Talk:Southwestern Adventist University

Historical Timeline for SWAU

1878

Texas Conference organized November 18, 1878

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/ASR/ASR1899__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=1

1890

FOREST PARK ACADEMY.

THIS school closed June 20, having continued eight months. Our school has been small, but as it has had only a beginning, and is steadily improv- ing, we are encouraged to believe that it ha.s an im- portant future. ^ The Lord has abundantly blessed in the work through the year. The discipline has helped many, and some have been led to seek the Lord, and to walk in newness of life. , On the Sab- bath after the school closed, we had an excellent meeting, and the Spirit of the Master melted hearts, nearly every one expressing a desire to live for Jesus.

The enrollment for the past year reached only sixty, but we have already seventy-five enrolled for next year, and enough more are planning to attend to insure a school of more than 100. Breth- ren and sisters, pray for us in our work, and re- member the young who have asked an interest in the prayers of God's people.

For catalogue, address the undersigned at Forest Park Academy, Covington, Tex.

H. E. GIDDINGS, Principal.

REPORT OF W. W. PRESCOTT, EDUCATIONAL SECRETARY, For the year 1890.

The interest in the educational work in Texas seems to be increasing. A school of three grades (high, grammar, and primary) is maintained the present year, with an attendance of nearly 125 students. The prosperity of the work is such that the advisability of erecting some permanent buildings is already under consideration. W. W. Prescott

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1891__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=74

1891

PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

DERDEN, TEXAS.—Principal, H. E. Giddings ; Assistant*, Mrs. Emma Giddings, A. S. Chrisman. (Derden Hill Texas, according to google maps is south of Cleburne.)

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1891__B.pdf#search=%22 h e giddings %22&view=fit

TEXAS SCHOOL.

THE Oak Hill High School closed a successful term June 4, 1891. The patronage was considerably increased over that of last year, and the inter- est has been good. A nine months' session was held, and a regular high school course " followed. The class work done was highly satisfactory in all of the grades, yet all was not accomplished in other respects thali the managers desired. Some perma- nent good has certainly been done, and we have evi- dence that the Lord is working in the school for good. The prospect for the future of the school is so encouraging that the management deem it wise to continue the work at a sacrifice.

The church at this place has shown commenda- ble zeal in bearing the burdens of this school and in ministering to its needs. It is hoped that next year special work can be conducted for the benefit of those who are preparing to labor in the cause. We will put our trust in the Lord, the source of all strength. H. E. GIDDINGS, Prin.

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/RH/RH18910804-V68-31__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=10

1892

LABOR IN DISTRICT NO. 5.

...I spent the week of prayer with the church at Oak Hill, Tex. This is one of the strongest churches in the State. Two meetings were held each day. Elders Hyatt and Jensen, one or both, were present with me through the entire week. The blessing of God rested upon the meetings. Prof. Giddings and wife, who are teaching an ex- cellent school at this place, closed the school, and nearly the entire school joined in the meetings....

R. A. Underwood

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/RH/RH18920322-V69-12__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=13

1893

GENERHL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS.

THIRTIETH SESSION. 0. A. Olsen, Presiding Officer; W. H. Edwards, Recording Secretary..

THE thirtieth session of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference was held at Battle Creek, Michigan, Feb. 17 to March 6, 1893. One hundred and thirty delegates were present, representing thirty-three Conferences and four mission fields.

During the session there were held twenty-one meetings of the General Conference, and also meetings of the International Tract Society, International .Sabbath-school Association, International Religious Liberty Association, Seventh- day Adventist Educational Society, and Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association....

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION.

Committee : W. W. Prescott, S. N. Haskell, J. G. Matteson, C. Eldridge, L. R. Conradi, N. P. Nelson, C. M. Kinney.

Gratitude for Growth of Educational Work.

1. We recognize the providence of God in the rapid growth of the educational work during the last two years, and desire to express our sense of gratitude for every evidence of his favor and care In this branch of the work.

New Schools.

2. We recommend, That a Conference school be opened in Texas, in response to the memorial received from that Conference.

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1893__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=65

1940

Davis, J. Frank, (State Supervisor, Texas Writers' Project) (1940). Texas, A Guide to the Lone Star State. The Texas State Highway Commission. p. 538.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Left here to KEENE, 0.5 m. (500 pop.), neat and trim under a grove of oaks. Its present name honors a leader of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, whose members comprise the population. Tea, coffee, tobacco and alcoholic liquors are barred here, and no meat is eaten. The women use no rouge, lipstick or powder, and wear no jewelry or other items of personal adornment. The church frowns upon fiction, jazz music and competitive games. Gatherings of young people are chaperoned.

Two stores sell coffee, but only in catering to non-church members living outside the town limits. Wedding rings and wrist watches are permitted, these not being considered as indicative of personal vanity. Keene is the seat of the Adventist Southwestern Junior College, which offers general and business courses and others in music, pre-nursing, and pre-medicine. The college operates a planing mill, broom factory, printing pland, and dairy farm, which furnish work for students wishing to earn their school expenses. The library contains 6000 non-fictions books.

The town has no mayor, no judge, no court, no police, no jail, and no motion picture house. Crime is almost unknown. The post office here is the only one in Texas that is closed on Saturday and open on Sunday.

p. 538

1981

Martin, William (January 1981). "The church of what's happening: ... Seventh-day Adventists have made Keene a company town". Texas Monthly. 9 (1). Austin, Texas: Mediatex Communications Corporation: 124, 125. ISSN 0148-7736. Retrieved 2011-12-04.

Facts about SWAU in this article:

What struck me most, however, was that virtually every (Adventist) correspondent said something along the lines of "If you want to see what Seventh-day Adventist churches are really like, why don't you visit the church in Keene?"

...

Well, I found Keene. It's six miles northeast of Cleburne--has been since 1893. And the town doesn't have an Adventist church. The Adventist church has a town.

a long paragraph on the social ways of Keene and the Sabbath.

a description of a Keene church service

Where did all these people come from?

What's going on here?

"As my preliminary spying out of the land had led me to suspect, the answer to these questions lay just down the street, at Southwestern Adventist College.

...From its articulate president, Donald R. McAdams, I learned that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in America is divided into ten administrative units called unions, each of which has a college. Most of these ten colleges were founded in the 1890s, a period of intense activity in Adventist history, and most became centers of an Adventist community. Keene, McAdams said, is quite literally a company town. The school, which evolved through several stages from Keene Industrial Academy to its present seven-hundred-student senior college status, sold acreage to Adventist families and industries, thus spawning the largest Adventist community in the Southwestern Union, which has its headquarters in Burleson and includes Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

The college not only owns most of the businesses in town but also staffs them with students, 80 per cent of whom hold some job while attending school. Towns-people apparently approve of the arrangements. McAdams estimated that 90 per cent of Keene's citizens are Adventists. Some nonmembers yoked by marriage to believers live on the north side of U.S. 67 near the college; most families with no Adventist ties live south of the highway and work in cleburne or a a kitchen cabinet factory in Keene.

1999

Capace, Nancy (1999). KEENE, City. Encyclopedia of Texas (1999 edition). St. Clair Shores, MI: Somerset Publishers. p. 412. ISBN 0-403-09729-0.

The city was named after a leader in the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Until recent years, the town had probably most unusual post office in the State; it was closed on Saturday and opened on Sunday.

The city propered first as a farming community, but a number of small industires soon developed. At one time, there were 22 broom factories in operation. Industrial products now include kitchen cabinets, brooms and mops. At one time, Keene made enough stick horses to earn the title of "Stick Horse Capital of the World."

p. 412