1915 Expansion for C. M. A.

Some Plain Truths

Presented to the People of Union Township for Their Quiet and Intelligent Consideration

Bird's Eye View of the Proposed Extension fo Grounds and Highway, Culver Military Academy

Caption under photo: The proposed road will be seen to start at the upper left hand corner with a board turn around the Power House toward the East, and runs along the edge of the trees to the road to Hibbard, where it takes an easy turn to the South, and meets the present lake road the the point marked "X". This point is 600 feet from the point marked "O" where the road now meets the lake, and leaves the rest of the highway along the lake shore approximately eight huundred feet, undisturbed.

To the People of Union Township:

In March of this year the Culver Academy petitioned the county commissioners for a change in the location for the public highway extending around the central campus of the Iinstitution

Thius petition asked for the vacation of certain estabilshed roads along the North and easth sides of the grounds, and the acceptance of a new route which would enable the academy for meet the tremendous pressure for military, athletic and building purposes.

The plan comtemplated an easy and direct route, without sharp grades or turns, and one which, it was thought, would appeal to the public as an improvement over the present road.

After the petition was presented a question arose concerning the advisability of vacating all of the part of the road skirting the lake shore, on the ground that to do so would deprive the public of any means of access to the lake at the north end.

This was practically the only objection heard; and it seemed tht if this point were covered, the proposed change would receive the ready endorsement of the community.

The academy reconognizes the sound reasoning and sentiment actuartinf those of its neighbors who have contended for a modification of the original plan; which is to be submitted to the commissioners this month, and which is fully set forth under the following paragraph, will meet their views of fairness in every way.

Revised Petition

In the Matter of the Road petition od Culver Military Academy and Others

Come now the undersigned petitioners, freeholders of Marshall county, Indiana, more than twelve (12) in number and more than six (6) of whom reside in the immediate neighborhood of the highway. proposed to be located and the change of highway made, and petition the b oard of commissioers of Marshall county, state of Indiana, for a change of higways to be accomplished by the vacation of a part of a higihway and the location of a new highway from the points of vacation on a different route from the road vacated and which established road proposeede to be vacated is discribed as follows to-wit:
commenciung at a point on the section line between section fifteen (15) and sixteen (16), in towonship thirty-two (32) nortoh, range one (1) east, sixhundred twenty-nine (629) feet northof the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of setion fifteen (15) in the present public highway; running thence north two hundred ninety (290) feet, thence east five hundred eighty five (585) feet; thence south 84 degrees east, sixhundred eighty-eight (688) feet; thence south 2 degrees and 30 minutes east, seven hundred fifty-two (752) feet; thence south 71 degrees and 45 minutes east, five hundred ninety-three (593) feet to the point where the vacation stops, at all times, from the point of commecemnt to the end of the vacation, following the present established, open and constructed highway.


And by the location of a new public highway
commenciung at a point on the section line between section fifteen (15) and sixteen (16), in towonship thirty-two (32) nortoh, range one (1) east, sixhundred twenty-nine (629) feet northof the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of setion fifteen (15) (which is the same point described as the commencement of the vacation of highway): thence curving eastwardly with a grading of five hundred (500) feet, seven hundred fifty-four (754) feet; thence south 87 degrees and 38 minutes east, eight hundred forty-sixty (846) feet; thence curving southerly with a radius of seven hundred (700) feet ooone thousand four hundred (1400) feet; thence south 23 degrees and 30 minutes west three hundred fourteen (314) feet, at which point the proposed road will join the present constructed road where the vacation here in applied for terminates.


And your petitioner says that the present road sought to be vacted is forty (4) feet in width, and they pray that the new road will be establisihed forthy (40) feet in width.

And petitioners say that the lands to be affected are all owned by the said petitiones and the lands of no other person, firm or corporation will be affected by the said proposed change

And said petitioners say and allege that the change of highways herein petitioned for by the vacation of a part of one highway will be a public utility.

Wherefore uoru petitioners pray for the appointment of three distinterested freeholder of the county to report on this preceedinga aat the next term of this court; and they pray for all further relief.

WHY THE CHANGE IS SOUGHT.

WHY THE CHANGE IS SOUGHT. The citizens of Union township have been more or less intimately associated with the academy since its foundation twenty-one years ago They have witnessed i ts rise from a school of twenty boys to an institu tion accommodating four hundred and sixty, and perhaps understand the many difficulties encountered in keeping pace with this phenomenal growth.

The most troublesome problem confronting the academy today is the lack of room, and apparently the only chance of relief is through the extension of its grounds as sought for in this petition.

Many military schools, among them some with only one-half the attendance of Culver, are equipped with larger and better drill grounds. A number of those in the East with an attendance of 400 or 500, have, in addition to spacious drill grounds, as many as five or six football fields, the same number of baseball grounds and a dozen or more tennis courts. These Eastern schools. Culver's sharpest competitors, regard these things as absolute necessities. Yet Culver is trying to struggle along with facilities ranging 80 per cent below these requirements.

It is a question how long it will be possible to continue successfully under this handicap

to gain the best results a school must build up and maintain in its students a healthy mind and body, and the surest method is through systematic and thorough exercise in j the open air. Culver has six company and one varsity football teams, seven in all, and the same number of baseball teams. It is essential that provision be made for them to exercise simultaneously in season.

The matter of building sites presents another problem. The new riding hall, armory, stable, barrack and service buildings as shown in the picture are now under consideration, as well as a new chapel, library, boat house and many other buildings.

However, conditions as they are today make it impossible to locate these buildings conveniently and in proper relation with the present general group. If the central campus can be ex tended eastwardly as shown, the needed buildinG sites and an ade quate drill ground will become immediately available.

NO COST TO THE TOWNSHIP.

The entire cost of labor and material in constructing the proposed road will be borne by the academy. The conditions and specifications named in the petition are to be carried out without the use of one dollar of the public money.

SCHOOL GROUNDS AS A PARK.

In its work and plans the academy has undertaken to create one of the most beautiful parks in the state. That is attested by the remark of Mr. Jens Jensen of chicago, a high authority on landscape gardening, who was "I think Culver has the most beautiful school campus in America". The trustees promis more and greater improvemenets until it shall equal anyting of its kind in the work. Yet the fullfillment of these plans rests largley upon the outcome of the plea for an extension of grounds.

The park is open to visitors at all reasonable time. The general public is aware of this fact and the authorities are glad to find the neighbors amounf their most frequent visitors.

CULVER IN THE LIGHT OF AS PUBLIC INVESTMENT

So far as actual outlay of money is concerned, the township has not a dollar invested in this instituiton.

Yet it is interesting to know that if the meassured by the usual methods, the citizens may look upon the school as an investment worth over $3,000,000 to them.

The point is this - It is the practive of the investors to compute vaules of earning power. They figure that any property, if reasonable safe, is desirable and marketable at twent times its annual net income, or on a basis of 5 percent. Accepeting this principle as correct, and assuming that the salaries and wages of paid employes is the mmost important item of earnings reaching the public directly, we find a value of ovet $3,000.000 - for the amount of the pay roll last year exceeded $153,000.

Add to this the amount pid to farmer;'s and local merchants for produce and supplies, the $15,000 "pin" money spent every year by the cadets for candy and knick-knack, the money to druggists, blacksmiths, liveryman, etc., beside the thousand of dollars left by visitors who are attracted to thhe lake by the academy, and its actual value as a public investment reaches most astonishing figures.

Without expense and with no responsibilities, the farmers, the merchants, and the workmen are sharing indirectly every day in dividends from this property. How far should the community go in preserving it permanency and helping its groweth?

WHAT OTHE LOCALITIE ARE DOING

From one side of our country to the other, cities, towns, and states have set up friendly rivalries for new blood and prosperity.

Newspapers with full page advertisements as ammunition, car the war into the enemies' territory, and flaming signboards telling of the wonderful opportunities aaiting the newcomer stand as sentinels at every railway station.

COmmercial clubs and other civic bodies work hand in hand in well managed campaigns for population and business. Committees wait upon individuals and manufacturers and are even sent to passing trains where they greet travelrs with flowers, handbills and the most fabulous tales regarding the presnt and future of that particular locality.

Many towns seel to advnce themselves by installing water works, lighting plants and othoer public utilities. soe try to increase trade and industry by paying casn and land bonuses to factories that locate in their midst. Agriculture districts invite better conditions and the enhancement of land values by establishing modern school houses, building drainage ditches and improvong and extending the highways. Why? Because this is America where progressiveness and business preduence urge these things as public necessities.

On a number of occasions the authorities of the academy have bee approached with propositions that would take the academy away for Culer. On offer was from Jamestown, Va., which practically places at the disposal of the school the entire grounds and buildings of the exposition. Flordia held out tempting inducements; and a Northern satem with cash and a beautiful lake as the principal attractions, made a strong bid for favor. CUlver was proof against these offers, and the favct remains in Union township is the best evidence of its desire to hold the confidence of the people and to share and grow with them into one of the most beautiful and properous sections of the state.

When the school was opened in 1894 th town of Culver, or Marmont as it was then clled, boasted prehaps three stores and a mere handfull of people. Plymouth, Argos and other nearby towns scarely knew of its existence, and farmers living at its very doors made their purchases eight or ten miles away. Since that time Culver has made tremendous strides and is well on its way toward becomoing the best town in the county. The farmers now have a c onvenient and profitable market at home, and realize that their farms have practically doubled in value as a result.

It is interesting to note that while Culver has improved and increased in population by 1,000 precent, other towns in the same period show only the most ordinary signs of growth. It cannot be that the lake itself is responsible, for many other lakes in thi region - Bass Lake, Pretty Lake and Twin lakes, for instance - have remained at a standstill for the past generation.

The railroad is alway a factor in the prosperity of a town, yet the two railroads at Hibbard and those at Delong have not enabled either place to build up as Culver has done. Obivioudly theire are other and more potent forces at work at Maxinkuckee, and the school may be regarded as one of the ac tine source of power.

HOW THE ACADEMY IS SUPPORTED.

Culver Military Academy is unique in that it has no endowment, it receives no state or government funds; it has never know the gift of a dollar from the outside, and it is not o perated for profit. All oincome over and above the cost of peration goes immediately into necesary improvements, and deficits must be met by the private purse of the owners. Its only revenue is from the young men attending as cadets, and no attepmts ha ever been made to increase this revenue by entering the field or by promoting real estate schemes that would pay handsom profits.

The owners do not receive any salaries, dividends or profits of any kinf. On the contrary all such margins and infinitely more have been freely given by the trustees in the hope that they may assist in creating on the shores on Maxinkuckee an institution surpassing all others in beauty, strength and real accomplishments towar manhood, to the end that the nation may be benefited and the wish of the founder fullfilled.

It is the purpose of this article to explain the position of the academy with regard to the proposed change of road, and to blace the facts before the people. It has undertaken to show that its request for an opportunity to grow is practical, reasonable and without the cost to the public.

We believe that the attitude of the majority of our neighbors is favorable to this request and we confidently ask their cooperation in securing the Change.

Culver Military Academy. Culver Citizen May 13 1915



1883-1893 ~ ~ 1894-1899 ~~ 1899-1919 ~~ 1920-1944 ~~ 1945-1969. ~~ 1970-present