Just a few weeks ago Wabash inaugurated her 16th president. I was delighted to hear President Gregory Hess quote President William Patterson Kane’s inaugural address. The year was 1900 and Wabash had just weathered a turbulent few years. The rise in the public high school had put a strain on a school that educated a great many preparatory students. These preps accounted for a substantial portion of our enrollment throughout the first several decades since the founding in 1832.
Still, the College was hopeful that her new president would be a good, steady leader. Here is a quote from President Kane’s inaugural speech, delivered on February 22, 1900, “The historic college is built on the idea that its work is to educate men. Not simply to educate the intellect nor to train the hand or the eye or any other fractional part, but to educate the man himself. The work of the old-fashioned college is to lay the foundation for a complete manhood. Its aim is not to make specialists, but to make men…”
Here is a picture of Assembly Hall, later the home of the Hovey Museum, nicely dressed up and looking like a scene from an old political movie. The reason for the abundance of patriotic set dressing is because this inauguration was held on Washington’s Birthday, a holiday with a great deal of meaning on campus. Washington’s Birthday was typically the day when class fights would rage all over town, this ceremony might have been an attempt to quiet the gents just a little.
Another very special detail about Kane’s inauguration is that here in this hall, “Dear Old Wabash” was performed publicly for the very first time. In another tie-in with President Hess’ address he promised to spread her fame, “…from the Hills of Maine to the Western Plain to the light of the Southern seas….” It was a great speech and I especially loved the historic bits and pieces that really added to our historic experience.