Archive for October, 2009
Jack Hyles and Wheaton College
Friday, October 30th, 2009Chicago and its suburbs host an array of influential “megachurch” campuses, each comprising congregations of several thousand members. Willow Creek, Harvest Bible Chapel, Christ Community and others, attempting to attract unbelieving seekers and disenfranchised Christians, typically eschew in their services the elements of “old-fashioned” worship such as hymns, pews and traditional architecture, instead using praise [...]
“Propagating Infidel Principles” – Sesquicentennial Snapshot
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009From its earliest days the Wheaton College community has agreed to common standards of behavior. These codes have changed significantly over the last 150 years and moved from explicitly forbidding activities to the biblically-based principles of today’s Community Covenant. Once referred to as “The Pledge”, students from previous decades contracted to refrain from a variety [...]
Poor Pratt – Sesquicentennial Snapshot
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009In the early years of Wheaton College, one could say in the early decades, as well, the college relied heavily upon the enrollment of local students. Though it broadly drew students from the region, it was the Wheaton community that served as the “bread and butter” of its tuition dollars. In 1860 the transition of [...]
Caught Up into Paradise
Monday, October 19th, 2009Dr. Richard E. Eby, obstetrician and gynecologist, was co-founder of the Park Avenue Hospital in Pomona, California, and served as the Executive Assistant of the American Osteopathic Association in Chicago, in addition to serving as the charter President of the Osteophatic Physicians and Surgeons of California. Born in 1912 among the rolling hills of western [...]
“The College is a fact….” – Sesquicentennial snapshot
Monday, October 12th, 2009When Jonathan Blanchard arrived in Wheaton in December 1859, he came alone. Mary, his wife, and family remained in Galesburg until the circumstances in Wheaton became more certain. Though the financial footing of the Illinois Institute was rather shaky, Jonathan Blanchard’s vision of what could be (and what actually was) was much more firm. On [...]
Through the Eyes of a Child – Sesquicentennial snapshot
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009The following comments by Charles Blanchard, who would have been 12 years-old when his father, Jonathan, assumed the presidency in 1860, are taken from David Maas’ Wheaton College Awakenings, 1853-1873. “That fall [1860] I entered the academy, and my father being president of the institution, of course I was in touch with all college affairs. [...]
“Zeroes for each of you” – Sesquicentennial snapshot
Friday, October 2nd, 2009In his memoirs The Wheaton I Remember, Edward “Coach” Coray (Professor Emeritus and former Executive Director of the Alumni Association) recalls his first days as an undergraduate student at Wheaton College in the Fall of 1919. Our first class was rhetoric and we sat in chairs around the sides of the room. Professor Straw took [...]