Page 27 - YB1901

Sketch of «Iestern JV1arylandCollege. T has always ~een a ,characteristic of the AI~lerican people in thei~ re- markably bnght history to place much Importance 011 education. li From the very first OUf pioneer fathers sought to establish schools as plentifully and as conveniently as possible. As population increased the demand for schools increased. And though there have always arisen men who have expended earnest and energetic effort to establish conditions to meet this demand, many times it has been very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to maintain a college where really needed. At all events the his- tory of most educational institutions is marked by trials and struggles more or less discouraging and difficult to overcome. Yet the brightness of the final success is hut rendered more brilliant by the gloom attending the beginning. These facts have been manifested in the history of our institution. When the fertile and richly timbered lands of the western part of Maryland began to attract live and thrifty settlers there arose a need for a college in this section. Mr. Fayette R. Buell was one of the men to expend his efforts to meet this need, and as a result of those efforts, in the fall of 1866,.there was laid the corner-stone of Western Maryland College. But not long after the completion of this building it became evident that the whole enterprise was in great danger of failing. The college was on a very unsound financial basis, and the leaders of the institution were brought face to face with the fact that, unless immediate relief was found, their cherished hopes and ardent desires would crumble before the irretrievable defeat of all their carefully laid plans. It was under these circumstances that Dr. James Thomas Ward heroically came to the assistance of Mr. Buell. By his remarkable popularity and the incorruptible integrity of his character he succeeded in securing a suf- ficient amount of money to relieve the embarrassmern with the understand, ing that he should become the president of the college. This the venerable doctor held with credit and distinction until 1886. this period the institution grew rapidly, both in efficiency and in the number of its students. -+ 19 4--