volving long years of litigation, made it impossible for the Methodists of Omaha to consummate the project, and unwise for the church to make it its own by conference action. A year or two after this an effort was made to establish a center of learning, including a theological school, at Oreapolis, near the mouth of the Platte river. Along with other prominent business men, John Evans, M.D., was the projector. He had a few years before helped to found what is now the great Northwestern University, the city which grew up around it being named Evanston in his honor. He afterwards became governor of Colorado, and was one of the principal founders of the Denver University. These facts are mentioned to show that this enterprise at Oreapolis was not wholly visionary, though, being premature and started in unpropitious times, it was doomed to failure. Though after this the conference frequently received offers from ambitious localities, of lands and subscriptions, it was usually to found a college "or a university," and the conference wisely refused to undertake to maintain an institution of that grade. So it was not till the conference which met in Lincoln in October 1879, that the Methodist church of Nebraska officially began its long deferred work of Christian education by accepting a proposition from York, Neb., to establish York Seminary. This institution, located in a thrifty section of the state, and in a town in which there never has been a saloon, opened for work January, 7, 1880, under the principalship of Dr. Edward Thompson. The school did splendid work under the management of Professor Thompson and also during the presidency of Dr. R. N. McCaig, who succeeded Professor Thompson in 1885, and in the meanwhile it was raised to the rank of a college. The attendance at one time reached over two hundred.
   In 1884, two years after its organization, the North Nebraska Conference appointed a Commission with authority to establish a conference seminary. The commission met in December and selected Central City as the place. Dr. J. B. Maxfield was elected president, and a substantial brick building erected at a cost of $10,000. The following year the school was opened with good prospects. At the following conference the grade was changed to that of colllege (sic), and the name changed to Nebraska Central College. At the end of the second year Dr. Maxfield resigned on account of failing health, and the Rev. David Marquette was elected to the place. He, too, after a year spent principally in an effort to solve the financial problem, which had already become serious, found his health so impaired as to make it necessary to relinquish the work, and the Rev. J. W. Shenk was elected. He in turn was soon succeeded by the Rev. H. A. Crane, and he by F. W. Ware. The number of students continued to increase till at one time there were 150 in attendance, but the financial conditions constantly became worse.
   In 1886 the Rev. Allen Bartley and others started the town of Bartley in the southwestern part of the state, and within the bounds of the West Nebraska Conference, and established an institution of learning with the pretentious title of Mallalieu University.
   This was the situation of Methodist educational affairs in 1886 when Bishop Fowler came to preside over the Nebraska conferences. With the York and Central City school within forty miles of each other, and both financially embarrassed, and the tendency to increase the number of struggling schools, each conference wanting to have its own high grade institution, it seemed improbable that either would ever be able to reach the standard of a first-class institution. The bishop suggested the appointment of a commission composed of five members from each conference, and three from each school, and that an effort be made to unify the educational work of the church in the state by centering its efforts on one institution of high grade for the entire state. The suggestion was adopted by all the conferences. The commission as thus constituted, together with Bishops Bowman and Warren, who had been made members, met at St. Paul church in Lincoln, on December 15, 1886. Bishops Fowler and Foss had also been made members of the commission, but were unable to attend.

   The commission addressed itself at once to the delicate and difficult task of unifying the educational system, and as a result of its deliberation what is called the "Plan of Unification" was adopted, involving these features: (1) That there should be but one institution of college grade in the state, the location of which should be determined by a majority vote of the commission; (2) that all other schools should be parts of, but subordinate to the central university, and should have permission to carry their course of study as far as the sophomore year. By a vote of the commission the central university was located at Lincoln, and named the Nebraska Wesleyan University. It was located some three miles from the main part of the city and a building costing $70,000 erected. A townsite was laid out and named University Place, which has grown into a thrifty village of nearly or quite 2,500 inhabitants. Being outside of the city limits, it maintains a separate municipal government, excluding saloons and all other haunts of vice. It is connected with the city by two electric street car lines, with service every fifteen minutes.
   Dr. C. F. Creighton was the first chancellor, serving in that capacity for six years, when he resigned and was succeeded by Dr. Isaac Crooks. After three years he resigned, and the place was left vacant with only an acting chancellor. In March, 1898, Dr. D. W. C. Huntington was elected to the vacant chancellorship, and under his administration the school has thrown off the burden of debt, increased its attendance of students, and starts out on a new era of prosperity, the unique "plan of unification" placing back of this one school the entire 60,000 Methodists of the state as a constituency. Though by reason of debts, adverse financial conditions, and other causes, all the other schools of Methodism in the state have suspended, the Nebraska Wesleyan, because of its favorable location, will be able, for the present at least, to do the education work for the church better than it would have been done had they continued to live and Wesleyan had not been. Besides the income from the sale of Nave's Topical Bible, there is a productive endowment of nearly $250,000. The conservatory of music, named the C. C. White Memorial, cost over $50,000.
   In the summer of 1908 Chancellor Huntington resigned and retired from active work in the educational field. William J. Davidson, A.B., B.S., T.B., D.D., of Garrett Biblical Institute, was elected chancellor and professor of the history and philosophy of religion. Dr. Davidson held the office and professorship for two years when he resigned and returned to Garrett Institute. Clark A. Fulmer, A.M., was appointed dean of the college of liberal arts and professor of zoölogy in the university in 1908. When Dr. Davidson resigned Dean Fulmer was made acting chancellor and one year from that time he was made chancellor. He was, during the years of his chancellorship, professor of physiology and hygiene. He continued in the office of chancellor until the summer of 1917. The trustees appointed as his successor Isaac B. Schreckengast, Ph.M, S.T.B., D.D., acting chancellor and professor of religion. Dr. Schreckengast came to the Wesleyan as vice chancellor, treasurer for the board of trustees, and professor of religion in 1913. The university maintains courses of study in the college of liberal arts, in the teachers college, conservatory of music, school of expression and oratory, school of art, and the summer school. Including the attendance during the session in the summer the institution has had for several years an enrollment of eight or nine hundred students. The faculty is made up of about forty able men and women. Dean Francis A. Alabaster of the college of liberal arts, Dean Bertram E. McProud of the teachers college, Professor Charles D. Rose, Elias H. Wells, William G. Bishop, Abbie C. Burns, Henry H. Bagg, Clarence A. Morrow, and Orlin H. Vennor have been connected with the university for years. For a shorter time other professors. and teachers have worked with equal devotion and earnestness. There are many evidences of progress. Not the least of these is the Van Fleet teachers college building which was erected in 1917 at a cost of about $50,000. The debts which were contracted several years ago have been provided for and

the university for some time has lived within the income.

    BELLEVUE AND HASTINGS COLLEGES. The Presbyterian church has always and everywhere been the friend and advocate of thorough and liberal Christian education. Many of the most useful institutions of learning in the United States have been founded and maintained by this church. Recognizing the fact that learning without moral character is only a larger equipment for evil, and that good education and true religion must join hands to secure the best citizenship this church has ever been diligent according to her ability to provide Christian schools of all grades for her children and youth.
   This governing principle was clearly recognized by the men who laid the foundations of the Presbyterian church in Nebraska. At the first meeting of the synod, October, 1874, the subject was introduced by the representatives of the church at Hastings, and was earnestly discussed and heartily approved. But the synod was not able at that early date to take any direct action toward establishing a denominational school. But the purpose to do so was firmly cherished in the hearts of all, and only waited the opportune time for its practical development. At the end of six years of growth in churches and financial resources it was believed that a beginning might be made; and at the meeting of synod, October 16, 1880, it was determined to open such a school at Bellevue.
   The location was decided by the generous offer of Mr. Henry T. Clarke, then of Bellevue, to give 264 acres of land adjoining Bellevue, and to erect a building on the summit of Elk Hill, which he subsequently did at a cost of $16,000. The college was opened for students in the fall of 1883 with two professors and sixteen students. The Rev. William W. Harsha, D.D., LL.D., became the first president, taking charge in 1884, and continuing till June, 1888. The Rev. Francis S. Blayney, Ph. D., succeeded Dr. Harsha and served one year.
   The Rev. David R. Kerr, Ph.D. D.D., was then chosen president, and continued in this capacity from January 2, 1890, to June, 1904, when he resigned. During all these years Dr. Kerr carried a load of anxious responsibility which would have crushed a less courageous and determined spirit; and to him chiefly are the college and its friends indebted for the steady enlargement of its plant and work in all directions. After the resignation of Dr. Kerr, the vice president, the Rev. Robert M. Stevenson, D.D., became acting president until the election of Guy W. Wadsworth, D.D., who entered upon his duties September 1, 1905.

REV. ROBERT LUCIUS WHEELER, D.D.
A leading Presbyterian minister of Nebraska

   The location of the college is "beautiful for situation," commanding an extended view of river and bluffs, hills and plateau, such as can rarely be seen in any part of our country. To the one building which crowned the hill when Dr. Kerr began his work there have been added five others, used for president's house and dormitories, and all well adapted to the purposes of their erection. The library contains 4,500 books and 3,000 pamphlets; and 110 papers, magazines, and other periodicals are regularly received. The laboratories are well equipped for the work of that department.

Athletic fields and gymnasium provide ample accommodations for healthful recreation. The Bible is taught regularly and systematically, and is fundamental in the whole course of instruction. Young men's and young women's Christian associations and literary societies are maintained. It is the constant aim of the faculty to attain a high standard of instruction and scholarship and at the same time to cultivate and develop the moral and spiritual side of the student life. The attendance has steadily increased till the present year, which shows an enrolment (sic) of 180. The material resources, including lands, buildings, library, and apparatus, aggregate about $120,000.
   The successor of Dr. Kerr as president of Bellevue College was Dr. Wadsworth, who continued in office until the summer of 1908. The college authorities elected Stephen S. Stookey, A.M., LL.D. He came to the position in the college well acquainted with the work, as he had been dean of Coe College, Iowa. He served until January 1, 1914. During his administration the Synod of Nebraska decided that Bellevue College should be an independent institution approved by the Presbyterian church. During the same period Bellevue College gave up the charter as the University of Omaha under the expectation of being included in the new charter for the University of Omaha. Dr. Stocky retired from the presidency in the middle of the college year, 1913-1914. Professor William E. Nicholl, an alumnus of the college, dean of the faculty and head of the department of education, was made acting president. Dean Nicholl served most acceptably until July,

BELLEVUE COLLEGE

1916, a period of two and one half years.
   In August, 1916, Dr. David R. Kerr returned to the presidency of the college under the urgency of the trustees and friends of the institution.
   The buildings of the college at this period in the history -- March, 1918 -- are seven; Administration and class rooms, gymnasium, president's house, and four dormitories. The library contains a little over 7000 volumes.
   The people of Hastings, who had taken the initiative in the matter of Christian education at the first meeting of the synod, felt that they must have an institution of their own, being so far distant from Bellevue, and having so large a territory that would naturally be tributary to them. Hence the Presbytery of Kearney, covering at that time all the western portion of the state, on September 2, 1881, took steps toward organizing a presbyterial academy at Hastings. At the next meeting of the synod this action was approved, and the coming institution commended to the confidence and support of the churches.
   The first board of trustees incorporated the institution as Hastings College, May 10, 1882, and secured an initial subscription of $10,000. The educational work began September 13, 1882, and has continued without interruption to the present time.
   President Ringland resigned in 1895 and Professor W. N. Filson was acting president until 1896. He was succeeded by S. G. Patterson who served as president until 1902. Again Professor Filson was called on and continued in office until June, 1903, when E.

Van Dyke Wight, D.D., became president. Dr. Wight was president for five years. When he resigned the trustees elected President A. E. Turner, LL.D., who resigned in February, 1912, to take up work in Philadelphia. In June of the same year the trustees elected R. B. Crone, Ph.B., of Iowa. President Crone came to the college and Nebraska with a reputation for good school work and with well defined educational ideas. This reputation he had earned by fifteen years of earnest and successful work as superintendent of schools in the state from which he came.
   McCormick hall, which was completed in 1884, and Ringland hall in 1885, have been followed by Alexander hall in 1907 -- a dormitory for young women -- by Carnegie library and science building in 1909, and by Johnson gymnasium and domestic science hall. Hastings College has gained and holds a high place among the colleges of the country. The college has graduated 198 students with the regular bachelor's degree. There has been an increased enrollment especially during the last four years. The interest-bearing endowment is now more than $200,000. The plans of President Crone, the purpose of the trustees, and the efforts of friends are to increase greatly the funds and equipment of the college to the end that the institution may minister to larger and larger numbers of young men and women who seek and who need college education.

    THE OMAHA SEMINARY. The plan to establish a theological seminary in Omaha was indorsed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church at a meeting held in Detroit in 1891. The seminary was incorporated in February, 1891, by representatives of the synod of Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri. The directors secured the use of the Second Presbyterian Church building in Omaha, and the work of the seminary was begun in September, 1891. Later, the board of directors decided that the school was too far from the city and the business and educational interests of Omaha, and a new site was sought and secured. The Cozzens House, at the corner of Ninth and Harney streets, was purchased by Mrs. William Thaw of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Thomas McDougall of Cincinnati, Ohio, and presented to the seminary. In 1903 the seminary erected a $50,000 brick building on two blocks of ground lying adjacent to the Florence boulevard and Spencer street in Omaha. This is an attractive and valuable site in North Omaha and is a property of which the church and all the city can well be proud. The building is well equipped for use as a modern theological seminary and annually sends forth a class of young men fitly qualified to make the world better for their part in it. Charles Vanderburgh of Minneapolis, Minnesota, left a legacy to the seminary. The money was expended in the erection of what is known as the "Vanderburgh House." It is used as the residence of the teaching staff.
   The institution stands for "The faith once delivered to the saints." The purpose of the seminary is to ground the students in the teachings of Christ and to cause them to do faithful and skilful work in the fields to which they are called. Fitness for the sacred work of the ministry and qualifications for the life and service of today are constantly kept before the students. The object of the institution is set forth thus in the constitution of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America: "The object of the Seminary shall be to instruct candidates for the Gospel ministry in the knowledge of the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the only supreme and infallible rule of faith and life, and of the doctrine, orders and institutes of worship taught in the Scripture and summarily exhibited in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; to cherish in them by all the means of divine appointment, the life of true godliness; to cultivate in them the true gifts which Christ the Head of the Church, by His Spirit, confers upon those whom He calls to the ministry; and to impart to them, so far as may be, the various learnings by which they may be furnished for the work; to the end that there may be trained up a succession of able, faithful and godly ministers of the Divine Word."
   The first faculty consisted of the Rev.

William A. Harsha, D.D., LL.D., professor of diction and polemic theology; the Rev. Stephen Philps, D.D., professor of ecclesiastical, homiletical and pastoral theology; the Rev. John Gordon, D.D., professor of ecclesiastical history; the Rev. Matthew B. Lowrie, D.D., professor of New Testament literature and exegesis, and the Rev. Charles G. Sterling, Ph.D., professor of Hebrew, with the Rev. Thomas L. Sextion, D.D., as lecturer on home missions.
   The Rev. Matthew B. Lowrie, D.D., was elected president of the seminary in 1899, and was succeeded by the Rev. A. B. Marshall, D.D., in 1910.
   The faculty for the college year 1917-1918 is as follows: the Rev. Albert B. Marshall, D.D., president and professor of homiletics and pastoral theology; the Rev. Joseph L. Lamp, Ph.D., D.D., professor emeritus of Hebrew, Old Testament literature and exegesis; the Rev. Frank H. Riggley, Ph.D., professor of Hebrew, Old Testament literature and exegesis; the Rev. Daniel E. Jenkins, Ph.D., D.D., dean and professor of diction and polemic theology; the Rev. Charles A. Mitchell, Ph.D., D.D., professor of New Testament literature and exegesis; the Rev. Charles Herron, D.D., professor of ecclesiastical history and missions.
   Special lectures are given this year by Professor J. M. Coleman of Bloomington, Indiana, on studies in Christian socialism; the Rev. Henry C. Mabie, D.D., of Boston, on the significance of the cross and foreign missions; and the Rev. W. S. Marquis, D.D., of Chicago, on the Presbyterian United Movement.

    GRAND ISLAND COLLEGE. Grand Island College is under the auspices of the Baptists of Nebraska. At their first state convention in 1867, with not more than half a dozen feeble churches of their faith in existence, the Nebraska Baptists passed a resolution looking toward the establishment of an institution of learning. They wanted a school that would train recruits for the evangelization of the world; where their young people, while preparing themselves for all forms of honorable service, would be educated in intelligent sympathy with their denominational life and work.
   In 1884, an education society was formed to bring about the establishment of a college under conditions that would augur success. This society became the delegated body of the whole denomination in the state. When the purpose of the society to found a college became known, six cities competed for the location of the new school. The offer of Grand Island was considered the most substantial and desirable. The gift of this city was a campus of ten acres, two buildings, and several acres of city property; the whole gift being appraised at $60,000. This college property passed from the hands of the local building committee to the Nebraska Baptist Education Society, then to the American Baptist Education Society; thence to the trustees of Grand Island College.
   The articles of incorporation provide that the trustees shall be twenty-one in number; that the board of trustees shall be a self perpetuating body; that two-thirds of the trustees must be members of regular Baptist churches; that the president of the college, also, must be a Baptist. Aside from the provisions made with reference to the denominational relations of trustees and president, there are no restrictions made nor questions asked in regard to the denominational affiliations of teachers or students.
   In October, 1892, Grand Island College opened as an academy under the presidency of Professor A. M. Wilson. Four instructors assisted the president. The first year was a disappointing one. It was generally expected by the denomination in the state, that the college buildings would be thronged with students the opening day. The school opened with thirty-two students in attendance. The enrollment increased to fifty during the year.
   The American Baptist Education Society, which represented in part the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, offered $5,000 to the new college on condition that $15,000 more should be raised in Nebraska by January 1, 1894. It was stipulated that $10,000 of the total sum might be used for current expenses. At the close of the school year about $6,000 of the $15,000 had been subscribed. Then the

financial secretary resigned in discouragement. Others connected with the college tried to complete the canvass for funds, but without success. The teachers were not paid; they found other places for service for the year ensuing; the president resigned; the students scattered, not expecting to return.
   In 1893 Professor George Sutherland, of Ottawa University, was called to the presidency and continued in this office for eighteen years. At the time of his coming the panic of 1893 was in full blast. The college owed $6,000, with some of the creditors clamoring for their money. The new president secured a new faculty; the school was changed from an academy to a college. The college opened with forty students in attendance; twenty-five additional students enrolled during the year. The most important thing attempted was the completion of the endowment effort. Of the $9,000 needed to complete the $15,000, $6,000 was pledged in one evening at a Baptist state convention in Lincoln. With the enthusiasm generated by this success, it was not difficult to raise the remaining $3,000. Little of the amount raised at this time could, by the terms of Mr. Rockefeller's offer, be used for current expenses. The most of it was set aside to become the nucleus of an adequate endowment. In scoring this success the college made the record of being the only college in the United States and Canada, working at that time under an offer of the American Baptist Education Society, that raised what it set out to raise within the stipulated time. Every other college thus working asked for an extension of time.
   In 1896 another effort was made to increase the endowment. During the summer of 1895 the president visited many cities, in many states, and concluded that the east would again help the institution if its needs were strongly presented. At the close of his investigations he called on the secretary of the Education Society and the private secretary of Mr. Rockefeller, and received from them assurance of assistance. The college thereupon received a grant of $7,500, conditioned on its raising the supplementary sum of $17,875. To assist in securing this amount the Rev. Dr. A. S. Merrifield was employed as financial secretary. Dr. Merrifield was indeed an apostle of Christian education. He solicited for the college for eleven years and raised altogether, for all purposes, generally in small amounts, over $100,000. He and the president working together succeeded in raising the amount necessary to secure Mr. Rockefeller's benefaction together with other important gifts for current expenses and equipment.
   Another campaign for endowment was made in 1900. The amount sought was $35,000. The American Baptist Education Society, among its last gifts before going into commission, pledged $10,000 on condition that the supplementary sum of $25,000 should be raised in Nebraska. The campaign for this sum was largely in the hands of Dr. Merrifield. Excepting the city of Grand Island he canvassed the whole state and secured $15,000. Grand Island alone contributed $11,000. If there had been no shrinkage in the pledges made during the four campaigns, the endowment in 1901 would have reached $70,000.
   During these trying years several gentlemen of means became interested in the institution, chiefly on account of its successful struggles to maintain an existence. Mr. J. V. Hinchman of Iowa bequeathed $10,000 for endowment and instructed his executor to pay this sum to the college at his death or as soon thereafter as all the college debts were paid. To assist in paying these debts, which now amounted to $15,000, Mr. L. B. Merrifield, of Illinois, pledged $10,000. On receipt of this gift the bequest of Mr. Hinchman was secured. Struck with admiration for the institution that could live and thrieve (sic) during the strenuous years between 1892 and 1901, Mr. John A. T. Hibbs, of Omaha, gave the college cash, bonds, United States certificates, and well located Lincoln lots to the amount of $15,000. The generosity of Mr. Hibbs made possible the construction of Hibbs Hall. Other men of means in Nebraska and elsewhere have made Grand Island College a beneficiary in their wills. If these wills, which are not probated, shall yield a percentage equal to those that have already been probated, the