Citation: Kieth A. Peppers, 2020.
Faculty and staff returning to campus in the fall of 1861 may have noticed a disproportionate number of female students. Months earlier and what must have seemed like a world away, the first shots of the American Civil War rang out and many young, able-bodied men (of college age) heard the call to arms. Although women had been students on campus from its inception, this was the first time that female students outnumbered their male counterparts.
Citation: Kieth A. Peppers, 2020.
In 1856, the editor for the weekly German Methodist periodical, Der Christliche Apologete, Rev. Jacob Rothweiler observed that Baldwin University needed a German Department to better serve the large German speaking community in Berea. While this seemed like a sufficient response to a growing need, it quickly became apparent that a larger staff was required to serve the growing number of interested students. To rectify the situation, a meeting was held, the issue was raised, and the motion to create a German department at BU was passed.
James Wallace donated the initial structure for the newly formed German Wallace College and the first meeting of the GWC Trustees was held in June, 1864. Rev. Rothweiler took on the responsibilities of being both the professor of the German language and on the Board of Trustees. The focus of this recently established school would be the “advancement of Scientific Education and Biblical Christianity, especially among Germans in America.” GWC produced its first two graduates in 1866, Miss Frances Nast Gamble, whom Gamble Auditorium is named, and C.F. Morf, who would stay on as a teacher of Spencerian penmanship.
See: student web exhibit, curated by Tyler Gramcsz and Jeffrey Borovac at https://gwcatalog.weebly.com/
Citation: Ryan Cross and Debby Vespoli, "Through the Years...," Pursuit, Fall, 1995, vol. 27, no. 1, pg. 1.
In 1868 Hulet hall was completed with a $16,000 gift from Fletcher Hulet. It became the site of the first library of Baldwin University as well as in Berea. The first librarian was Philura Gould Baldwin, '86, granddaughter of founder John Baldwin.
