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Read original article here in the Johnson City Press, 1/18/16.
By Dave Ongie
Press Staff Writer
As Milligan College celebrates its 150th anniversary, it’s hard to imagine a time when the future of the vibrant campus nestled between Johnson City and Elizabethton was in doubt.
But as the United States was in the process of plunging headlong into World War II, the prospects of Milligan surviving to its centennial celebration in 1966 were dim at best.
With enrollment down and financial support flagging as college-aged men enlisted in the armed forces and alumni focused their resources on the war effort, a decision was made to dismiss all civilian students and turn Milligan’s campus over the the U.S. Navy, which instituted a V-12 program designed to offer specialized officer training to enlisted men.
For two years, Milligan essentially went into hibernation until the Navy program wrapped up on June 30, 1945, leaving the school with no student body and a diminished faculty to face an uncertain future.
Dr. Lee Fierbaugh, who co-wrote the book “Scholarship, Community, Faith: Milligan Celebrates 150 Years” with Clinton Holloway, said the school’s feast-or-famine history leading up to World War II left the institution at a crossroads coming out of the conflict.
“The college had pretty much struggled on and off since its beginnings in the 1800s,” Fierbaugh said. “We’d have a few years where things would come together and we’d have some prosperity, and then back to financial struggles. It’s one of the main reasons that we turned our campus over to the U.S. Government during that time for the Navy V-12 program.
“The school might have had to close its doors completely if it wasn’t for that.”
After the war, the G.I. Bill wound up being a saving grace for Milligan and many other colleges around the nation. Young men returning from battlefields in Europe and the South Pacific flooded into classrooms around the country in pursuit of higher education as well as a return to normalcy.
Duard Walker was among this post-war influx. Walker actually went through the V-12 program on Milligan’s campus, and after the war, he returned to earn his degree in 1948 before serving Milligan for 50 years as a teacher and a coach.
As the 1950s dawned, what the fledgling college needed most was stability, and thanks to the vision of another Walker, this time Dr. Dean Walker, that’s exactly what Milligan got. Shortly after his inauguration on Feb. 17, 1950, Walker rolled up his sleeves and started dealing with the college’s finances.
He started by trimming programs that were a financial drain on Milligan, including the football team, which played its final game on Nov. 18, 1950. The game against East Tennessee State finished in a 6-6 tie.
While Walker did a lot to shore up the school’s finances and restructure the curriculum, the impact he had on the physical appearance of the campus is perhaps his most lasting legacy. Prior to Walker’s arrival, the last new building constructed on campus had been Cheek Gym in 1924. That was about to change.
“One of the first things he did when he started as president was start a capital campaign to raise funds for facilities,” Fierbaugh said.
“The first priority was dormitories. Really, post-World War II there was a transition, not just at Milligan, but in higher education in general of turning toward student-centered and student-focused mentality and realizing a college education was about more than just what was going on in the classroom.”
Under Walker’s direction, the campus started to expand up the hill as Sutton Hall, Webb Hall and later Hart Hall were erected to provide better dormitories for the students. The students also got in the act, building themselves a new student center that opened in 1954.
A new library was also constructed during the 1950s, and Seeger Chapel followed.
“About that time, campus shifted from being largely along the main road and on the right side of campus,” Fierbaugh said. “Up until that time, that was pretty much campus. This was when we started to spread out up the hill to the east side of campus.”
By the time Milligan celebrated its centennial in a yearlong celebration that spilled over from 1966 into 1967, the college was on solid footing. Walker retired in 1968 after 20 years of leadership, and Fierbaugh said his contribution is still held in high regard to this day.
“Dr. Walker is still very much respected,” Fierbaugh said. “He led us through such an era of really putting Milligan on a more national map.”