 John and Etta with Florence and Stella |
- The first residents of Green Gables were John and Henrietta "Etta" Cooprider. He was the first superintendent of buildings and grounds, and she was the first matron and cook. They moved in on September 11, 1909, eleven days before classes started. They were stepsiblings in the blended family of Matthias Cooprider and Susanna Brunk. Both arrived on the Kansas plains in covered wagons as children—Etta in 1873, and John in 1876.
- Hesston College could have been Peabody College or Zimmerdale University. Other contenders for the new college in the "West" were Canton, Newton, and Harper. Though Peabody's cash offer was more generous, the unanimous choice of the "Locating Committee" was Hesston, with an offer of 80 acres and $7,000 cash from A.L. Hess.
- T.M. Erb, entrepreneur, chief founder and Hesston’s first business manager, earned his first profits as a boy of 15 by raising tobacco on his family farm near Mt. Joy, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
- Daniel Henry Bender graduated from Normal school at 14, began teaching school at 18, was ordained minister at 21, and became Hesston’s president at 43.
Bender's was a household name when he was selected to be Hesston’s first president. He had preached from practically every "Old" Mennonite pulpit, had edited the major church periodicals, and was a common fixture at denominational conferences. In 1909 he held 10 church offices, and on average he preached 123 sermons, traveled 4,866 miles by rail, and wrote 215 letters per year. He was a logical and fortuitous choice.
- The speaker at Hesston's opening dedication services had been interviewed to be Hesston's first president. He was Samuel Grant Shetler, Davidsville, Pa., a widely known evangelist and conference speaker. He spoke in both the afternoon and evening services, Tuesday, September 21, to an overcrowded Green Gables audience.
 Students dissect "Fluffy" the Charles family pet. |
- The Charles children donated "Fluffy" the family cat to science. J.D. Charles needed a second cat for a lab the next day and asked the children whether he could use the pet. They discussed the cat's declining health due to its advanced age. As eldest and only daughter daughter, Anna, remembered, "At first we didn't want to give her up. Then we realized she wasn't enjoying life much because of her age. So that helped us to give our consent."
- In 1918 Hesston College had the largest student enrollment of the three MC colleges with 186—14 students in college, 115 in the academy, and 57 in the Bible School. Goshen had 134 and EMS enrolled 38. (Al Keim, Harold S. Bender biography)
- D.H. Bender encountered unpleasant opposition from a local minister the week school opened. At the quarterly Sunday school conference at the "Pa. Church" on Sunday evening, September 26, 1909, Bender presented the advantages of "higher learning." David D. Zook, one of the ministers, took issue. Four years later the church experienced a nasty schism, with Zook as the leading seceding minister.
Start
Here, Go Everywhere