Hanover College Triangle on

the College's Centennial,

January 7, 1927

Hanover College celebrated its one hundred year anniversary on January 1, 1927. The editor of the Triangle thought it would be a good idea to give the readers some background of the storied college. - Chris Neumann '10.

N.B. The text below is transcribed verbatim, including the occasional typographical error.

"Hanover College Is Century Old," Hanover College Triangle, 7 Jan. 1927.

Hanover College Is Century Old:

Passes One Hundred Year Mark Jan.1

On Verge of Greater Tomorrow

Out with the old century and in with the new was the word that New Year's bells tolled for Hanover College, which on January 1 passed the 100 years mark and started on toward the marking of another century of successful history as one of Indiana's oldest and best institutions of higher learning.

New Year's day a century ago, January 1, 1827, Hanover College was founded in a small log cabin near where the Presbyterian Church now stands, and classes were held there for some time.

A century has given the college Classic Hall, Hendricks Library, Science Hall, the gymnasium, the observatory, the dormitory, the president's residence, and much other property in addition to the prosperity and fame that has come to the institution from the alumni of the school.

A Literary Society still exists here, Indicative of the increased public interest that is being taken in Hanover College and as a manifestation of the publicity being given our college's centennial, the following leading editorial of last Monday's Indianapolis Star is reprinted below:

On January 1, Hanover College celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. Although it is not now, in its centennial year, a great college in point of endowment, attendance, and many buildings, it is vastly different from its beginnings and long since justified the struggles of its founders to make it permanent. They were men of vision in the Salem presbytery who believed that Indiana would some day be a great state and who took the first steps to establish a school for a higher education than was then to be obtained in that region. Among other purposes in mind was that of educating men for the ministry. Hanover church, then a center of Presbyterian influence in that district, was a little country church six miles below Madison. It stood on a high and beautiful bluff facing the Ohio River. Tradition says the church was named "Hanover" in compliment to the wife of the first pastor, she having been a native of Hanover, New Hampshire. There was not even a village surrounding it, but the pastor of the church, the Rev. John Finley Crowe, was asked to open and conduct an "academy" until further provision could be made.

On the first day of January, 1827, this school was opened in a log cabin with six pupils. It was an unpromising beginning, but the faith of the founders was justified. It grew slowly and under many difficulties, but it grew. The experiment was tried of combining an industrial department with the cultural work, so that students might earn their own way through the school, but these plan proved unsatisfactory and was abandoned. In 1829 a theological department was added, and the school was adopted by the Indiana synod; but this was removed in 1840 to New Albany, and from there to Chicago where it became the great McCormick Theological institute.

The institution was chartered as a college by the Legislature in 1834. The buildings were provided mainly by citizens of Madison and the surrounding country. Heavy debts and one destructive fire early in the history of the undertaking delayed progress, but the college went on under capable management and made itself known. It was the birthplace of the college Y.M.C.A. movement in the United States and in 1883 erected a special building, and commodious wooden structure still in use, for Y.M.C.A. meetings and other campus activities.

Hanover has had eleven presidents in its 100 years, but the last two, Dr. Daniel W. Fisher and Dr. William Alfred Millis have covered a combined total of nearly fifty years or nearly one-half of the lifetime of the school. The graduates of the school include numerous men of prominence, among them Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, of Washington, D.C., and Dr. John M. Coutler, long a teacher at Purdue now a resident of New York. The board of trustees includes men from all parts of the state. Henry T. Graham, Amos W. Butler, and George W. Allison represent Indianapolis on the board.

A high education standard has been maintained at Hanover, and the college is of excellent repute among educational institutions. No one of the small colleges of the country has better rank. Perhaps no one has aroused greater loyalty among its students. Say what one may about the advantages of the great colleges and universities, there is an element in the smaller ones where there is closer association between teachers and students and better opportunities for personal friendships that is found no where else. They are often places of more intimate experiences and memories and their influence is for good.

Hanover has an enrollment of nearly five hundred students, showing a large increase since the war. It is in a prosperous condition, but like all colleges, has financial needs. Its 100 years have been well spent. It has had a fine influence in Indiana which is proud of it and the people should be glad to aid in its progress. It should go on its excellent way and be able to celebrate triumphantly another century.