A note to the reader: In this discussion the terms university and college may be used interchangeably in reference to the same institution, as it started existence as Waynesburg College and later became Waynesburg University. The use of the terms will be largely based on context. The author apologizes in advance for any confusion this may cause.
Since September 1849, when classes were first held in the Hayes Building on the corner of High and Washington streets, Waynesburg College (now Waynesburg University) has been an integral part of our local community. The university was created by combining the assets of Greene Academy in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, and Madison College in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
In 1850, construction began on Hanna Hall and classes were located there after its completion in 1851. Even as early as 1849, however, Waynesburg University was a groundbreaking institution. At Waynesburg’s inception, a young woman named Margaret Kerr Bell (who would later marry college President Alfred B. Miller) was asked to lead the female education department and the blossoming college. It seems she may have been chosen because of her desire to create an environment and system that would establish equal education for men and women, paving the way for women graduates with degrees equal to those earned by men as early as 1857.
Mary J. Temple, later Bayard and then Jamison, (1853-1916) received her education from Waynesburg College at different periods throughout the late 19th century. She became a prolific writer and journalist whose work focused on women’s social reform and philanthropy. Her works were penned both under her own name and the pseudonym “Meg.” Her career began after writing an editorial comment sent to and published in a Waynesburg newspaper and subsequently copied in the Pittsburgh Post. Eventually, the Pittsburgh Dispatch, after having read some of her work under her pen name, printed a request in their publication for her to make herself known. This lead to her employment with the Dispatch. From that point forward her work was in heavy demand. Later she would write for the Philadelphia Times. In 1893, Mary would present a paper entitled “Women in Journalism” at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Mary was also a member of the Women’s National Press League, The Women’s Press Club of Pittsburgh, and The League of American Pen Women. She would also serve as an 1899 delegate to the International League of Press Clubs in Baltimore, Maryland.
Within the roles of other noteworthy alumni of Waynesburg University can be found John M. Day. Day (1831-1896), a native of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania and a student of law, left Greene County in 1859 to set up a legal practice first in Davenport and then later Des Moines, Iowa. While in Iowa, John became interested in railroads and became one of the organizers of the Des Moines and Minnesota Railroad, a narrow-gauge line that was established in 1870.
Always maintaining an interest in his home country, however, John would write to friends in Greene County in 1874 of the necessity to build a railway that would connect Waynesburg and Washington. Much of his correspondence would be published in local papers at the time, which built interest in such an undertaking. This idea was received with great enthusiasm and John was invited to return home to conceptualize the project. By November 1, 1877, the plans had been realized and the main line of the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad had been completed. John M. Day would remain a resident of Greene County after his work to establish the railroad. He would eventually return to Iowa with his family, where he lived until he passed in 1896. His work in establishing the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad cannot be understated; its importance in modernizing the county and helping to usher in the industrial revolution in our little corner of Pennsylvania was a boom to our local economy and forever changed our way of life for the better.
Waynesburg University even played an important, although indirect, role in the Civil War. Not only was Company A of the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (the unit that was recruited from men from Greene County Pennsylvania) established at Hanna Hall at Waynesburg University, one of the most noteworthy men from the 140th was a graduate of Waynesburg University. James J. Purman (1841-1915) was born into a family of farmers and, while attending Waynesburg College, was a teacher and a typesetter for a local newspaper.
After a series of Union defeats during the Civil War in 1862, Purman put his studies on hold and established a company of volunteers. Initially a cavalry unit but, since Pennsylvania had stopped accepting cavalry troops, the newly formed company changed their name to the Greene County Rifles and became an infantry unit. The first recruit was James Pipes who, with Purman, was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Gettysburg. Purman’s citation would read: “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Lieutenant James Jackson Purman, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 July 1863, while serving with Company A, 140th Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lieutenant Purman voluntarily assisted a wounded comrade to a place of apparent safety while the enemy were in close proximity; he received the fire of the enemy and a wound which resulted in the amputation of his left leg.” J. J. Purman finished his degree after the war and became a principal at a Baptist school. He also established a law practice in Greene County. Later, he moved to Washington D.C. to pursue medicine and eventually worked for the U.S. Patent Office.
The list of notable alumni from Waynesburg University is not only remarkable in the accomplishments of those students who called our hometown school home, but also remarkable in the sheer number of those graduates who made history during or after their time at Waynesburg. It would take many volumes to fully detail all these great accomplishments, and in this writing, we have only presented a very small number who have left a great impact on Greene County.
The author would like to dedicate this work to Candice Buchanan, a more recent graduate of Waynesburg University whose research and work have been of great assistance in creating this article. Candice is but one of the later chapters in the history of Greene County, Pennsylvania and Waynesburg University who will be long remembered for her contributions to preserving our history and for being a person whom future historians will long remember for her own accomplishments. Thank you, Candice, for all you have done for our Greene County community.