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CEDARVILLE COLLEGE,
by Prof. F. A. Jurkat.
CEDARVILLE College is one of the institutions of higher
education under the control of the General Synod of the
Reformed Presbyterian Church. The college was
chartered in 1887, and after a delay of several years, was
opened for instruction on Sept. 19, 1894, in the mansion
formerly owned by Rev. Hugh McMillan, where he
conducted an academy half a century ago. In the
following year the present building was erected and opened,
both campus and building being the gift of generous friends.
The college speedily took high rank, as is evidenced by the
fact that although its oldest graduates are still young men,
they have taken prominent positions in their various
professions.
The income of the college consists of tuition fees,
collections from congregations, voluntary subscriptions and
offerings from friends within and without the church, and
interest of the endowment funds. The practical origin
of the college was due to the liberality of William
Gibson, of Cincinnati, who bequeathed $25,000 as a
foundation in memory of his father. Peter Gibson,
for many years a prominent member and riding elder in the
Cincinnati R. P. congregation. A few years later,
Robert M. Cooper, an elder in the Cedarville R. P.
congregation, bequeathed a two-thirds interest in his farm,
and John R. Lyons, of Marissa, Illinois, gave $500 as
a memorial for his son, James Burney Lyons,
who sacrificed his life in the Civil War. In 1905
Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Harper, of Cedarville, gave $5,000 to
found and maintain a chair in Finance and Economics,
provided the friends
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of the college should raise a similar amount. The
money, including $1,000 from the Hon. Whitelaw Reid,
was raised, and the chair was instituted two years later.
The college plant consists of three buildings; the main
building before mentioned, the gymnasium, and the library.
The gymnasium, formerly the R. P. church building, was
presented to the college by Mr. W. J. Alford as a
memorial to his parents.
CEDARVILLE COLLEGE.
Rev. and Mrs. John Alford, and was
renamed the Alford Memorial. In 1906 Andrew
Carnegie presented the college $11,790 to build a
library. This building is nearing completion, and is
one of the ornaments of the town. It is free to the
public.
The present faculty consists of David McKinney,
D. D., President; W. R. McChesney, Ph. D., Gibson
Professorof Ancient Languages; F. A. Jurkat, A.
M., Modern Languages and History; J. R. Fitzpatrick,
A. M., Mathematics and Science; EdithMorris, A. B.,
German and English; Leroy Allen, Ph. B.,
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Harper Professor of Sociology and Economics; Mrs.
Jessie Russell, Music; and Frank S. Fox,
A. M., Elocution.
The graduates to date number ninety-seven. The
number of students since the third year of the college has
averaged about one hundred.
The collegiate courses offered are two, the classical
and the philosophical, leading to the degrees of A. B. and
Ph. B., respectively.
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, CEDARVILLE COLLEGE.
Among the students'
societies may be mentioned the two literary societies, the
Philadelphian and the Philosophic, the Y. M. C. A., the
Athletic Association, and the Gavel Club. The latter,
formed originally to train its members in parlimentary
law, manifests itself most prominently in publishing the
college paper, the Gavelyte.
The college has exerted a profound influence upon the
community, and in return is thankful that it has such
fertile soil to grow in.
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