User:Martin Osterman/Ball State University/History

Ball State University was the final of five incarnations of an attempt to bring a college to the burgeoning city of Muncie during the turn of the 19th Century. In 1917, the Muncie National Institute closed its doors due to bankruptcy. The property (62 acres) and two buildings of the Institute were sold at a court sale to Robe Carl White, a local attorney, who was aided financially by the Ball Brothers. Following completion of the sale in early 1918, the Ball Brothers donated the property to the State of Indiana to make it a branch campus of the Indiana State Normal College, located in Terre Haute.

The college opened its doors for the first time in June, 1918, for the summer session. The first class was approximately 380 students (some reports placed it at 410), and classes were offered in Enlish, Geography, Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry, Botany, and Agriculture. The college itself offered curriculum in five fields: A degree of bachelor of philosophy of education, a bachelor of arts in education for teachers, a teaching license program for those who already had a college degree, and a course for teachers in public schools.

By 1929 the school was established as a separate entity from the Indiana State Normal College. Its name had been changed twice during this time: First as the Ball Teachers College, Eastern Division, Indiana State Normal School in 1922, and finally as the Ball State Teachers College in 1929. It was during this time that the campus underwent a great deal of growth. Between 1923 and 1929, five buildings were built on campus. These included a science hall, library/assembly hall, the Burris Laboratory School, the Ball Gymnasium, and Lucina Hall. All but the last two were built with funds from the state; the Ball family donated funds for the construction of the others.

It was during this time of change that the college recieved its first official president. In March, 1924, Benjamin J. Burris was picked to head the developing school, which he did until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1927. Burris was considered to be a well-liked leader who was supported by both students and faculty and helped bring about the start of all new construction on campus. He was replaced by Lemuel Pittenger, who had risen through the teaching ranks at the young university. Pittenger was considered to be as popular as Burris had been -- it is said that a petition which circulated around campus calling for his hiring was twenty feet long (85). On July 15, 1927, Pittenger accepted the recommendation that he be named the new president.

Inaugurated in February, 1928, Pittenger became an important driving force behind Ball State University. A former state representative, Pittenger's influence with the legislature helped Ball State expand and grow during the fifteen years that he was in office. In 1929, the state legislature passed a bill that made Ball State an independent college. In 1930, the North Central Association, a group responsible for accrediting colleges and universities, officially accredited the Ball State Teachers College as a fully accredited, independent state college.

Pittenger's greatest feat was leading the college through the Great Depression and into World War II. During the 1930s, the campus expanded with three additions to campus. The first building, the Arts Building, was constructed in 1934. The second, Elliott Hall, was constructed in 1937. It was built in dedication to the death of Frank C. Ball's son, Frank Elliott, who had died in an airplane accident a year prior. The third and final addition was the creation of the Beneficence statue -- a tribute to the generosity of the Ball Brothers. The statue, completed and dedicated in 1937, was created by infamous sculptor Daniel Chester French with the help of landscape architect Richard Dana. Pittenger was also responsible for maintaining a steady enrollment rate on the campus, averaging between 1,100 and 1,300 students.

When World War II broke out in 1941, enrollment was around 1,600 students. By the end of the war, this number had dropped to around 800. Ball State's enrollment served as a great measure of the demand for manpower during the time of war: In 1943 - 1944, Ball State enrolled only 117 men. The greatest change, during World War II, to the Ball State community was the announced retirement of Pittenger at the end of 1942. Although Pittenger had served as an effective president during his 15 years in the position, it was a job he had never truly desired to begin with. His successor was W.E. Wagoner, controller and business manager of the University during this time.

Wagoner retained his previous positions when he was selected to the office. It was not uncommon for him to spend half his day in the president's office and the other half in the controller's office. Despite the sheer volume of his tasks, Wagoner was effective at keeping the college program together while assisting the war effort in any way possible -- particularly through the use of the college's physical facilities. During Wagoner's tenure in office, the university participated in two preparedness programs in cooperation with the Navy and the Army. Various members of the faculty, particularly in the physical education department, were reassigned to provide instruction to cadets and recruits who arrived on-campus as part of these programs.

On May 7, 1945, the Board of Trustees announced the results of their search for a new president. Their choice, delayed for two years due to unknown reasons, was Dr. John R. Emens, a 41-year old former director of the Detroit Public Schools. The University was starting to show signs of change during this time; with the passage of the G.I. Bill, the number of veterans of World War II was increasing at a rapid rate. By the fall of 1946, 1,060 veterans enrolled out of a total student population of 2,321. (135) As the University population expanded, the number of University buildings during this time started to grow as well. Between 1950 and 1957, two new residence halls, a Practical Arts building, a library wing, and most importantly the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, were either begun or completed. Emens was also instrumental in building a tradition of hiring young teachers and their families in an attempt to "have them grow up in the Ball State tradition." (144)