Drury University has led a legacy of liberal education since its founding on Sept. 25, 1873. Library Director and University Archivist William Garvin shared with The Mirror his vast knowledge on Drury’s great history.

Why was Drury established?

Following the Civil War, there was a need in southwest Mo. for some reconciliation. Many residents in the area had lost friends and family to the war and the land had been devastated by guerrilla warfare.

“The project was started just seven years after the Civil War,” said Garvin. “There were Civil War trench lines just outside of Burnham. There had been combat, not on this land, but very close.”

Springfield Association of Congregationalist Churches passed a resolution in 1872 declaring that the area needed higher education that extended from Oklahoma to Arkansas. Congregationalist Church was the same body that founded schools such as Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth. Determined by one-half of a vote, Springfield was chosen over Neosho, Mo. for the school’s location and the project was called Springfield College.

Shortly after, Deacon Samuel Fletcher Drury donated the lead gift of an equivalent of $50,000 to establish the college in honor of his deceased son. According to Garvin, this was common for many donors of the school.

Samuel Fletcher Drury. Photo submitted by Garvin.

“This campus was founded on the memory of dead children. Fairbanks Hall, which is no longer with us, was built in honor of a child. Clara Wallace Thompson’s death prompted the donation from her parents for both Clara Thompson and Wallace Hall.”

The four founders included: Samuel Fletcher Drury, who provided the lead gift; Nathan Jackson Morrison, former president at Olivet College and first president of Drury College; James Harwood, Congregationalist preacher; and Charles Harwood, lawyer and judge.

President Morrison considered the establishing of the college as his “silent work of reconciliation.” He believed that by bringing people from multiple locations together to complete education, students would be able to learn from each other and reconcile with one another.

For Morrison, this was not just a Christian duty, but a patriotic one. He believed that Drury College could help unify the country and start a broad patriotism making people feel as they were all Americans again through this final pacification.

How did classes operate when first founded?

Missouri, founded in 1821, was still a new territory for higher education. Opening a college in the area wasn’t revolutionary, but it was still frontier.

They only fundraised for one year after the Congressional Church passed the resolution for the school and the college opened on September 25, 1873. According to stories passed through the generations, it wasn’t the easiest transition.

“There were reports that carpenters were working right up until classes started at 1 p.m. in the afternoon,” said Garvin. “The story is that President Morrison went up to the second story window and rang a bell to signal the first day of the classes. But the school was so poor that we didn’t have a bell, so he had to borrow a bell from a local boarding house.”

On the first day of classes, there were 39 students enrolled split between Drury College and Drury Academy, a preparatory school.

“At the time, there wasn’t a great high school in the area,” said Garvin. “The school found a need in the area for the Academy.”

William Garvin. Photo via Drury University.

From 1873-1914, Drury Academy admitted advanced high school students in the same building as Drury College students. However, the college curriculum was much different than it is now.

“College didn’t really have majors as we know it,” said Garvin. “You could either take the scientific course of study or the classical course of study. Scientific included classes in biology and chemistry, and classical contained courses in philosophy, religion, and literature.”

In 1875, Drury began to offer classes in music and art. It was a very controversial decision because the college was still very poor and some of the faculty was unsure if they had the resources to offer those courses. Others believed that adding art and music would dilute the educational mission of the school, as these were not considered academic. Drury College stood behind its decision and proudly continues to teach the importance of the arts in academia.

At the time there was only one building in operation, but it was demolished in 1910 to make way for Burnham Hall. There is still a marker between Burnham and Benton Ave. that was once an old fountain dedicated to the original academic building.

In what ways did Drury support female and minority education?

Of the first class that entered Drury College, seven of the students were from the Indian Territory (IT). Over 200 students from IT were admitted in the first 20 to 30 years.

In 1874-75, Drury College graduated its first class of five, all of which were women. The first person to enroll at Drury was a woman named Anna Grigg and she was also the first graduate. It is important to mention that these women did not receive “women’s study” courses or complete finishing school, but graduated with a degree the same as any male.

Anna Grigg, first enrollee and graduate. Photo submitted by Garvin.

“From the beginning, there was an understanding that women would pursue the same academic course as men,” said Garvin.

An early graduate, Dorothy Lee, conducted many studies in the Ozarks and went on to earn a Ph.D. in biology at a time when women were often unable to get a degree of any kind. Female education has always been a priority at Drury.

However, Drury did not admit an African American student until 1964.

“We dropped the ball at that time and that’s where the more inexcusable part of our history lies,” said Garvin. We should have had the courage to start admitting African American students earlier.”

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A Founder’s Day Convocation was held in Stone Chapel last Thursday, Sept. 21. Still in 2017, we remember the reasons that this university was established and hold true to those values while adapting to a modern student body. Celebrate Drury’s founding by learning the stories of our university’s past and what it has done for its students. That’s the real Drury difference.