Page 20 - 1925 September - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 9

BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE

BI R M I N G H A M S O U T H E R N C O L L E G E was founded at Greensboro,
Alabama, on January 25, 1856, then known as the Southern
University under the auspices of the Alabama Methodist Con-
ference. W i t h an endowment of $500,000 the university became
one of the leading educational institutions in the south. Because
of its phenomenal success in the venture, in 1897 the North Ala-
bama Conference decided to establish a second institution of learn-
ing at Birmingham, Alabama, to be known as Birmingham Col-
lege.

For twenty years the two colleges were maintained by the
Methodists of Alabama. As the strides that Birmingham made in
industry and mineral output evidenced its growing importance as
a center of educational development, plans were discussed to com-
bine the two institutions under one administration. O n May 13,
1918, through the appointed commissioners of the two Alabama
Conferences, these two institutions were consolidated under the
name of Birmingham College and as such the college opened in
Birmingham on September 11, 1918.

Since the memorable step the advances of the college have
been without number. From a student body of scarcely one hun-
dred and only four co-eds, the enrollment has increased to practi-
cally eight hundred with two hundred and sixty-nine women.
During the course of seven years Birmingham-Southern College
has been admitted into the Association of American Colleges,
the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools
and quite recently into the Association of Women's Colleges.
At the present time Birmingham-Southern College ranks along
with the best institutions of learning in the country as an A-grade
college.

The endowment and equipment have ranked parallel with the
rapid growth in enrollment and educational rating. The endow-
ment at present is: productive, $400,000, nonproductive, $100,000,
consisting of real estate, and pledges, over $600,000, i n addition.
The campus includes seventy acres of land and the buildings
consist of Owen Hall, the Administration building, the Science
Hall which takes care of instruction in science, the M . Paul Phil-
lips Library equipped with rest rooms and rooms for the use of