UNION - College of the Golden Cords

Editors Note: After printing this poem by Gene Rowell found in the Union College Book 1891-1941 by David Rees and Everett Dick, I could not help but notice how well this page's theme went with the poem. With a few small changes, I found it went very well.

UNION COLLEGE HISTORY

CHRONOLOGY

                  1871 George I. Butler organized first church in Nebraska.

                  1886 A. J. Cudney organized first church in Lincoln, spring.

                   1889 Meeting to consider establishment of a northwestern school, Owatonna, Minn.           May 20.

1889 Meeting to consider the establishment of a Southwestern school, Ottawa, Kans., about May 23.

                    1889 Mrs. E. G. White came out in favor of one Western school, Mav 25.

                    1889 General Conference Committee voted to establish a Western school, July    12,              1889.

1889 General Conference in session endorsed the vote to establish a Western school, October 30.

1889 General Conference appointed board of trustees and locating cornmittee, November 5.

                    1890 First meeting of locating committee, Des Moines, Iowa, January 13,

                    1890 First meeting of board of trustees. Des Moines, Iowa, January 15.

                    1890 Locating committee arrived in Lincoln to look over the city, January 20.

1890 Locating committee, sitting in Iowa, decided on Lincoln as seat of the college, January 28.

                     1980 Subcommittee of three arrived in Lincoln to select the exact site from several offered  offered around  Lincoln for the college, January 29.

                    1890 The name Union College first appeared in print in the Review and Herald, February 4.

1890 First announcement that the college would be located at the present site, February 7.

1890 Enoch Jenkins drove the first nail, erecting a tool shed about March 15.

                    1890 First ground broken about April 10.

1890 First Sabbath School, an informal meeting in Sisley's barn was held, four present, April 19.

                    1890 College View townsite was laid out by four land owners, April 21.

                    1890 First formal Sabbath School was held with twenty-five present in Sisley's barn, April 28.

                    1890 First stone laid about May 3.

1890 First sermon preached in College View (by Elder Josiah Hart), June 14.

1890 College Building up to fourth story, carpenters putting on the rafters, South Hall basement in, and employees at work on first story. Fifty^, carpenters employed in addition to workmen of other trades, August.

1891 W. B. White, president of the Nebraska Conference. organized the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church, 35 members, May 27.

1891 First religious service held on campus, basement of College Building, July 18.

                    1891 Nebraska campmeeting excursion to inspect new college, August 25.

                    1891 First street car ran into College View, August 25.

                    1891 Dedication of college, September 24.

1891 Union College opened her doors; "Original 73" students presented themselves, September 30.

                    1891 Professor John Hobbs died, September 30.

1891 The library had its beginning; General Conference sold its library to the college, October 15.

                    1891 The foreign section of the college opened, November 25.

1891 The first mission band started as a student endeavor, school year 1891-1892.

                    1892 College attached its sewer line to city of Lincoln, spring.

1892 First baptism of college folk held in Salt Creek (18 baptized), spring.

                    1892 Citizens organize the town government of College View, April 16.

                    1892 First telephone in College View, in business office.

1892 Street car line from Lincoln via Normal displaced Prescott Street line.

1892 First College View newspaper, The Enterprise, founded by C. C. Lewis, May.

                    1892 Fast commencement (without graduates), June

                    1893 Peak enrollment, 607 (school year 1892-1893).

                    1893 Spiritual crest; E. W. Farnsworth baptized 100 (first baptism in College View) in improvised                        baptistry on present church grounds, spring. 

                    1893 Town of College View became a city of the second class, March 13.

                    1894 First commencement with graduates, June.

                    1894 College View church built (summer of 1893-autumn of 1894).

                    1894 College View church dedicated free from debt, September 23:

1894 Power house turned on electric lights for the first time, Thanksgiving night.

1895 Typhoid fever epidemic prostrated College View (winter of 1894 -1895).

                    1895 Nebraska Sanitarium founded (in Henry building), spring.

                    1895 First school picnic, spring.

1895 The class of 1896 (juniors) planted the first class memorial on campus, spring.

                    1896 First fire department of College View organized.

                    1897 All-time low in enrollment in Union College, (1896-1897).

1897 General Conference session held on Union College campus, February 9-March 2.

                    1897 President N. W. Kauble tried to institute extreme reform education.

                    1897 The study of Latin and Creek authors and rigid classical curriculum gave way to electives                        and more practical courses.

                    1897 Beginning of big expansion of vocational offerings.

                    1898 First college print shop (established by D. D. Rees ).

                    1898 Rock pile placed on campus by the cuss of '98.

                    1899 Practical Educator, first college organ, established.

1899 North Hall leased to Nebraska Sanitarium for twenty years, March 15.

1900 Union rejected the extreme "reform education" ideas of certain General Conference leaders ( 1897-1900).

1900 The name "Peanut Hill" given to College View (around the turn of the century).

1900 College View Church started first church school in College View, autumn.

                    1900 Smallpox epidemic.

                    1900 First public library in College View (founded by M. E. Kern).

                    1900 European plan of dining room service introduced.

1900 Jail built on the back of the fire barn on southwest corner of campus, September.

                    1900 Clock tower bell installed (school year 1900-1901).

1900 Debt paying campaign using Christ's Object Lessons begun (lasted until 1907).

1901 Wells dug and windmills erected in Antelope Valley to furnish water for school.

                    1902 Henry Building became boys' dormitory, named North Hall.

                    1902 Central Union Conference founded and took control of the College.

                    1902 First Central Union paper, Central Advance, established.

1903 International Publishing Association, printers of SDA foreign literature. located in College View.

1904 The Christian Record, a journal for the blind, moved to Union College from Battle Creek, May.

                    1904 Union College Messenger, established May 1.

                    1904 The library had an index for the first time.

                    1904 Autumn Council of the General Conference  held on college campus; Mrs. White spoke,                       September.

1904 First move in the direction of student participation in school management.

                    1905 Educational Messenger established, January 1.

1905 C. C. Lewis accredited Union College with the New York Board of Regents, April 13.

1905 College View church school building built at 53rd and Stockwell, autumn.

1905 North Hall and the northwest corner of the campus sold to the Sanitarium, November 1.

1905 Rooms constructed in the attic of the College Building for boys, called "the Castle."

1906 First laboratory equipment bought (during the school year 1905 -1906).

                    1906 The Golden Cords institution presented as a class gift, spring.

                    1906 Courses first numbered in the college catalog.

                    1906 Electric motor installed on a well in Antelope valley, autumn.

                    1906 First bank, the Bank of College View, established by James Schee.

                    1906 College and Sanitarium food companies merged.

1907 First normal department set up with Sarah Peck as director, autumn.

                    1907 Power house burned, October 6.

1907 Spiritual crest-Luther Warren baptized over 200 students and villagers, autumn.

                    1907 Academy course separated from college course, autumn.

1907 M. E. Kern set up first world headquarters of the !Missionary Volunteer Society in College View, autumn.

1908 College View Presbyterian Church started as an Adventist-sponsored Sunday School.

                    1908 First Harvest Ingathering field day, autumn.

1908 College View streets renamed after the alphabet and number system of Lincoln.

                    1908 Streetcar line from Lincoln via Sheridan Boulevard laid.

1909 Union College accredited by the Nebraska State Department of Education.

                    1909 East Hall, men's dormitory built, summer.

                    1909 Educational Messenger publication placed in hands of the students.

                    1910 College View Gazette founded by August Swedeburg.

                    1910 First normal training school, called "the model school," established.

                    1910 Union College ceased giving honorary master's degrees.

1910 Foreign language departments swarmed-the Germans to Clinton, Mo.; the Swedes to LaGrange, Ill.; the Danes and Norwegians to Hutchinson, Minn., spring.

1910 First automobile speed limit for College View streets (10 miles an hour, fine of $100).

1910 Financial crisis with college gasping for life (school year 1910 - 1911).

1911 Dining hall service changed from European to American plan, September.

                    1911 College View Union Church (now the Presbyterian church) built.

                    1911 Scarlet fever epidemic.

1911 Change from quarter system to semester plan (school year 1911 - 1912).

                    1911 First time late registration fee was charged.

1912 City of College View installed waterworks-tank on campus and wells on college farm.

                    1913 First senior consecration service originated by Frederick Griggs, January.

                    1915 The 1914 debt of $73,000 paid off with freedom-from-debt celebration, May 3.

1916 H. A. Morrison originated the Union College slogan, "The Student's Desire-Recognized Everywhere" (approximate date).

                    1916 International Publishing Association plant burned, February 27.

                    1916 First senior class to wear caps and gowns.

1916 Change from American to cafeteria plan of dining hall service, September.

                    1916 Dairy barn on north edge of College View Academy site built.

                    1917 First aid course set up by the college for young men.

                    1917 Farmers' State Bank organized, February 28.

                    1917 First school annual, Golden Cords, published by senior class.

1918 Preceptress Lillian Danielson set up "supervised government" in girls^' dormitory.

                    1918 Influenza epidemic (school year 1918-1919)

                    1918 Semester hour as a unit of credit adopted.

                    1919 Fuel strike curtailed school program, autumn.

                    1920 Night lights installed in halls and bathrooms (approximate date).

                    1920 First gymnasium built by faculty and students, spring.

1920 College repurchased North Hall from the Sanitarium and it became the ladies' dornritory'.

                    1920 South Hall became men's dormitory.

1920 East Hall remodeled and became the normal building (church school moved from the College Building into it).

                    1920 First requirement for a grade point average for graduation.

                    1921 Change of grading system from 1, 2, 3, 4. to A, B, C, D, autumn.

                    1921 Title of dean of women given to the lady in charge of the girls.

                    1923 Union College accredited with the North Central Association as a junior college, spring.

                    1923 Kappa Theta (girls' club) organized in North Hall.

                   1923 Library opened in the evening for the first time.

                   1923 All time high indebtedness ($110,000).

                   1923 Board offered to sell the school plant for $325,000.

                   1924 Title of dean of men adopted.

                   1925 School pep song. "Slinga da Ink," first used in a program.

                   1926 College craft shop set up with Abraham Ortner in charge.

                   1926 Sigma Iota Kappa (men's improvement club) started.

1926 Formality in dining hall service involving permanent seating abolished.

                    1926 Student teaching in secondary grades first offered.

1927 Clock Tower supersedes the Educational Messenger (first issue February 10).

1928 Golden Cords first published by the student body (rather than by senior class).

1928 General Conference in Fall Council decided to accredit SDA colleges.

                    1929 College View voted to be annexed by Lincoln.

1930 Farmers' State Bank reorganized and renamed Union Bank by W. E. Barkley, June 10.

1931 Fortieth anniversary of the founding of Union College celebrated with a pageant, May.

1932 College View water tower, just east of College Building, torn down, spring.

1932 E. B. Ogden made an ice skating rink on campus southeast of old gymnasium (year 1932-33).

1932 M. L. Andreasen set up a widely-known quiet meditation type of Friday^, evening service (approximate date).

1932 Capital City Bookbindery set up with Elmer Hagen in charge, autumn.

1932 Northern and Central Unions unite with headquarters at Lincoln, February 3.

1933 Union College week for academy seniors to visit the campus originated, spring.

1933 Union College placement service under the name "Bureau of Recommendations" set up, spring.

1933 General Conference selected Union College to be the Adventist seminary and graduate school.

1933 Lincoln Broom Works (with Cree Sandefur in charge) started, autumn.

1934 Union College Medical Corps, first in the denomination, began, January.

1934 First Youths' Congress for Central Union (present Central and Northern Unions) May 29-June 2.

                    1934 Faculty offices (for teachers) began to come into being.

1934 Office of librarian became full-time position with D. Glenn Hilts continuing as librarian.

                    1935 Knights of 72 organized.

1935 Autumn Council left Union off the list of Adventist colleges to be accredited, October.

1936 The slogan, "Union, the College of the Golden Cords," originated by M. L. Andreasen, spring.

1936 The three supporting unions voted an annual church grant of $27,500, spring.

1936 The seniors dropped the customary class night exercises, establishing a new tradition, May.

1936 Des Moines business men invited Union College to move to Highland Park, Des Moines, June.

1936 The General Conference reversed its action of the autumn before and permitted Union to seek accreditation by the North Central Association, summer.

1936 Old Henry building purchased for use as an overflow donniton', called "The Annex."

                    1936 Dairy building just north of old gyninasium built, spring.

1936 Freshman week set up as an orientation for freshmen students, September.

1936 First senior recognition ceremony (originated by H. K. Schilling), school year 1936-37.

                    1936 Cornerstone to the first library building laid, December 24.

1937 Northern and Central Unions set up as separate organizations once more, April 1.

1937 Union accredited as a senior college by the North Central Association, April 8.

                   1937 Stained glass windows installed in the church, spring.

                   1937 First honors graduates (with high distinction).

                   1937 Union College Alumnus was begun, June.

                   1937 First roller skating at Union College, summer.

                   1938 First library erected (1937-1938).

                   1939 Love Industrial Building given to the college.

                   1940 R. J. DeVice founded College Furniture Manufacturers.

                   1940 Second Love Industrial Building gift.

                   1940 Old gymnasium condenmed, autumn.

                    1942 Gymnasium-auditorium built, summer and autumn.

1943 War-time Christmas vacation celebrated in February (postponed from December 1942).

                    1943 First honors convocation (originated by Everett Dick), spring.

                    1945 Jorgensen Hall built (1944-1945).

                    1945 Student staff council was begun by E. E. Cossentine, March.

1945 College View street car line, the last in Lincoln, gave way to a bus line, autumn.

1945 Alumni Association started tradition of honoring twenty-five and fifty year classes at alumni banquets.

                    1946 Engel Hall built (1945-1946).

                    1946 College View church underwent its most drastic remodeling.

                    1946 Union College started first denominational collegiate nursing course.

                    1946 First capping exercise, Union College department of nursing, Boulder, Colorado.

1947 Largest number of golden cords hung at one ceremony (46), spring.

1948 Rocky Mountain biology camp started by biology department, summer.

1948 Villagers and college began to hold ordinances in combined service in auditorium.

                    1949 Forty-miners' field prepared as a gift by class of '49, spring.

                    1949 Cement sign, "Union College," given by Nebraska alumni.

                    1950 Student association set up.

                    1950 Affiliation with Antillian Union College.

                    1952 College View church annex built.

1952 Union College nursing department accredited by the National Nursing Accreditation Service,

1952 Central and Northern Unions voted to tie their annual subsidy and building fund support to their tithe income.

1953 First tour conducted by the history department (to new England), August.

                    1953 First permanent student directory published.

                    1953 New South Hall built (1952-M3).

                    1953 Old South Hall burned, damaging new South Hall, December 25.

                    1953 Union became the first Seventh-day Adventist college to offer a major in social work.

                    1954 Addition to Love Industrial Building erected, summer.

                    1955 Union Bank moved to the corner of 48th and Bancroft, December 1.

                    1955 Nebraska Conference purchased southwest corner of 48th and Prescott for headquarters of                        Nebraska Conference and Nebraska Book and Bible House, December.

1956 Union College received a grant of $110,000 from the Ford Foundation for increase in faculty salaries.

1957 All-college civil defense exercise involving whole school family, April.

                    1957 First paved street built through the campus (49th Street), autumn,

                    1957 Union College closed her dairy.

                    1957 Addition to the power house.

                    1957 Annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony originated.

                    1958 Helen Hyatt Elementary School constructed (1957-1958).

                    1958 Kinney legacy of $75,000 came to college.

                    1958 Rees Hall occupied, August 25.

                    1959 Student center constructed, spring.

                    1959 Peanut Hill established.

                   1960 North wing added to South Hall (1959-1960).

                   1960 Affiliation with Central American Vocational College in Costa Rica.

                    1960 Rocky Mountain snow party precedent set. early spring.

1961 For the first time the faculty as a body wore academic gowns in academic procession, spring.

                    1961 Ground breaking for College View Academy, September 3.

1962 College View Academy began to operate under joint management of the college and the College View church, July 1.

                    1963 Further addition to Love Industrial Building.

                     1963 College: View Academy occupied, February 17.

                     1963 College View Church bought a farm, Woodland Acres, for church recreational purposes,                         March 4.

1963 Christian Record moved from 48th and Bancroft to 4444 South 52nd St., summer.

1963 History and world literature tour-first round-the-world tour by an SDA college.

1963 Program of student teachers doing practice teaching at boarding academies begun.

1963 Union College received a $10,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation for teacher training books for the library.

1964 All Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Lincoln area joined in the operation of Helen Hyatt Elementary School and College View Academy under the name of Seventh-day Adventist Schools of Lincoln. July 1.

1964 Grade point system for graduation revised with "C" earning two grade points.

                     1964 Addition to the power house.

                     1965 East wing of Rees Hall completed.

                     1965 Seventy-fifth anniversary parade down 48th Street, April.

1965 Lincoln City Council renamed College View Park the A. R. Henry Park in connection with the 75th anniversary celebration.

1965 Plumb Laboratories addition to Jorgensen Hall begun, summer.

                    1965 Union College music department became a member of the National Association of Schools of Music, November 26.

1965 Union College sent out its first student missionary, Jerry Lake, to the Inca Union, South America.

                    1966 Seventy-fifth anniversary convocation with academic procession, Dr. John D. Hicks,

                     University of California, speaker, February.

                    1966 Ground breaking for new high rise boys' dormitory, April 25.

1966 Education department inaugurated pre-semester student teaching orientation, September.

                    1966 First registration in which the computer was used at Union College.

                    1966 Tennis courts constructed between Stockwell and Bancroft, 51st and 52nd Streets, autumn.

1966 Construction begun on the connecting lint: between the library and Engel Hall, December.

1966 Two big evergreen trees moved from vicinity of library to front campus and both used in Christmas tree lighting, December,

                    1966 Star first placed upon the clock tower during the Christmas season.

                     1967 Annual school picnic cancelled on account of a three-inch snow (the first snow on that date

                     in the history of Lincoln), May 3.

                     1967 General Conference voted authorization for Southwestern Union College to become a                        senior college thus severing a half century junior college affiliation with Union College, May 11.

1967 Ground broken on the new Industrial-Service Complex just west of 51st Street, between Stockwell and Prescott, May 15.

1967 Leveling was begun on new athletic field north of Calvert Street between 53rd and 56th. May 20.

1967 NCATE accredits the complete teacher-training program of Union College, making it the first Adventist college to receive this accreditation, October 20, 1967, but retroactive to September 1, 1963.

                             PRESIDENTS OF UNION COLLEGE

Edited from the book "Union College of the Golden Cords" by the historian Dr. Everett Dick

Dr. Everett Dick comes from a family of long connections with Union College. He has had personal associations with thirteen of nineteen presidents of the college ( to 1967). As an alumnus of  Union College, he holds an M.A. from the University Of Nebraska, a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and an honorary L.L.D. from Andrews University. He is a recognized Historian and has written many books that are used in colleges and universities. Among them are "Sod House Frontier"  which was chosen by ballot by members of the Organization of American Historians as one of the twenty most important books on American History published between 1920 to 1950 and with Dr. Rees "Union College; Fifty Years of Service". Union College is proud to have had Dr. Dick as head of its history department from 1930 to 1954, as research professor of American History since 1946, and chronicler of Union's College's Past.

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