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President Alexander Martin was responsible for the introduction of student military training on campus in 1876. After a year of an informal program led by two former Civil War officers from Indianapolis, in the spring of 1877 the United States Army assigned Captain D.D. Wheeler as commandant of the newly organized military department. Upon his arrival on campus Wheeler found four companies already organized and began drilling them with arms supplied by the state of Indiana. Under his successor, Lieutenant William R. Hamilton, two artillery pieces were obtained, and in the summer of 1882 the Asbury cadets won honors in both artillery and infantry drill at a military encampment in Indianapolis. Attendance was required of freshman and sophomore males as well as senior boys in the preparatory department, but student enthusiasm for the program was so high many others volunteered. From time to time one or more companies of young women were even organized. Though Captain Wheeler tried to raise money for an armory building, the cadets had to be content with using the old chapel in the Edifice , which was equipped as an armory-gymnasium in 1882. Such a program of military training, while probably owing its great popularity to the recent memories of the Civil War , also certainly served the demands of a growing interest in physical fitness. A major post- Civil War
change came with
the expansion of the physical plant. Until the mid '70s the essential
college work had been carried on in the Edifice, while preparatory
classes were taught in the old county seminary building, which had
become the property of the university. Town landlords provided adequate
lodging and board for students; hence little thought was given to
building dormitories. In 1870 the cornerstone was laid for the building
eventually called East College
,
but its construction was long drawn out because of the slow pace
of fund raising. Some use could be made of it by 1874 and it was
dedicated in 1877. Virtually all college classes and administrative
offices were moved to East College
,
while the Edifice
continued to house the
college library, the armory, and the gymnasium. The preparatory
department moved into the Edifice when the old county seminary building
was razed to make room for the College Avenue Methodist Church. |
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