A New College for the Yakima Valley
Congregationalists secure land and funding to break ground on a new educational institution near Ahtanum.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Yakima has secured another educational institution in the college of the Congregational association, which will be located in the neighborhood of the Ahtanum church. Three thousand dollars and forty acres of land have been pledged to the association, and it is believed that this donation will be still further increased. Rev. Mr. Cheadle, who has been largely instrumental in bringing the college here, informs The Herald that trustees will shortly be selected and the association incorporated. The main college building will not be put up until next year, but dormitories will be built this year and a temporary structure used for recitation rooms, so that a beginning can be made this fall. The course will embrace those studies necessary to prepare pupils to become teachers or enter the higher colleges.
“The course will embrace those studies necessary to prepare pupils to become teachers or enter the higher colleges.”
The drive to establish a local college in the 1890s echoes contemporary regional efforts to expand access to higher education and workforce training in the growing Yakima Valley. Historical boosters often used the promise of 'civilized' institutions to secure their town's future against competitors.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.