Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

NEWBERRY COLLEGE HAS CONQUERED CHALLENGES “Nurture this tender place, guard it as the apple of your eye, and you shall see it prosper in your hands.” This was the challenge given in 1859 to the Newberry College Board of Trustees by Henry Summer, secretary to the Board. He was speaking about the new Lutheran school in Newberry, which had opened its doors for its first session in February 1859, with 150 students, a fa culty of three, and one build ing. Today Newberry College in her 113th year has more than The Rev. Theophilus Stork, first president of Newberry College. The Rev. J.P. Smeltzer president of Newberry College, 1861-1877. met this challenge, according to Dr. A.G.D. Wiles, the eleventh president of the College. In pinpointing the highlights of the College since its incep tion, Dr. Wiles pointed out the heroic efforts of the Rev. Dr. John Bachman, pastor of SL John’s Lutheran church in Ch arleston, who as early as 1828 proposed a training facility for the preparation of Lutheran clergymen, the leadership of Presidents J.P. Smeltzer and George W. Holland during the dark times of the Civil War and the Reconstruction Period, the dire and critical moments of the depression years, and the resurgence of the College in the 50's and 60’s. Owned today by the South Carolina,Southeastern&Florida Synods of the Lutheran Church in America, Newberry College stands as a remarkable tri bute to the Lutherans of the 19th century who "founded her on faith and nurtured her by pray er.” The College’s history act ually dates back twenty-eight years before the formal char ter was issued in 1856 when Dr. Bachman recommended at the 1828 meeting of the South Carolina Synod and Adjacent States that an institution be founded chiefly for the purpose of training ministers of the church. From this recommend ation theClassicalAcademyand Theological Seminary of the South Carolina Synod was open ed in February, 1831, at the residence of Colonel John Eich- elberger in Pomaria; in 1834 it was moved to Lexington for its "permanent location.” The Seminary and Academy grew for twenty years under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. E.L. Hazelius until his death in 1853. The next year the Synod voted to take legal steps to make the institution a degree-grant ing college; in 1855 it voted to move it to Newberry; and in 1856, just before the granting of the Charter,to name it New berry College. The relocated school was organized into two divisions; the preparatory de partment and the collegiate de partment which included the Seminary. In 1856 land was bought and the cornerstone of the first building was laid July 15,1856; one wing was completed by the summer of 1858. The prepara tory department opened in the fall of 1858 with 50 young men; the collegeiate department op ened the following February. The college’s first president, the Rev. Dr. Theophilus Stork, was formally inaugurated Octo ber 29,1859, but resigned the following year because of ill health. Dr. J.A. Brown, pro fessor of theology, was then named the acting president of the College; he resigned in 1861 and returned to his home in the North. He was succeeded by Dr. Smeltzer. The enrollment jumped to 175 during the first full school year(1859-60) with the 1860 term beginning with encourag ing prospects, but the Civil War and a smallpox epidemic drastically reduced the enroll ment to 64 men during the 1862-63 term. The Board reported to the Synod in 1863:"It is scarcely possible to estimate the import ance of the College through such troublesome times and severe trials as those under which our country now labors. By a constant encouragement and unrelaxing efforts on the part of the friends of this Col lege, it will be built up and placed on sure foundation ... and we may hope for a long and bright and prosperous fut ure for Newberry College.” President Smeltzer searched for funds with which to pay the College’s debts and to increase the endowment. By the end of 1864 he had collected $46,000, which the Board invested in Confederate bonds. The enrollment dropped to 30 by the spring of 1865; the only building was used as a Confederate hospital and was Original Buliding on Newberry Col- legt campus on the site of Smeltzer Hall. The cornerstone was laid in 1856 with the first wing completed in 1858. After the war the building was virtually destroyed during its occupation by Federal troops. The original building was razed to allow for the construction of Smeltzer Hall in 1877. 0^, Newberry College gym located 1905 until 1924. It was heated by a on the site ot Wessles Library, serv- large open fireplace ed Newberry College athletics from Carnegie Hall was built in the early ing. It served as a dining hall be- 1900’s; razed to allow the construe- fore Kaufmann Hall was built, tion of the present Cla»,. oom Build- NEWS-SUN-CimfiN TRICENTENNIAL EDITION Newberry County, S. C., November 12, 1970 Aerial view of campus (Fix taken April, 1970) in need of repairsjthe College was in desperate need of mon ey, which was impossible to raise. With this background the Board voted to close the College temporarily at the end of the session. After the fall of the Confeder acy, Brigadier General Van Wyck of the U.S. Army came to Newberry with a regiment of soldiers which he quartered in the College building for a period of over two months in 1865. During this occupancy the building deteriorated great ly. The Synod authorized $5,000 in 1866 for repairs on the sin gle building, which was virtually destroyed during the occupat ion. At that meeting legal steps were taken to recover damages from the Federal government for the damage done; it wasn’t until 1898, however, that the College received $15,000 from the government for the war- infllcted damages. The collegiate department reopened in the fall of 1866 with 25 students and three fac ulty mambers including Presi dent Smeltzer. The Board was unable to raise the authorized funds to repair the building; the creditors refused to reduce their claims against the insti tution; judgment was bought against the property and at its 1868 meeting the Synod voted to sell the property. The Lutheran congregation at Walhalla offered buildings for the work of the College and the offer was accepted. The College bell, the remnant of a library, and a few blackboards and ben ches were the total remaining property of the College which was moved to Walhalla in Nov ember 1868. The move to the new site didn’t solve any of the College’s serious financial problems and after eight years in the north western corner of the state, the Synod decided to look for another location for the strugg ling institution. It voted to move back to Newberry after the city pledged $15,870 and a gift of ten acres of land or the privilege of buying the old site for $2,500. By this time the creditors had cancelled their claims. The School was relocated on its original site and Smeltzer Hall was constructed with funds con tributed by the citizens of New berry. The move back to New berry in 1877 also brought a new president, the Rev. Dr. George W. Holland. President Holland did much to get the Col lege back on its feet after Reconstruction. During his ten ure as president, the College embarked on a building pro gram which included some fa culty housing, a boarding hall, and a building to house a science facility and a chapel and lib rary, the present Keller Hall. The Seminary had come under control of the General Synod of the South in 1867 which discon tinued its operation; but in 1884 it was again made a part of the College by the South Carolina Synod, where it remained until 1898 when it was moved I to Mt Pleasant In 1911 the Seminary moved to its present site in Columbia. President Holland died in 1895; he was succeeded by George B. Cromer, the first alumnus of the College to be come president. During his ten ure of nine years Congress app ropriated the $15,000 to the Col lege for damage done to the original building in 1865, women attended classes for the first time, and the College fielded its first athletic squad, a baseball team. Holland Hall, the present ad ministration building, was built in 1904 from the Congressional appropriation and other funds raised by President Cromer. After Cromer’s resignation in 1904, the Board of Trustees named the Rev. Dr. James A.B. Scherer as the sixth president During his administration the endowment was increased and a new boarding hall was built, partly from funds donated by Andrew Carnegie. A second alumnus of the Col lege, the Rev. Dr. John H. Harms, followed Dr. Scherer in the presidential chair in 1908. While he was president the preparatory department of the College was discontinued in 1914; the teaching of students preparing for college was make the responsibility of the regu lar faculty until 1926 when that phase of the College’s pro gram was abandoned. The Harms administration also saw the endowment in creased, the purchase of 18 acres of land adjacent to the campus, and the athletic pro gram expanded to include inter collegiate basketball in 1911 and football in 1913. President Harms resigned in 1918 to return to pastoral work; he was replaced by S.J. Der rick, professor of history and also a graduate of Newberry College. Two of the present buildings on campus were con structed during Dr. Derrick's presidency, the present build ings on campus were construct ed during Dr. Derrick’s presi- dency. the present Mac Lean dormitory. Although the first women att ended classes at Newberry as early as 1897, it wasn’t until the early 1930's that the Col lege became completely co educational with the closing of Summerland College near Lee- sville . This Women’s school was founded by South Carolina Lutherans in 1912 but it was soon decided that the Synod could support only one college. A consolidation of the two Colleges began in 1929 with Summerland completely closing its doors in 1931. In 1930 the South Carolina Synod invited the Florida Synod and the Synod of Georgia and Adjacent States to share in the ownership and control of New berry College. The 24-year tenure of Dr. James C. Kinard’s presidency began in 1930. He was able to keep the College open during the great depression, the Col lege’s most serious crisis since the Civil War and the Recon struction Era. He not only kept the College in operation, but his administration achieved a departmentalized curriculum, the liquidation of indebtedness and regional accreditation. After 38 years of service to the College as professor and president, Dr. Kinard resigned in 1954; he had joined the Col lege staff in 1916 after his gra duation from Newberry. C.A. Kaufmann became the president in 1954 and served until 1960 when he resigned because of poor health. During the Kaufmann administration (CON’T. ON PAGE 5) s ,U> Zr NEWBERRY COLLEGE through it's various educational pro grams has been ... a cultural leader in Newberry for over 100 years. If takes pride in it's association with Newberry in the past and looks forward tor an even more productive association in the future. 1670 1970 SOUTH CAROLINA TRICENTENNIAL NEWBERRY COLLEGE Founded 1856 A College of the Lutheran in America