By special request of the publisher, I have been asked to kill some space by a letter telling something about my trip in the middle west.
I left Brevard early in September, 1920, and hurried on to Iowa City, Iowa, where I was enrolled as a student in the graduate college. This particular State University stresses its graduate department by considerable inducements to students who already have their bachelor’s degree. It claims to have one of the three largest graduate colleges among all the state universities. Those who ae candidates for the higher degrees have many conveniences the younger students do not have. Each department assigns a study room for these advanced students where they are expected to discuss among themselves the problems most interesting to them in their particular line of work. Each one has his own desk in the room located conveniently near the Departmental Library and the office of the Dean or head of that department.
The University of Iowa is built around the building which was until 1847 the Territorial Capitol. This was a small but very attractive building built on a hill overlooking the Iowa River. The city seems to have been laid out with this building as a center. Iowa Avenue runs east and west, showing the Capitol building in its center, and Capitol Avenue runs north and south from it. The other streets seem to have been originally laid out parallel with these though a very few streets have been laid out in the edges of the town which do not run regularly. The town has a population of about 12,000 and the student body is about 4,500.
The agricultural situation in Iowa is pitiable. A great many young men bought farms early in 1920 in many cases giving their notes for a large part of the purchase price. The sudden, enormous drop in the price of all farm products left such men in an exceedingly unenviable position, and their depression necessarily effects all business. There are some factories in Iowa but it is largely an agricultural state. This summer has been an unusually hot one. There has been hardly enough rain and still such as they have had has usually come at such times that it helped the crops the most and they ought to produce a great deal of food this year.
On my way home since the first of August, I visited two men who will be remembered by many of our citizens. In Chicago I spent a night in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Jones. Mrs. Jones was Miss Emma Brannock of Guilford County and was graduated from Brevard Institute in 1908. Mr. Jones was assistant principal here that year. Mr. Jones is now a Certified Public Accountant in Chicago and is doing a large business. He lives in a very attractive home in Oak Park, which is one of the best residential suburbs of Chicago. He drove me about 40 miles through the city, at least 95 per cent of this journey being over the wonderful boulevard-connected park system of that wonderful city.
His family and that of my brother, Leonard, who occupied the Methodist pulpit in Brevard one day last fall, went with me one afternoon to attend the Pageant of Progress on the great Municipal Pier. This enormous structure projects probably one half mile out into the lake. It is chiefly roofed in and during the Pageant of Progress was filled to overflowing with historical relics and modern products which indicate the spectacular development of Chicago. They claim 3 million people, I think, and that city was founded about 1837.
On my way from Chicago, I took dinner in the home of Dr. and Mrs. S.N. Jones, the parents of Edwin, Will and Alice, all of whom have been connected with Brevard Institute. Will and Alice were students here in 1909 and both made a remarkable impress upon the school and the community. Will was and is a magnetic personality, a clear and logical thinker and a thoroughly consecrated Christian. He made a host of friends on the campus and in the community. I have always believed that his influence was largely responsible for the success of a revival which was held that year.
Miss Alice was one of the two victims of a fearful typhoid fever epidemic which attacked the school before the city water supply was adequately protected. She was one of the younger girls, but seemed to measure up in intelligence and in all the graces of feminine character with the best of the selected group of girls who occupy the Institute dormitories.
The very best part of my trip, however, was the end of it. During the sweltering days and nights of the early summer in the prairies of Iowa my thoughts, of course, were turning with eagerness to the delightful climate of the mountains, and it was a great joy to get back into an atmosphere where work seems natural and enjoyable. The improvements in the town are very noticeable to one who has been away for a year. The new side-walks, the new jail, the practically new court house, the new buildings, the strengthened civic activities and the robust appearance of nearly all of the citizens all make a home coming enjoyable.
In my own position, the developments of Brevard Institute in the year seem almost marvelous. I knew that Mr. Orr in his native ability, his education and his experience as a teacher was thoroughly qualified to take up the responsibilities of the school, but I never had opportunity to observe his tact, his business ability and his progressiveness to any such degree as I can see these qualities as I return to my work. It would be difficult for any man to have a more delicate job than was assigned to Mr. Orr. It is always difficult to take up another man’s work, for no two men ever work exactly the same way, but it is a double task to assume another man’s responsibilities and so to operate them that they can be turned back to the same man within a year without a considerable jolt at both ends of it, but this difficult thing Mr. Orr has done admirably.
At the same time there have been few years in the history of the Institute in which the development has been marked. I knew that a very fine phonograph had been secured and that an excellent moving picture machine had been installed and that there was some possibility of increasing the property holding, but it was an unexpected pleasure to find that the entire transaction of quadrupling the area of the farm had been entirely completed. The enrollment of the school was thoroughly up to any previous year and the registration for next year is at least as good as ever before at this time. From all that I have been able to discover, the year 1920 has been at least as good as any in the history of the Institution and it sets a standard for the future which will require strenuous efforts to maintain.
Representatives of the woman’s Missionary Council, which owns and operates Brevard Institute, have spent some time here this summer. Their plans have not been definitely decided but at present they are expecting to send us plans of and specifications for the completion of the elegant house on Savannah Hill and to let contracts in accordance with those specifications as soon as possible. The upper floors of this building will then be used as a boy’s dormitory. A family will occupy the first floor, which will be almost palatial in its design and construction. It is probable that an architect will be employed this fall to plan the location and construction of a building somewhat similar to the Zachary house, which will be used for other boys when there is demand for the space. The architect will perhaps plan two other buildings to be erected at some later time on the old campus. It seems probable now that one of these buildings will be a large girl’s dormitory and one will be a separate building to be used as a dining room, kitchen and laundry. It seems certain that several thousand dollars will be spent within the next year on the rounds and buildings already occupied by the school. Indeed the entire prospect for Brevard Institute has been so modified and so enlarged that it will be a difficult task for the vision of the administration to adapt itself to the new responsibilities.
From the front page of The Brevard News, Friday, August 26, 1921
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Trowbridge Portrait Unveiled at Special Service Here June 8
Unveiling of a portrait of Professor C.R. Trowbridge, vice president emeritus of Brevard College, will be solemnized in the college James Addison Jones library here Sunday, June 8, at 5 p.m.
The Rev. Cecil G. Hefner, pastor of the First Methodist Church in Lincolnton and member of the Brevard College board of trustees, will present the portrait to the college. The Rev. Mr. Hefner is a graduate of Brevard Institute.
Dean J.J. Stevenson Jr., acting president of the college, will accept the portrait and deliver appropriate remarks.
Representatives from Brevard Institute, Weaver College and Brevard College, all institutions which Prof. Trowbridge has served, will speak at the ceremony. Representing Brevard Institute is Joseph Whisnant of Shelby; Weaver College, Carlyle Rutledge of Kannapolis; Brevard College, Lois Frazier of Brevard.
Included in the ceremony will be special music by Francis B. Price, baritone soloist and voice instructor at the college.
Elizabeth Bridges, young granddaughter of Mrs. J.M. Allison Sr. of Brevard, will unveil the portrait. Mrs. Allison attended the institute on the first day of its opening.
Following the unveiling service, an informal reception will be given in honor of Prof. And Mrs. Trowbridge in the college formal gardens. A large number of the Trobridge family is expected for the occasion.
Kenneth Harris Is Painter
The Trowbridge portrait, given to the school by the alumni of the parent institutions of Brevard College—Brevard Institute and Weaver College—was painted by Kenneth Harris, an alumnus of Brevard Institute.
Harris has had exhibitions of his work shown throughout the south. His numerous awards of merit include the coveted award by the American Society of Graphic Arts. He has been commissioned to do paintings for industry and for the U.S. Army. He has also been appointed official painter for “Colonial Williamsburg” by the Williamsburg Restoration.
He is the son of the late Mr. And Mrs. A.H. Harris and the brother of Mrs. Walter Duckworth of Brevard.
Work of Trowbridge
Prof. Trowbridge is known in the South as an authority on mountain education. He was president of Brevard Institute and later president of Weaver College, and is now vice president emeritus of this institution. He came to Brevard College at its merged opening here in 1934 as vice president. He was head of the college chemistry department, and did additional teaching in the fields of German and religious education.
His retirement was made official at the end of the summer session, 1950. The Trowbridges made their home in Brevard until recently when they moved to the Methodist home in Charlotte.
Speaking of Prof. Trowbridge’s work here, Miss Marjorie Craig, professor of English and college historian at Brevard, pointed out the “personal warmth and interest” which characterized his work with students.
The Trowbridge portrait will hand over the entrance from the foyer into the college library, according to Acting President Stevenson.
From The Clarion, Brevard College, May 31, 1952
To see a nice photo of C.R. Trowbridge, when he was president of Weaver College, go to newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/2014236919/1927-05-31/ed-1/seq-5.pdf, which is a page of The Weaver Pep, May 31, 1927.
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