Volume 11 , Issue 6

Northwestern Prairie Folk Mourn - March 10, 1935

We did some searching online at The Oklahoman archives for "Castle On the Hill" in the year 1935 and found a couple of articles. One of those articles was dated March 10, 1935, page 59, with the following headlines: "Northwestern Prairie Folk Mourn Loss of Pioneer College Structure at Alva," written by Jone Sartin.

There was an Editor's Note written before the article -- it was so light that I could only make out bits and pieces of it. It read something like this: "Mrs. Jone Sartin, who wrote this story, has lived 37 years. She obtained her life certificate at the teacher's college at the Alva. She graduated with higher honors. The story herewith represent the sentiment of the people of the northwest.

-- "Calamity stalked northwest Oklahoma faces disaster with confidence both of worthy achievement has latest disaster is shared by the whole southwest. On March 1, the administration building of Northwestern Teachers college yielded to fire. A surly wind fanned a fire that lighted the country side for miles.

"Years have wrought little change in the valiant spirit of Oklahoma's prairie folk. It took courage to come to the plains. It takes courage to stay. Memories and yesterdays ghosts are quickly dismissed by demands.......

"In 1898 Alva, that had begun as a tent town, saw completed a building soon known as the most beautiful building west of the Mississippi river. Dictated by foresight; and dedicated to education it represented the ultimate of pioneer purpose. Half-measures or relinquished hopes were not tolerated.

"Plans submitted by territorial architects for the building were rejected. Among Alva's pioneers was one widely traveled, James E. Ament, now president of National Park Seminary, Washington, D.C. During his travels he was impressed by the rare beauty of a Normandy castle. He was ambitious that a reproduction of this castle should be erected as northwest Oklahoma's contribution to the territory's educational buildings.

Alva was only a village, but the earnestness of Doctor Ament's desire inspired 80 of the pioneer business and professional men to pledge $1,000 each, on private notes, for the erection of the building. Among these were the late Jesse J. Dunn and S. L. Johnson. Five of the signers still live in Alva. They are: J. W. Monfort, W. F. Hatfield, Anton Shafer, Geroge Crowell, "Cap" Carrico.

"Their courage drew only condemnation from the territorial press. it protested that they had underwritten the project for the purpose of defrauding the territory. The building was called a castle from Spain, the prairie prince's plight and the enterprise was generously sneered at. Thus the territorial legislators were dubious when a request for $68,000 was checked to them.

"Alva had been named in honor of Alva Adams, Colorado governor, who was attorney for the Santa Fe railroad. Through Mr. Adams' interest a special train was provided and the legislators were brought to Alva. A banquet in their honor was served in the upper corridor of the much discussed building. Sneerers became cheerers. The distinctive architectural design, the richness of detail, and the perfect completeness of the building impressed the law-makers. They returned to Guthrie and passed the requested appropriation increasing it to $110,000.

"This was the beginning of a dream of a great temple of learning. Doctor Ament envisioned a building of which the structure now destroyed was to be but one wing. The blueprints were prepared by Joseph Foucart, French-born architect. A copy of the original plans will be found if workmen pierce the cornerstone in restoring the venerable ruins.

"Ament was first president of the institution. His faculty consisted of two teachers, Sarah Bosworth and Mrs. Mary DeLisle. The school opened with an enrollment of 63. Today Northwestern has a faculty of 45, an enrollment of 1,184, and is expanded to five buildings. In its 37 years of service 3,483 students have graduated from its courses. Since 1919 the school has operated as a fully accredited college conferring bachelor degrees. The 1934 degree class numbered 92 graduates.

"Alva stands as the gateway to the panhandle. Northwestern college is the gateway through which the youth of this vast territory enters American enterprises. Hugh Johnson of NRA fame, graduated from Northwestern. Oklahoma's State university has six N. S. T. C. graduates on her faculty -- Maurice Wardell, Ralph Records, Dean Ray Johnson, Floyd Bingham, Ralph Beagle and Della Brunstetter. Among her writers are Edna Brockway-Muldrow, who does book reviews for the Oklahoman; Dorothy Calloway, whose poems appear in Good Housekeeping; and Pearl Johnson, writer of philosophy.

"There is not a state in the union that does not hold some person formerly of Northwestern. Harvey H. Niminger, curator of the Museum of Meteorites of the Colorado museum of National History, Denver, graduated from Northwestern. Frank Ingles, sculptor, formerly associated with Lorado Taft, has a studio on the west coast. Dr. Wyman Green is head of the zoological department of Drew university, New York. Misses Edna Perry and Ruth Waring are missionaries to India and Bulgaria. Lemira Whent is directoress of a girls' school in India. Delbert Mann heads the American Boys' School at Istanbul, Turkey.

"Northwestern is pre-emiently a poor-man's college. Ten classes had graduated from Northwestern before statehood. Only one other teacher's college is older. In 1897 the territorial legislature appropriated $3,000 for the operating expenses of a school at Alva but it made no provisions for a building. For the first two years the school was held in the Congregational church. It is wrong to think of it as just another teachers' college. This school is northwestern Oklahoma's university. Students who attend Northwestern would be denied educational advantages beyond the high school except for the nearness of this great institution to their homes.

"The majority of her students elect to come to school at Alva because it is less expensive than attendance at other state schools. Yet the courses and equipment are often superior. From farms and small towns students bring produce, canned fruits and vegetables in exchange for board and room, and often as some portion of a small tuition.

"Moving today in the shadow of crumbling ruins they are not possessed by loss but are proudly aware of what they still have.

"The mother-building watched the growth of additional buildings on her 40-acre domain -- the Science Hall, Wyatt Gymnasium. Herod Hall (designed after Oklahoma City University), the stadium on Newby Field, and the picturesque building that houses the central heating plant. Six magnificent structures but not one vieing in beauty with the old Castle on the Hill.

"But institutions are more than buildings. They are the spirit interwoven in the background of a community. Boys and girls of the short-grass country are entitled to opportunities afforded youth in other parts of the state. This conviction is uppermost in the minds and hearts of builders of Oklahoma's commonwealth. Justice to these youths will not be forgotten. Their record, free from stain, is their greatest assurance."
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