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The Seed and the Soil - 1883-1884
This was the place. Beyond the hill lines of Minnesota, beyond the
rolling
country of the Big Sioux, -and across the placid James, on a
bluff
overlooking the muddy Missouri-here was the place.
This was a young, raw country--a territory with statehood still
years away. It had not been long since the wagons came and the
first sod
huts rose against an endless expanse of sky and grass. Here
was a land
of desolation, of still empty acres, but a land filled with
plans and
dreams.
Among those who had been planning and dreaming were two
pioneer
Presbyterian ministers, Dr. H. P. Carson and M. E. Chapin.
Returning
from a Presbytery meeting in Sioux City in the spring of
1881, the
two men had paced the deck of a steamboat and talked of a
university-a college-to take its place in the developing territory of
Dakota.
To some, their plan might have seemed presumptious-building a
college in
a land not yet a state-this prairie land with its sparse
population.
But the two men had faith in the future of -this territory
and in
their college. Their faith was communicated to others, and the
newly
organized Presbytery of Southern Dakota, meeting at Volga in
1882,
issued the following statement:
"The Presbytery. of Southern Dakota having declared its purpose
to found
and establish, as soon as practicable, an Educational Institu-
tion in
which shall be taught the Higher Branches of Learning, and
appointed
the undersigned as a Special Committee to inaugurate and
carry
forward the movement, we would hereby so inform the inter-
ested
public and earnestly invite bids, proposals and correspondence
looking
toward the locating, establishing, and endowing of such an in-
stitution.
Any person willing to donate money or land to a College
or
University in Dakota south of the 46th parallel, is most cordially
urged to
drop us a line. If your town desires an Institution of Learn-
ing located
within or adjacent to its limits, please write to either Rev.
H. P.
Carson, Scotland. D. T., or Rev. R. B. Farrar, Volga, D. T., or
Rev.
W. S. Peterson, Huron, Dakota."
Several towns had expressed interest in the invitation. With Rev.
A. K. Baird
of Iowa acting as speaker, a Presbytery committee visited
Huron,
Mitchell, and Pierre. The first two cities, then involved in a
fight for
the capital of the territory, could not satisfy the needs of the
committee.
Pierre, feeling it had been eliminated in the capital fight,
offered 20
acres of land and $13,000 in money for the locating of the
college.
The offer was accepted.
This, then, was the place. On a bluff known as "Rattlesnake
Hill"
in Pierre, S. D., overlooking the muddy Missouri, a college was
born in the
year 1883. They called it first the Presbyterian University
of Southern Dakota and then Pierre University. On its campus was
one wooden building costing $3000. The building accomodated the
boarding department, housed the college's first president, Rev. T. M.
Findley and wife, and afforded recitation rooms for students.
The college was incorporated on July 6, 1883.
On July 18 of the
same year, the trustees named Rev. Thomas M. Findley president of
the new institution. On September 26, 1883, the college opened its
first term.
Three students enrolled.
"We state the facts in the case,"
President Findley said at the
time, denying that 11 to 20 had enrolled, "there were only three stu-
dents at the first chapel exercise on the morning of the 27th.",
But, by December 5 of the same year, Findley
was able to report
that "the student body numbered twenty-four of whom one was sick
making only twentv-three at work.",
This was the place, and the college, in a
territory still six years
from statehood. This was a land only recently settled, but settled
quickly in the days of "land booms."
This was the college - a college that could not
then or cannot now
be separated from the land in which it existed and exists, the territory
of Southern Dakota-the state of South Dakota-this was the barometer
by which the college would rise and fall-and rise again.
A sparse, naked land, a land of necessities too
young to be rich.
In this prairie country, President Findley "had the usual experiences
of college presidents varied to suit local conditions and Pioneer sur-
roundings-he was full of hopes and problems. In November, 1883,
he attended Presbytery and reported "urgent need of encouraging
words and more especially money to pay running expenses."
And this was one uniting thread which would run
all through
the fabric of the college's history. To a private college, in Southern
Dakota or elsewhere, financial aid from its friends is the
life-blood-
the measure by which it lives or dies.
In 1883, not much, in dollars, was needed or
obtained, "-a finan-
cial agent, Miss Cleveland, had been East soliciting. In five months
she secured $517.75. The president says that board (at the college)
never goes beyond $2.46 a week and that living at the college is so
cheap that he was forced to warn the public in print that already the
institution has received bogus students who came to get a cheap liv-
ing."
Not much money was needed, and not much was
forthcoming,
The college appealed to the churches, but the churches themselves
"were small and dependent upon Home Mission aid." Never-the-less,
some of the churches did give. Noted were amounts ranging from $50
to $60 by the churches at Scotland, Aberdeen, and Huron.",
First funds for the endowment of the college
came from the Pres-
byterian Church in Huron in the amount of $5.71. "The Presbytery
by resolution endowed the college with $50,000, but the banks, unfor-
tunately, did not discount the Presbytery's resolution-."
Largest windfall for the young college came
from the McCormick
family of Chicago, whose aid made possible a brick building of three
stories costing $20,000 in 1884. Eventually there were three buildings
on or near the
campus; McCormick Hall, Pioneer Hall, and a home
for the
President.
So lay the naked campus on a hill in East Pierre where the rail-
road had recently
opened a second depot. Pierre, then, was at the
end of the
railroad line, and drew further trade from traffic up the
river.
"Pierre once had a hard name, but among the 500 people now
living within a
mile of the college -there is but one-who persists in
working on the
Sabbath day."
This will amuse you, read about the degredation of society...
On the campus those first years were the seeds of later growth.
"There were
literary societies . . . some kicking of the football . . .
but dancing is an
unmitigated evil. The propensity to it has already
prevented several
young ladies from entering the college."
"Classification was difficult. He (Findley) solved it by dividing the
students into
three groups ... Some of the students had to be con-
verted to accept
a true faith in classical studies . . . two well ad-
vanced students
started in Greek ... part of their board was paid
to secure their
attendance and have it said that Greek was being
studied."
The seeds of the future for the college's faculty were sown, in
those first days,
by three persons. Those first three in a long line of
distinguished
scholars who were to serve the college were President
Findley, his
wife, Lou Gregory Findley, and Rev. George F. McAfee
(also Pierre's
Presbyterian minister).
On October 11, 1884, the college, which had been known as Pres-
byterian
University of Southern Dakota, was renamed Pierre Univer-
sity.
Research fails to reveal a complete, documented list of the stu-
dent body during
the 1883-1884 term, but it is known that the follow-
ing were in the
college at some time during the year: Bessie Tillotson.
Winnie Geltz, Ada
Baillie, Libbie Rowlands, Kate Loudon, Frank
Farrar, C. J.
Ritcliffe, Effie Hargis, Mazie Crossley, H. Hamill, Laura
Templeton, J. B.
McCullough, and S. Dunwoody.
Listed in the "Second Annual Catalog of Pierre "U," 1884-1885
are 10 college
students: Farrar, George C. Findley, Eugenia M. Miller,
Harris S. Miller,
Ratcliffe, Crosley, Dunwoody, Horgis, Dora Hays,
and William
Warne.
Faculty for 1884-1885 included, again, President Findley and his
wife, plus H. P.
Wilber, C. J. Ratcliffe, and Miss E. E. Hargis. The
latter two were
students assigned as instructors, another student,
George C.
Findley, served as librarian for the 200-300 volumes then
possessed by the
infant college.
Several of the early founders had been appointed to the board of
trustees at the
college's beginning. H. P. Carson was president. Coe
I. Crawford,
later governor of S. Dak., was vice president. Secretary
was R. B. Farrar,
-and treasurer H. 0. Fishback. Other members in-
cluded W. S.
Peterson, J. P. Williamson, J. D. McLean, J. B. Pomeroy,
Robert Ewart,
William Church, C. A. Bliss, and George McAfee.
This gives you an idea of their educational background...
The curriculum of Pierre University was weighted heavily towards
the classical and
the scientific. Among the required courses were three
years of Latin
and Greek; four years of science, ranging from geometry
through physics,
chemistry, and geology; history, literature, and elo-
cution; along
with two years of Christianity and Morality Science.
Among the
electives were French, German, and Civil Engineering.
The
seeds had been planted for a Christian college. Consequently,
student attendance at
"Sabbath morning preaching service and Sab-
bath School" was
required; also "a daily chapel service" was required.
The
college moved strictly in another direction! "All students
are expected to connect
themselves with a college literary society, and
on failure to do so will be
required to prepare two extra essays each
term and read same before the
whole institution." Societies existing
at the college in 1884 were
the "Occidental" and "Athenian." The
"Pierian" in 1885
was followed by the "McCormick" and "ANKM"
in 1886.
A
student entering Pierre U. could expect to pay $36 per year in
tuition, $5 in fees, $2.40 a
week for board, and $3 a year for a furnished
room (unfurnished rooms were
free). "Books, music, lights, fuel, and
washing extra," the
Pierre U. catalog warned, but added "Provision,
by the liberality of private
persons, will be made for part payment of
the expenses of a limited
number of students."
And
these were the seeds of all that came after. What had been
sown would grow, sparsely
like the land of its nurture, but with some
of the toughness of the land,
too. The plans would foliage and wither
-but never quite die-then
foliage again.
The Dream
and Destruction - 1885-1897
In the spring of 1885, President Findley resigned his post with the
college.
Named to fill his place was Dr. William M. Blackburn, a minister,
scholar,
and internationally known author in the field of church liter-
ature.
Dr. Blackburn had filled pulpits in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Ohio.
As a teacher he had occupied the chair of church history at
the
McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. As an administrator,
he had just
completed a term as president of the University of North
Dakota.
Writing books based on extensive research-research which had
carried him
to many points in Europe-Dr. Blackburn had an estimat-
ed 33
titles to his credit. His "History of the Christian Church" had
received
world-wide acclaim, placing him, according to a foremost
reviewer,
as one of the two leading church historians of his time.
To this man belonged the next 13 years of the college's history-
a period of
richness on the academic side, and slow starvation on the
financial
side. To Dr. Blackburn belonged the last battlefield of Pierre
University.
What he gave on that battlefield can never be erased.
In the fall of 1885, Blackburn, together with the synod, fired the
opening
shot. In a circular, they cited the fact that "the Synod, hav-
ing pledged
to endow Pierre University with $50,000, the interest of
which at
eight per cent, annually would be $4,000, "Resolved that a
prompt and
vigorous effort be made in the churches to raise, at least.
one fourth
of the interest ($1,000) for the year ending August 1, 1886."
That year, Pierre U. had seven instructors. Tuition was still $36 a
year, with
other costs remaining at the level of 1884-1885. In the
spring of
1886, the faculty had increased to eight.
The dream of the future would not be still. McCormick Hall was
dedicated.
Property of the college was estimated at $40,000. The city
of Pierre
-and Pierre U. still looked forward to a metropolis in the
center of a
state "twice the size of Ohio." Stages fanned out from
Pierre, end
of the railroad, to the vast ranchland of the west river, to
the army
forts, and to the Black Hills. River traffic was heavy.
In the year 1885 the first college YMCA was organized.
At Pierre U., the publication of a college paper "The Collegian,"
was begun
in March, 1886. A Mrs. Ford of Aberdeen secured 260 books
and six
maps, total value $330, for the college library. Donations for
rooms
coming from Iowa, Dakota, and Illinois totaled $702.52. In
June, 1886,
the college's first diploma (not a degree) went to Ada
Baillie of
Pierre. At the same time, the college library was designated
as a
depository for government publications and boasted a total of
900 volumes
of all kinds.
During the fall term, fifty students enrolled in all branches of the
University.
In January, 1887, there were seventy.
On a Tuesday evening, May 31, 1887, the college that was then
called Pierre University sent forth
its first graduate and conferred its
first degree-a bachelor of arts to
Frank A. Farrar. Not only was
Farrar the first to receive a
degree from Pierre, but was the first in
Dakota Territory, preceding by one
week, a graduate of Yankton
College.
In his
valedictory address, Farrar looked into the future of his
alma mater, saying, "as the
years roll by and the possibilities in-
crease, the power of this
University for good will be recognized more
and more, so that in future time,
when this country shall teem with
population, the wisdom of planting
a college on what is now the verge
of civilization will be seen.
And, as each succeeding commencement
sends forth other graduates, may we
always be proud of our alma
mater and fondly cherish her
memories."
Tying
itself even closer to the geographical area in which it was
located, Pierre University in the
fall of 1887 was accredited by the
Board of Education of the Territory
of Dakota as a teacher-training
institution. At that time,
tuition of one dollar a week for the pros-
pective teacher was paid by the
territory.
During the
summer of 1887 another decision of vital importance to
Pierre U. was made. The Synod
took a definite stand that "Groton
Collegiate Institute, supported by
the Presbytery of Aberdeen, should
not offer college work in
competition with Pierre, -and that Pierre was
to be the only four-year college of
the Synod." At the same meeting,
the Synod finally located its
academy at Scotland.
In October,
1887, a college YWCA was organized. By the spring
of 1888, the college catalog was
combined with the Pierre Collegian.
July of
1888 marked a milestone. For the first time, college ex-
penditures and receipts balanced
out. Much credit went to the Synod
and its churches, which raised $666
for the college.
I don't know about you, but if I was raising money for a religious organization, I would shy away from that number...
Two more young men walked center stage at commencement ex-
ercises June 6, 1888, to receive
degrees, becoming the second and third
to graduate from Pierre U. They
were W. W. Warne and George Saf-
ford.
With three
graduates now in the field, an Alumni Association of
Pierre University was promptly and
enthusiastically formed on the
day following the graduation of
Safford and Warne, June 7, 1888.
First president of the organization
was Frank Parrar.
And now, someone you all know about...
Full membership in the association was granted to Farrar, Safford,
Warne, Joseph Zoll, Edwin Jaynes,
Charles Sharp, Charles Blackburn,
George
Gilchrist, and W. H. Chatworthy.
By the fall
of 1888, President Blackburn's struggles with the fin-
ances of the college seemed to be
moving towards success. A debt of
$3,422.16 which had existed in 1887
was now reduced to $1350.37, and
the yearly expense of the
college-$2900-met in full.
There was
however, need for additions to the $40,000 plant. Re-
porting to the Synod, Dr. Blackburn
pointed out that,, "every room in
Pioneer Hall is now engaged,
including the parlor, and it may be
necessary to fit up the laundry
room to accommodate other young
ladies expected." Such
being the case, the Synod favored a grant of
$5,000 to aid in the erection of a
main dormitory, of which Pioneer
Hall would be one wing.
Dr.
Blackburn, in an article for the "Dakota Educator" in 1888,
set the tone for Pierre U.-a
philosophy that carried on through the
years of that college and its
offspring, Huron College: "Let him (the
student) remember that the
smaller the class, the more attention he
may receive. His
individuality has the freer play. He has more op-
portunity for
self-development ... He advances by his own re-
searches . . ."
This
simply stated Blackburnian philosophy has guided the col-
lege to the present day and
has its valedity proved in a recent motto
of the college: "Quality
education in a friendly atmosphere."
Dr.
Blackburn himself was a student to the end of his life. During
those years at Pierre
"He had a very tough, dun-colored pony, which
he named Sardinius (which the
students called 'Charlie'), and a cart.
He always carried a hammer in
that cart. Every hill, ravine and
stretch of prairie for miles
around Pierre were familiar to pony and
driver. With the hammer
he secured and brought home specimens
for his geological collection
. . . He explored the Ree Hills in Hand
County -and the Badlands in
Stanley . . . and brought back chalk and
fossils some of which aroused
the interest of such men as Cope."
Dr.
Blackburn was also a poet, and examples of his work can be
found in various
publications, including the "Pierre Collegian."
Through the college's history, probably no department of the
school has received such wide
national recognition as the speech di-
vision. In 1889 in
Pierre, beginnings were already being made here,
with the announcement that a
"Debating Club" had been organized.
Now
came statehood for "South" Dakota. Where it had been
written: "Pierre
University, East Pierre, Dakota," it now became:
"Pierre University, East
Pierre, South Dakota."
In
these times, seeking to broaden the scope of the college, the
board of trustees initiated
the practice of giving free tuition to one
graduate of any accredited
high school. This practice was carried
on in the college for several
years, even after its move to Huron.
This will give you a little feel for the "technology" of the day...
The city of Pierre, too, was progressing. As settlement extended
westward to the Black Hills,
Pierre U. took proud note of "sidewalk
all the way from the college
to town, and electric lights illuminating
the wide valley."
To
the stoney hill above Pierre, in that year of 1889, came a lady
who was to have a strong
influence on many students at Pierre U. and
later at Huron College.
She was Miss L. J. Robinson, who came to
Pierre qualified to teach
mathematics, science, Latin, literature, and
history.
As
the college began its seventh year during the fall of 1889, it
was able to report a freedom
from debt, but was now facing a need
for more dormitory space for
an increasing enrollment. The city of
Pierre itself could help only
in a small way; for newly designated as
the temporary capital of
South Dakota, and with a population rapidly
doubling funds were needed
for civic enterprises.
And read about how the climactic changes brought about the decline of the area, and the downfall of the college...
Yet, even in this year of growth, the winds that would wither
these new seedlings, Pierre
and Pierre University, had been born and
came drifting across the
plains. A prairie fire in April and a summer
drought had struck the farms.
Drought -- in the next few years the
word was to become the name
and shape of a destroying evil.
Pierre saw itself as the gateway to that vast territory west of the
Missouri. From Pierre, the end of
the railroad, went wagon trains.
T'hrough Pierre passed the river traffic.
Yet, in those months as
Pierre fought for the state capital, on
drawing boards and on the
western earth new railroads were creeping
in to tap the west river
country.
By 1890, the
college could boast that It was teaching "23 subjects-
classes meet 85 times a week."
Yet, in the spring of 1890, there
were only three graduating seniors,
and between 1890 and 1898
only eight more received degrees.
The growth of
Pierre and the country around it stopped. The
boom was over. The railroad station
in East Pierre was abandoned.
A railroad extended from Chadron, Nebr.,
to Deadwood. That ended
the transportation by oxen and mules from
Pierre to the Hills. Fort
Sully was abandoned. The up-river
trade was cut off when the North
Western railroad extended its line from
Redfield to Gettysburg - and
the Milwaukee built from Aberdeen to
Bowdle.
Drouth followed
drouth, year after year. Settlers left their home-
steads and the new country by the
thousands. Pierre had reached
the climax of its growth and now went
backwards.
In this
atmosphere, a college which was still in the dependent
stages of its infancy could not hope to
survive. Those who had strug-
gled valiantly for its life at last found
the insurmountable obstacle.
From the hill in East Pierre eyes could
look out to a land whose real
future was still more than half a century
away.
Dr. Blackburn had
shown his ability as a fighter and as a college
president, but even he now faced the
impossible. He was an old man,
a man who had given thirteen years of his
life to the college, and
linked with the tragedy of the college
was personal hardship.
He had come to
Pierre with his wife, two daughters and a son.
Another daughter was already away from
home, married to a minister
in Canada.
While in Pierre,
the son, Charles, went to Persia as a missionary. A
daughter married a Dr. Robinson of
Pierre. During this period of
hardship, Mrs. Blackburn died. His
daughter, Mrs. Robinson, died.
The doctor grew old and broken in
health.,
The financial
support on which the college was dependent fell
below the starvation point. Dr.
Blackburn and the Synod were forced
to face the inevitable. Pierre
University must close.
So, to the stace
in 1897 came the last persons to graduate from
Pierre-Elias Sarkeys and Thomas
Schreiber. As the college now
Huron College-marks its 75th year,
Schreiber is the only survivor of
the 13 to receive bachelor degrees from
Pierre University.
Before the winds
of drouth and depression the plant withered
but it did not die. The roots
survived. The roots were taken from
the soil of East Pierre and moved
eastward some 100 miles, where the
plant would bud again and grow.
What they had given
then, the, Findleys, Blackburns, Carsons,
Farrars, Petersons, Wilbers, Crawfords,
Fishbacks, Williamsons, Mc-
Leons, Pomeroys, Ewarts, Churches,
Blisses, McAfeeq. Robinsons and
all the unnamed ones was not given in
vain. Without Pierre U.,
what followed could not have been.
Huron College is a monument to
their 15 years of labor and devotion.
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