Reprinted From The Juniata College Bulletin Summer, 1993
Juniata College's first classroom as illustrated in David Emmert's book Reminiscences of Juniata College.
Reprinted From The Juniata College
Bulletin Summer, 1993
Juniata College's first classroom as illustrated in David Emmert's
book Reminiscences of Juniata College.
It has all the ingredients of a best selling novel.
A physician, living in a small Pennsylvania town, dreamed of building
a school where young people could satisfy their hunger for learning.
The school would be surrounded by "one of the grandest cycloramas
of mountain scenery, a river that weaves through the community ,
and valleys dotted with farmhouses and variegated by cultivated
fields and native woodland." Knowing that the task before him
was monumental, Dr. A.B. Brumbaugh asked his two cousins to help
fulfill his dream. And so the three men with their wives undertook
the task.
It is a love story ...the love of church and God,
the love and commitment to young people and education, the love
of nature and the Huntingdon community. The story as it unfolds
has as many twists and turns as the river for which the school would
be named.
Opposition was strong among members of the Church
of the Brethren, education was viewed as wordly. Still A.B. and
his cousins H.B. and J.B. Brumbaugh would persevere in an effort
to resurrect a desire for higher education among the Brethren. Church
historians testify that early church leaders were advocates of higher
education, but following the Revolutionary War there came a period
of education eclipse which took more than a century to pass.
Despite the opposition, the physician's dream became
reality on April 17, 1876, when a young man named Jacob Zuck greeted
three students in a small room on the second floor of a building
in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
David Emmert in his book Reminiscences of Juniata
College writes, "The surroundings were in keeping with the
humble spirit of the founder. The little room, 12 x 16 feet, with
two windows on the south, through which soft light sifted in under
the leaves of the tall maples that stood close outside; a longpine
table in the center, with three chairs around it; plain pine shelves,
holding the modest but well-selected library of the teacher; at
the far end of the room, and close by it his table with checkered
cover and large glass ink stand, above these, on the wall, a map
of the world; a round backed arm chair with deerskin thrown over
the back and seat, and a long blackboard on stilts leaning against
the wall, completed the general furnishing. ..Into this little compartment,
morning by morning, gathered the band of earnest workers, slowly
increasing,-now one and another was added as the skill of the teacher
became known. By the end of the session a dozen or more were crowding
around the long pine table and 'the star of hope' was rising."
From a humble beginnig the school blossomed, enrollment
increased, a larger location was needed and the professor persevered.
The message to the sixty students who enrolled in the fall of 1877
was "we want no drones in this educational hive. If you do
not care to work, save your money and go home. .."
Professor Zuck was eminently practical and aimed
to bring out the best in the individual. ..There was a buoyant feeling
of hope among the students and a deep sense of responsibility among founders and friends of the school.
It was a kind of dream period of the "what is to be" Emmert
explained in his book.
Love, commitment, courage and hope were several of
the main ingredients of the compelling story on how Juniata College
came to be. The story, however, would not be completed without recounting
the tragedy and the will to overcome and conquer challenges.
An outbreak of the smallpox epidemic forced the school
to close its doors. Emmert accounts in his book, "before us
lay the possible abandonment of the school enterprise."
"The newborn institution through these
trials manifested an unexpected vitality. The smallpox epidemic
and the loss of the principle just on the eve of a hopeful
development would have thoroughly discouraged any but the
stoutest hearts. The men who built Juniata, however, were
men of courage and of vision..." |
 Prof. Jacob Zuck |
At the same time a committee consisting of James
Quinter (an elder in the Church of the Brethren), Dr. A.B. Brumbaugh
and Professor Jacob Zuck, recommended "solicitation of stock
subscriptions from Brethren and others friendly to the cause,
to establish a school of learning that will provide the young
of both sexes with such educational advantages as will fit them
for the duties and responsibilities of life..."
A Board of Trustees was assembled and
included: James Quinter, H.B. Brumbaugh, A.B. Brumbaugh, J.M.
Zuck and J.W. Beer. The latter, who was the first solicitor, left
Huntingdon in 1878 and was replaced by William J. Swigart. Through
the leadership of this first board, funds were sought to build
a facility. "The new building, known as Founders Hall, was
possible by the generosity of the citizens of Huntingdon, who
bought and donated to the Trustees a plot of ground on an elevated
site in what is known as West Huntingdon. This property embraced
16 town lots bounded by Moore, Oneida, Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Streets. Ground was broken on May 6, 1878." (Juniata College:
The History of Seventy Years, by Charles C. Ellis)
"Naturally Professor Zuck was filled with enthusiasm
when he spoke on the occasion of the dedication of the new building,
and it was an event long to be remembered by all those whose toil
and sacrifice made it possible," writes Ellis in his book.
Shortly after the dedication, Professor Zuck caught a severe cold
while living in a dormitory room where the walls were damp. He
developed pneumonia and passed away on May 10, 1879. He did not
see the first class graduate.
Ellis writes, "the newborn institution through
these trials manifested an unexpected vitality. The smallpox epidemic
and the loss of the principal just on the eve of a hopeful development
would have thoroughly discouraged any but the stoutest hearts.
The men who built Juniata, however, were men of courage and of
vision..."
At a special memorial service on June 12,1879, Dr.
A.B. Brumbaugh delivered an address which is prophetic as we look
at Juniata College 114 years later. He said, "The time will
come when the influence of this school movement will be felt from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf."
Today, if A.B. Brumbaugh and his cousins
H.B. and J.B. were to walk across Juniata's campus, through the
classrooms and laboratories, residences halls and playing fields
they would be moved to tears. Just for a moment their Brethren
piety just might be replaced with a sense of pride, their modesty
replaced with majesty.
They would stand at the foot of Founders Hall surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the 100 acre campus and 32 buildings. They would feel the energy of a dynamic faculty: a faculty with the same enthusiasm for teaching and learning that characterized Jacob Zuck. They would encounter students with a vim and vigor for knowledge. They would have great satisfaction in knowing that the leadership of the institution, some one hundred years later, still possesses courage and is holding fast to a vision.
| "The Time will come when
the influence of this school movement will be felt from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf." A.B. Brumbaugh, 1879 |
Original Founders Hall |
A.B. Brumbaugh would marvel at the
school and its success. From three students and one room to 10,000
alumni whose impact has been felt "from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf" and to the far corners
of the world - alumni who have contributed to medical research,
chemistry, education, business, law, music, art, social work,
environmental science, athletics and entertainment- alumni who
have served their churches, the homeless, the hungry and the abused.
A.B. Brumbaugh would feel satisfaction
in learning that students from across the United States and from
countries around the world enroll at Juniata College each year.
Furthermore, Juniata students have the opportunity to attend prestigious
universities in France, England, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Germany,
Greece, Japan and China as part of a study abroad program.
 |
 |
Picture one is a residence hall of 1899, picture two is 1992.
He would be astounded to know that a
tradition born in his generation, Mountain Day, remains popular
today with the 1100 students on campus.
A library with 208,000 volumes, a rare
book collection and a world-wide interlibrary loan system has evolved
from Jacob Zuck's one shelf of books. Perhaps the most remarkable
discovery for A.B. would be that the peaceful nature of his being
has woven its way through the school's history and evolved into
a peace and conflict studies program. A program which is the springboard
for an exclusive agreement between the United Nations, the International
Association of University Presidents and Juniata College (see stories,
pages 8-10).
Picture Of An Old Mountain Day |
Recent Mountain Day |
Science Students |
Students Sitting Outside of Good Hall |
And while scientific and technological
advances have made technological literacy and proficiency a requirement
for success, Juniata has not lost sight of the humanity associated
with scientific endeavors.
Finally, A.B. and his cousins would make their way
through campus and up the mountain to Juniata's Elizabeth Evans
Baker Peace Chapel. They would sit on marble rocks high above the
college and the community and reflect on the journey their school
had made through history. It survived small pox, death, wars, prejudice
and hate, competition for students and deficits. It celebrated life,
love, victories and success. It overcame challenges, sorrow and
pain.
A.B. and his cousins, high above the campus, would
give thanks for a dream realized. Indeed Juniata College had persevered.
