Chief among these is the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, commissioned in 1946 under Bucknell President and former Governor of Maine Horace Hildreth and opened in 1951. Like other institutions, Bucknell's campus grew to accommodate a growing student body, and the college broke ground on many of the academic buildings that comprise upper campus. The post-War period saw a dramatic increase in higher education enrollment across the United States, thanks first to the G.I. Subsequent expansion of the university still largely adheres to this plan. The depression era also saw the commissioning by President Homer Rainey (1931–35) of architect Jens Larson to design Bucknell's master plan. Today, that institution is a four-year university, Wilkes University, independent of Bucknell since 1947. When the Depression brought a drop in enrollment in 1933, several members of the faculty were "loaned" to found a new institution: Bucknell Junior College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The 40 years from 1890 until 1930 saw a steady increase in the number of faculty members and students. Today, it houses the Stadler Center for Poetry. Bucknell Hall, the first of several buildings given to the institution by Bucknell, was initially a chapel and for more than a half century the site of student theatrical and musical performances. In 1886, in recognition of Bucknell's support of the college, the trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the University at Lewisburg to Bucknell University. His donation of $50,000 ($1,520,000 today) saved the college from ruin. ![]() In 1881, facing dire financial circumstances, the college turned to William Bucknell, a charter member of the board of trustees, for help. Women could venture into town only in the company of a female teacher who had a minimum of six years' experience. I have no well-matured plan to announce as to the sexes but the Principal of the Female Seminary proposes to inaugurate a course for females equal to that pursued at Vassar the two sexes having equal advantages, though not reciting together." Within five years of opening, enrollment had grown so sharply that the college built a new hall–Larison Hall–to accommodate the Female Institute. Bucknell, though, was committed to equal educational opportunities for women.This commitment was reflected in the words of David Jayne Hill of the Class of 1874, and president of the college from 1879 to 1888: "We need in Pennsylvania, in the geographical centre of the state, a University, not in the German but in the American sense, where every branch of non-professional knowledge can be pursued, regardless of distinction of sex. One day earlier, the trustees had elected Howard Malcom as the first president of the university, a post he held for six years.įemale Institute The University at Lewisburg (1870s)Īlthough the Female Institute began instruction in 1852, it wasn't until 1883 that college courses were opened to women. Stephen Taylor officiated as his last act before assuming office as president of Madison University. Among the board members attending was James Buchanan, who would become the 15th President of the United States. The school's first commencement was held on August 20, 1851, for a graduation class of seven men. While studying together, women were required to face east while men faced west. ![]() Built for $8,000 ($280,000 today), the building housed both women's and men's studies until the opening of the Female Institute in 1852. ![]() In 1850, the department moved into the first building completed on campus, now called Taylor Hall. Known originally as the Lewisburg High School, it became in 1848 the Academic and Primary Department of the University at Lewisburg. In 1846, the "school preparatory to the University" opened in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Lewisburg. More than 4,000 subscribers ultimately contributed, including a small boy who gave 12 cents ($4 today). The charter for the University at Lewisburg, granted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and approved by the governor on February 5, 1846, carried one stipulation–that $100,000 ($3,300,000 today) be raised before the new institution would be granted full corporate status. The group's efforts for the institution began to crystallize in 1845, when Stephen William Taylor, a professor at Madison University (now Colgate University) in Hamilton, New York, was asked to prepare a charter and act as general agent for the development of the university. ![]() See also: List of presidents of Bucknell University Founding and early years įounded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, Bucknell traces its origin to a group of Baptists from White Deer Valley Baptist Church who deemed it "desirable that a Literary Institution should be established in Central Pennsylvania, embracing a High School for male pupils, another for females, a College and also a Theological Institution."
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