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Central City Friends Meeting
Centennial Celebration, 1899-1999
  NEBRASKA CENTRAL COLLEGE

A CREDIT TO CENTRAL CITY

1899-1953

     The establishment of the Friend's meeting and college at Central City reads like a romance. One evening five people met in a private home for a prayer service and in that little prayer circle was born the determination to establish a college whose watchword should be "Love and Service."
     There were no Friends living at Central City at this time but a school property was situated about two miles from this town.

     This building had been erected by the Methodists who conducted a successful school for a number of years, but owing to a spirit of concentration prevalent among school men their support was transferred to Wesleyan at Lincoln and the property came into the possession of James Stephen, a trustee of the institution and a prominent citizen of Central City.

     Herbert Mott, to whom is due the establishment of both church and college came to Central City in 1897 and contracted with James Stephen for 320 acres of land and the school building. It is interesting to note that James Stephen might have sold the building for a brewery but had refused to do so at a financial loss. Herbert Mott's plan was to start a Friends settlement and thereby raise funds to pay for a college property. The Nebraska Friend was issued to aid the enterprise and Friends responded to the call. During that same year a Friends church was built in town not by the Friends but by the business men and citizens of Central City.

     In the center of the college section twenty-six acres on which the building stood was reserved for college purposes and the remainder of the land was sold for sufficient money to pay for all. The school was opened September 11, 1899 and 126 young people responded that first year.

     These pioneer workers for the college were makers of history. The problem before them would quell the enthusiasm and quiet the zeal of ordinary people. They had it in time a well built brick building but at the time of its purchase it was used as a storehouse for grain. There was practically no equipment, not even a heating plant for several years. There were no dormitories and no endowment. The campus was a cornfield. But these were not people of ordinary caliber and they were eager for the educational, social and religious environment of a college community. Special mention should be made not only of Herbert Mott but of James Stephen, Elwood Knight, Joseph Joyce, A. E. Hadley, W. D. Gibson, and R. W. Townsend.

     These, with a score of other unselfish men and women have borne the responsibility and heavy burden.

     The cornfield has given place to blue grass and alfalfa, a shaded avenue leads to the main building, which is a fine structure built of brick and stone.

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     On the basement floor are the kitchen and dining hall together with coal room and a number of dormitory rooms.

     On the second floor are four large cheerful class rooms with ample furniture and black boards for class work; the boys Y. M. C. A. room is also on this floor, and a modest beginning of a museum, also here are the general and president's offices.

     The third story is reached from the south by a broad well lighted stairway. This floor contains the girls Y. W. C. A. rest room, one of the most cheerful rooms in the building, partially because it has been touched up by a womans' deft hand; here is situated the chapel where the students all love to meet and sing, and cheer in athletic rallies.

     Newspaper clipping, article written by Eli Perisho, President of the college 1904-1908.

Do you remember?

The plays staged in the Chapel?

June Festivals?

Walt Nielsen and Jean McMillan's wedding in the Chapel?

Wilda Mott and Andy McConaughey's wedding on the lawn of the college?

Someone putting one of the teacher's cars upstairs in Hord Hall?

When Grace Gibson cooked at the college?

What Louise Eaton did at the college?

People who stoked the furnace?

Who the four Rubes were?

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PRESIDENTS OF NEBRASKA CENTRAL COLLEGE

D. Riley Haworth	1899-1901
D. B. Gilbert	1901-1902
Samuel Haworth	1902-1903
Emmet E. Hadley	1903-1904
Eli H. Perisho	1904-1908
Stacy J. McCracken	1908-1911
Stephen S. Myrick	1911-1912
Floyd W. Perisho	1912-1913
Homer J. Coppock	1917-1921
Ora W. Carrell	1921-1953

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FIRST FACULTY OF CENTRAL COLLEGE AND ACADEMY

DAISY NETTLETON, ? HATHWAY, ALVIN MACY, ? SPEAR, ?,

CAROL ROBERTS, RILEY HAWORTH, HERBERT MOTT, ROSS PICKETT

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Nebraska Central Academy

Alumni by Classes

     Since our records of Nebraska Central Academy graduates are not up to date we have not attempted to indicate which persons are deceased. The William Penn College Alumni Office will appreciate information in this regard.

		Townsend, Edna
1900		Wallis, Lillie A.
Evans, Ed N.		Willeman, Verdi M.
May, Mildred (Mrs. Earl Stacy)		Wilson, Walter H.
Stephen, Carrie (Mrs. E. N. Evans)
		1904
1901		Emry, Ella (Mrs, William Truesdell)
Baker, Lee		Joyce, Rachel (Mrs. Vance Siler)
Chapman, Mattie		Mesner, Julia M. (Mrs. Milo H. Crosbie)
Collins, George		Roberts, Clyde Elvin
Connor, Mabel (Mrs. Percy Burke)
Hockett, Elma (Mrs. W. H.Green)		1905
		Crosbie, Milo H.
Joyce, Clarice M. (Mrs. Elton B. Hoskins)		Jewell, Alta L.
Kellogg, Asabel S.		Mesner, Frank D.
Lebert, Fred C.		Roberts, Mable A. (Mrs. Charles Grieve)
Mesner, Charles Warren
Mesner, Gilbert M.		1906
Nash, Frank R.		Crites, W. Frank
Sorrells, Mary		Jackson, J. Clifford
Wadsworth, Pearl		Mecay, Will
Wilder, James G.		Myers, Mabel
		Reeves, Mary L. (Mrs. Neil McMillan)
1902		Townsend, Bertha E. (Mrs. Percy L. Davis)
Caldwell, Katherine		Wilder, Clara G. (Mrs. William Everett)
Davis, Hal		Wildman, Lela M. (Mrs. David McMurrin)
Emry, Harriet F.
Ferris, Mamie (Mrs. Percy Gardner)		1907
Fraker, Bertha H. (Mrs. Herbert C. Hartzell)		Adams, Elmer S.
Joyce, Mabel (Mrs. James Stephen)		Davis, Harry G.
Kellogg, Mary (Mrs. Errol D. Peckham)		Ellis, William Albert
Schultz, Lou F. (Mrs. Clyde E. Roberts)		Finch, Iona M. (Mrs. M. William Perry)
Shelton, Clara		Grieve, Charles E.
Stephen, Lucy Margaret (Mrs.Everett Myers)		Grieve, Clifford A.

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NEBRASKA CENTRAL COLLEGE

Renneker, Nofle W.	Remy, Alice
Roberts, Lucy A. (Mrs. Lee Pinkhard)	Reynolds, Mary (Mrs. John Roberts)
Wilder, Charles H.	Roberts, Alma
	Van Sickle, Alice (Mrs. Edgar Daily)
1908
Crosbie, Clarence S.
Davis, Percy L.	1911
Grieve, William A.	Branaman, Harold
Harris, Jessie A.	Hadley, Evadine, (Mrs. Hubert Peckham)
Jones, Charles	Hockett, Lindel C.
Mesner, Hugh P.	Johns, Edith
Mesner, John E.	Johnson, Edith
Potee, Harvey	Lowe, Ethel (Mrs. Floyd W. Perisho)
Roberts, Josepha (Mrs. C. Snow Mathis)	Marsh, Earl C.
Remy, Davis S.	Myers, Esther (Mrs. Elmer Watkins)
SorRells, Adaline	Roberts, Martha (Mrs. Eklund)
	Stephen, Lillian (Mrs. Lee Van Zant)
1909	Van Sickle, Ida (Mrs. Dan Hartford)
Caldwell, Floy (Mrs, Emmett Frescholn)	Wegner, Edward
Caldwell, Rosina (Mrs. George Moore)
Collins, Sidney (Mrs. Walter Hamlin)
Hoskins, Edith (Mrs. Paul A.Mendenhall)	1912
Jackson, Edith (Mrs. Aldis Tucker)	Baldwin, Earl
Jefferson, Frank	Bice, Lawrence S.
Mendenhall, Alice (Mrs. E. Worth Coulson)	Campbell, Franklyn B.
Myers, Frank	Douglas, M. Josephine
Porter, Frank	Ellis, Ora (Mrs. Albert L. Marshburn)
Rash, Grace (Mrs. Havener)	Gibson, Raymond
Schroeder, John B.	Halling, Otto
Shelton, Harry B.	Hanson, Gurney F.
Townsend, Hazel (Mrs. R. R. Potee)	Hockett, Alta (Mrs. George Johns)
Townsend, Murray	Hockett, Clara (Mrs. Charles Wilder)
Tucker, Aldis J.	Holtz, Emmet
Willeman, Ernest M.	Mack, Donzella (Mrs. Paul Enge)
	Quisenberry, Gladys
1910	Rash, Roy H.
Campbell, Robert	Workman, Wilma (Mrs. Esek Perry)
Clark, Estelle
Collins, Ella (Mrs. William Grieve)	1913
Gaw, Jennie (Mrs. Jake Benner)	Barnes, J. Roy
Hockett, Maud (Mrs. William Pratt)	Carter, Halliene

Hoopingarner, Willis	Clements, Curtis M.
Joyce, Stanley	Kanter, Emma J.
Mendenhall, Paul A.	Lindall, R. Myrtle
Mesner, Raymond D.	Perisho, Lester T.
Millsap, Ruth (Mrs. Frank Zimmerman)	Retzlaff, Henry E.
	Smith, O. Keith
	Sullivan, Wyndham
	Watkins, Grace C. (Mrs.Raymond Gibson)

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