WU tidbits

Many of Washburn's tales worth retelling

Washburn University's history is full of tales both instructional and colorful.

Washburn's pledge

In October 1868, Horatio Q. Butterfield, a professor at Lincoln College, obtained a $25,000 pledge from Ichabod Washburn, a Massachusetts industrialist and philanthropist known for championing equal education opportunities women and blacks.

The next month, the college trustees voted to rechristen the school Washburn College to honor the benefactor who saved the struggling school from financial ruin. On Dec. 30, Ichabod Washburn died.

According to university legend, Washburn had only paid $10,000 of the $25,000 pledge before his death, and the balance was never collected. Peter McVicar, president of the college, also pledged $25,000 and eventually made good on his promise.

Making the payroll

In 1878, the nation was in a Depression, which also affected the financial health of the college. In order to pay the annual salary of President Peter McVicar, the trustees gave McVicar 314 bushels of corn harvested from fields on campus.

During the same era, faculty received deeds to lots in the new residential area of College Hill in lieu of cash and were encouraged to construct houses large enough to board students.

Athletic scandal

The women of Washburn were restricted to intramural sports when, in the autumn of 1889, they organized a basketball team.

Controversy arose over whether the strenuous activity would weaken their feminine constitutions, and the bloomer-style uniforms they wore scandalized the more conservative in the city.

Protecting character

From the minutes of a faculty meeting March 24, 1890: "Mrs. Kirk smoked cigarettes while waiting for a car to come from church while standing near a group of young ladies. She was appropriately reprimanded."

In 1891, men couldn't walk with women on campus unless they were escorting them to their residences. In front of Boswell Hall was a circular sidewalk, so they would fudge the rules and keep walking in a circle, taking the long way home.

During the fall semester, "Mr. Goodrich and Miss Barnes, who had violated regulations by repeatedly walking out together without permission of the college were forced to forfeit their connection with Washburn College."

Legislative war

When the Populists and Republicans went to battle in February 1893 over who had the majority in the House of Representatives, Washburn College students went to the assistance of the National Guard.

On Feb. 14, Republicans had the Populists' clerk arrested for disturbing the peace, so the Populists took control of the House chamber and posted armed guards. After Republicans broke down the door and recruited hundreds of sergeants-at-arms and deputies to assist them in taking control, Populist Gov. Lorenzo Lewelling called out the militia.

For their services, the Washburn students were paid $2,000 by the state, which they turned over to the school for the purchase of the first gymnasium equipment. An attic room in Mulvane Chapel was turned over for use as a gym.

Still around

For 25 years, Daniel Moses Fisk was a faculty member in the department of sociology. He has never left, even though he died in 1932.

In his will, Fisk specified that he be cremated and interred, along with the cremains of his first two wives, somewhere on campus. The task was completed, and memories were erased.

During the razing of the chapel after the 1966 tornado, three brass boxes --- containing the three Fisks --- were found encased in a wall. For a couple years, the boxes were held at a local cemetery before being reinstalled on campus.

Many suspect the Fisks are now at rest within the walls of Carnegie Hall, the only building to be salvaged and repaired after the tornado. The large plaque honoring Fisk that is in the front hall of the building is seen as a hint.

By Dena Anson/Washburn University

Copyright 2005
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