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VOL Ufl E TH RE E
HUffVER THIRTEEN
N the sylvan banks of the beautiful,
rippling Ouachita river is located one
of the “livest wires” in the educational
life of the South. Ouachita College is
just about “old enough to vote” —and
ever since it was planted under the lead
ership of that stalwart, cultured and
consecrated layman, John W. Conger,
who came there as its first president
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when he was regarded as the “boy teacher from
Tennessee,” this institution has known nothing but
vigor and victory.
The College Story.
The story of beginnings always holds interest for
the student of great men and great movements. At
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Main Building, Ouachita College.
the Arkansas Baptist Convention at Fayette
ville in 1883, Ouachita College received its first im
pulse. It was then decided that such a college was
a necessity, and a commission was appointed, with
R, J. Coleman as president, to agitate the ques
tion and to report at the next annual meeting of
that body. They “reported progress” to the con
vention in 1884, at Pine Bluff, and at the convention
of this body in Hope, in 1885, the commission re
ported that after another year’s agitation many of
the associations in the State had passed resolutions
requesting the convention to build the college, pledg
ing their support. The commission suggested the
SY THE RIPPLING OUACHITA
A Great Arkansas School and Its Nelv President: Uy Mamie Lee Crolv
ATLANTA, GA., MAY 14, 1908.
selection of a board of trustees, with instructions to
begin the work of locating and building the college.
The board was selected by the convention and prop
erly organized.
After a thorough canvass had been made of the
desirable places in the State for the location of the
college, the historic grounds of the old Blind Insti
tute, at first the property of the State, and after
ward converted into the Red River High School,
crowning the eminence on the banks of the beautiful
Ouachita river, at Arkadelphia, were chosen for this
seat of learning. Nature seems to have done her
best for the place, and in July, 1886, J. W. Conger
was elected president of the institution, with in
structions to select his faculty and organize the col
lege.
OUACHITA.
The College Song.
Ouachita, we sing they praises,
Thy beauty, thy power, thy name,
Each loyal heart upraises
A cheer to thy endless fame.
Chorus.
Sing we our Alma Mater,
Hurrah for the purple and gold.
Sing we our Alma Mater,
Hurrah for the purple and gold,
Here’s a long life to Ouachita,
We wave her flag unfurled,
For naught can e’er surpass her,
The Queen of the College world.
The college was duly opened September 6, 1886,
with a faculty of six teachers, and with 100 pupils
enrolled the fiist day, in the old frame building lo
cated on the present campus of thirteen acres. The
first year saw an enrollment of 235 pupils, 60 of
whom wore non-residents. The main college build
ing was begun in 1888 and finished in August, 1889.
The old building was enlarged in 1889 and used as
a Young Ladies’ Home. This building was burned
in May, 1890. The generous people of Arkadelphia
immediately raised a subscription to begin the erec
tion of the present delightful Young Ladies’ Home.
It was begun in 1890 and finished in February, 1891.
In 189 S the Conservatory building, valued at
$15,000, was erected. ' The Mary Forbes’ Industrial
Home was added in the summer of 1906. The pres
ident’s house Was erected in 1898; the Chemical
Laboratory in 1905.’ The seven buildings and cam
pus are estimated to be worth $102,500; libraries,
laboratories, furniture and general equipment of the
seven buildings, about $28,000; total valuation of
the
There has been a net average enrollment during
the past nineteen years of about 400 pupils, repre
senting during this period seventeen different
States. There have been 261 graduates from the
academic schools, and 168 in the Conservatory
of Fine Arts, making a total of 429 graduates of
the institution. There has been a yearly average of
about 40 beneficiaries, who have received tuition
fees gratis, amounting to about $1,500 per year.
The Old. and the New.
In May of 1907 Dr. J. W. Conger, who had been
president of the institution since its organization,
resigned in order to accept the presidency of his
Alma Mater, the S. W. B. University, at Jackson,
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Dr. Henry Sims Hartzog.
Tenn., and the Board of Trustees elected Dr. Hen
ry Sims Hartzog. Dr. Hartzog is a native of South
Carolina and was for several years president of the
Agricultural College at Clemson. He resigned there
to accept the presidency of the University of Ar
kansas, where he served most successfully for three
years. After that time he took representative work
for a leading publishing company and had occasion
to visit every college of note in America. He brings
this varied experience to Ouachita and we confi
dently predict great progress under his leadership.
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
LIVE CENTS A COPY.
