull and all that should be upon lt to that God ln whom trusting they had boldly gone Into the thickest of the fight not only for the freedom of human bodues but of human souls as well They called thelr new school Illmous lnstutute Here their sons and daughters would receive educatuonal tramlng based upon the Buble they believed and centered In the Lord they loved Thus It was that Wheaton Academy was conceived In a farmness of fatth and clarlty of purpose that compelled the foundmg fathers to start the senous buslness of pushing back the new frontier l 1 I I3 ,, . ,, . . . I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' I I I ' . . . . . . . . . , . . . . ,, ' I . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . ' I r . . . . ,, ' . . . ,, . ,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' I . . . . I ' ' . . . . . . . I I . . . . . I I . . . . . . t

Page 16 text:

A frontier ends . . . 1' r J ', Q- 1.6- , .N ,, ... l C x fa-r Front Street, 12 Av? ' x X r Q I J ., , 4-.11-1 ff, ,rm-fo, , 4 ' ' 4, . rf Q' . rw 5 ' fm ff' wry' , ' ,,z,,'f,, 1 ff, 4 V , .,f,,!J'f,.. ,L, Wheaton, or the 'urn of ihe cenfury , 'luv f N Q-is

Page 18 text:

On the Illinois prairie Illlnols Institute In 1860 i They named the Rev John Cross as Instructor and the flrst day of school was December 14 1853 The first classes met un the basement of the unflnushed bulldlng In May of 1854 Rev Charles F Wunshup a grad uate of Oberlln College succeeded Rev Cross Whale Professor Wmshlp was at Illinois Institute the plain three story building was finished at a total cost of ten thousand dollars The fourteen rooms of the top floor were soon occupied and the problem of heat mg the rooms sometimes became acute An anony mous alumnus wrrtmg In the fnrst publication ever put out by Wheaton College The Voice of Our Young Folks had this to say about the heating problem These stoves worked provoklngly and for years notwithstanding chumney caps new chimneys and new systems of pipes nngenaously contrived the bad habit was not overcome A standlng rule pro hlblted all smoking In the building to which some unscrupulously exact and thoughtful student added stoves excepted The Chapel Youth Fellowship of today had t beginnings an the Tuesday evening prayer meetings mous alumnus wrltlng un 1869 had to say of these And the Tuesday evening prayer meetings an the room above with what affection and reverence do I look back on those sacred hours recognizing their hallowed influence For most of the Academys one hundred years literary societies have been an Important part of the soclal life The Phllomathean which changed Its name one year later to Beltonnan literary society was established during thus period an 1855 Debates were Important to these early In s The one nnstntutlon of the Academy which has come to us today almost without change and which ns perhaps the greatest single testimony to the un changeable purpose of our Lord for Wheaton Acad emy as the evangelistic services which also had their beginnings nn this very early period C I C , . I ' ' l l I - , . . I I - I I . I I II ' I I I I I I I Ill ' i s which were started during this period. Our anony- . . . . I .. . I : ,, . . . sn A ,.1' , lm . 1 I . .J- ' f . I ' ' - - rr 1 I I vs. . . . . ' I I ' II 'f Il ' I I I4