The Formative Period of the school extends from 1851 to 1863, embracing three intervals of four years each.

The First Interval extends through 1851-55. During this period the school was under the principalship of Mr. Walter T. Taylor; the first Latin classes were begun, and a few young men were prepared for a collegiate course.

The Second Interval extends through 1855-59, under the principalship of Rev. John Van Vleck, D. D. It was during this period that the ecclesiastical germ of the school began to develop. A few students were carried beyond Freshman studies and some theological instruction was given. The foundation of permanent property was also laid through the labors of Drs. Van Vleck and Van Raalte.

The Third and last Interval of the Formative Period extends through 1859-63. During this time Dr. Philip Phelps, Jr., was principal.

This interval was marked by a rigid classification of the students preparatory to the separation of distinct departments of instruction-by the beginning of such steps as were requisite for making the school itself a complete institution instead of remaining simply a feeder to distant ones; by the consequent formation of the first Freshman class; and by the removal of serious hindrances to thorough organization.

Dr. Phelps began his work with thirty-three students. It was still the day of small things, but the future began to brighten. In 1859 the first brick building was erected at a cost of about $12,000. During the next few years other buildings were erected, among which were a grammar school, a small laboratory, a few lecture rooms, and a gymnasium, later used as a chapel. Of the erection of the last named building Dr. Phelps in one of his reports says: "In the winter of 1862, on the proposal of the Principal, the students determined like 'the sons of the prophets' mentioned in the book of Kings, to take every man his ax and go into the forest and prepare timber for the erection of a gymnasium that might be used for commencement purposes. They prepared and put together the material under the superintendence of a carpenter, and when the April vacation came the work was driven in all weathers.

The building when completed was privately dedicated by the hoisting of the stars and stripes, the reading of a psalm, the singing of a hymn, the offering of a prayer, and the concluding utterance of three rousing cheers. A few days later it was publicly dedicated at the Commencement, July, 1862, when the pioneer class, having finished their preparatory course, were ushered into the Freshman year of the nascent college. Thus did the Academy develop into a college.

The organization dates from June, 1863, when on the approval of the "Collegiate Department," the General Synod established the first Board of Superintendents. This was the turning point in the history, for it settled the question whether Holland in Michigan was to be an educational center for the Reformed Church.

In order that this historical outline may not be too lengthy, we will compress the most important events in the history of the college during 1863-1895 into the subjoined general calendar.

GENERAL CALENDAR:

1865. Hope College incorporated. Forty-eight students in all.

1866. Rev. P. Phelps, Jr., D. D., inaugurated President.

1869. Western Theological Seminary established.

1878. Dr. Philip Phelps resigns, and Rev. Dr. G. H. Mandeville elected Provisional President.

1885. Rev. Dr. Charles Scott elected President.

1893. President Scott resigns, and Dr. G. J. Kollen is elected President.

1895. 338 Students in all, and a Faculty of 9 Professors, 1 Tutor, 4 Lecturers, and 1 Lady Principal.

GEORGE F. MOSHER, LL. D.

PRESIDENT OF HILLSDALE COLLEGE.

Dr. Mosher came to the presidency of Hillsdale College in 1886 from a five years' residence in Europe, where he had been U. S. Consul at Nice, France, and in Sonnenberg, Germany, having been appointed to the former post by President Garfield, just before his assassination in 1881.

During his residence abroad Mr. Mosher traveled in most of the European countries, observing their condition and the customs of the people; and some of his reports on the social and industrial conditions of the peasant class in Germany, were highly spoken of by the State Department at Washington.

George F. Mosher is a native of Maine and a graduate of Bowdoin College in the class of 1869. For twelve years following his graduation he was engaged in editorial work in Dover, N. H., and in Boston. While residing in Dover, he was twice elected to the New Hampshire legislature, and each time was chairman of the Committee on State Normal School. He was also a member of the Dover School Board, and greatly interested in the improvement of the public schools of that city.

As a teacher President Mosher had served only two terms in an academy and two in the public schools of Maine, before leaving college; but he soon developed good teaching qualities as well as executive ability in his new post, and under his administration the progress of the college has been steady and uniform. The courses of study have been strengthened, electives have been introduced, and over ninety thousand dollars added to the endowment fund. A feeling of friendship and respect exists between the President, the faculty, and the students; and there are no disorderly outbreaks. He is maintaining the good record of the College in the educational work of the State, and is strengthening the feeling of attachment which has always existed between the alumni and their Alma Mater. No educator in Michigan is doing better work for the cause than is President Mosher.

HILLSDALE COLLEGE.

This college has sustained an important relation to the educational interests of the State. It was one of the first institutions of its grade in the field, following the opening of the State University by only a few years. Since its opening term in the autumn of 1855, it has pursued an unbroken career. Even the fire of 1874, which almost totally destroyed it in a physical sense, hardly interrupted the work of the classes. Recitation rooms were improvised in the church and in private houses, and thus the regular work of instruction went on while the walls of the new buildings were going up. This loss, including much of the library and the laboratory equipments, should be remembered in estimating the present facilities of the college. Practically, this college has equipped itself twice in these respects in the last forty years.

The republican party has sometimes been criticised for boasting of its past record, while its critics have said that it would be more to the point if it would be achieving a present fame equal to its past. This college has likewise referred with satisfaction to some of its past pioneering. It has always been a college which has raised no bars against sex, color, or nationality, but has simply asked if the applicant wanted to know something, and if he could behave himself while trying to learn it. As a result it has had a class of independent, labor-respecting, diligent students, who have not done too poorly in college, nor wholly failed to distinguish themselves in the world.

But while there are certain "first things" which the college may claim to have done in the educational field of the State, there are other things no less important which it has tried to do equally with its sister colleges. These would include all those steps which it has taken in the line of true educational progress. It once offered a three years' degree (bachelor's) course. Also it required two years of