Rickety Rix, ‘06!

Hello, IU Class of 2006. Meet the IU Class of 1906

By Rose McIlveen

If history does indeed repeat itself, today’s traditionally aged students may have something to learn from the ‘naughty six’ class that preceded them by a century.

Graduates of the IU Class of 1906 by gender: 111 males; 48 females IU Departments 1902-1903 Greek, Latin, Romance Languages, German, English, History, Economics, Fine Arts, Philosophy and Psychology, Pedagogy, Mathematics, Mechanics and Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Zoology, Botany and Law Among the professions entered 34 lawyers 36 teachers,principals and superintendents Nine physicians One dentist 16 college teachers Three in the newspaper business One college president Two clergymen Several traveling salesmen One observatory director

(Editor's note: Welcome Week for new students on the IU Bloomington campus begins Monday, Aug.28, and will conclude the first day of classes, Monday, Sept. 2. Go to this Web site for more information. For welcoming activities on IU's seven other campuses, go to IU's gateway page, and click on the campus icons at the top of the page.)

There were no clouds on the horizon of America when some150 freshmen reported for registration at Indiana University in Bloomington in the autumn of 1902, but the world as they knew it was about to change in ways they could not anticipate.

The freshmen came from as far away as Utah and as close as Bloomington itself. The one who came from farthest away was Thomas Owings Sheckell from Salt Lake City, Utah. What brought him to IU? His father (or another relative) named Noah Sheckell graduated with a law degree from IU in 1877. As soon as the younger Sheckell got his law degree, he went home to join the family firm.

The out-of-town freshmen who came on the Monon Railroad or by wagon found a community of 6,460 Bloomingtonians. The town was bounded by 15th Street on the north, Grimes Lane on the south, Walker Street on the west and Fess Avenue on the east. On the campus, there were seven buildings: Maxwell, Owen, Wylie, Kirkwood and Mitchell halls, the Kirkwood Observatory and the Men’s Gymnasium (later named Assembly Hall). During the 1902-03 school year, Lindley Hall (then named Science Hall) was finished and dedicated during a three-part celebration – Founders Day, the inauguration of William Lowe Bryan as president of the university and the dedication of Science Hall.

Even as that new building was being put to use, a fund drive for another was underway. It was IU President Joseph Swain’s wife who thought the female students ought to have a place where they could study and relax between classes. John D. Rockefeller pledged $30,000 toward a new building, but stipulated that it must be coeducational and that the university had to come up with a matching amount. Students, faculty, alumni and anyone else interested in the project were asked to contribute. In fact, the whole state was canvassed by teams of volunteers.

In Bloomington, students found a variety of cottage industries inspired by the presence of the university, which had grown from 275 students in 1888 to nearly 1,500 by 1902. Among the local businesses were laundries, hacks-for-hire stables, sweet shops and surprisingly, for 1902, a female physician.

The biggest business was the renting of spare rooms. Family incomes were supplemented by providing room and board.. (IU didn’t get around to building a dormitory until 1924.) Tuition in 1902 was theoretically free, but the administration had levied some fees. The University Catalog of 1902 listed some fees: a dollar for use of the library; laboratories $2 a term, except chemistry, which ranged from 50 cents to $5; use of gymnasium $1; entrance English composition $2; entrance language $5; and $5 for a diploma, payable 30 days before commencement.

Incoming freshmen were expected to get themselves organized as soon as possible, because there were fierce class rivalries. President-elect William Lowe Bryan met with the freshmen near the end of October to preside over the election of officers, choosing of the class colors (straw and maroon) and deciding what the class yell would be. It was:

Rickety Rix, ‘06!
Rickety Rix, ‘06!
Rickety Rix, Rickety Rix, Rickety Rix, ‘06!

The traditional Freshman/Sophomore Scrap was scheduled for Feb. 22. An account of the event —which made the administration and faculty nervous every year—was printed in the 1903 Arbutus:

“About one hundred of us, our faces covered with red paint and grim defiance, surrounded the tree and awaited the onslaught of naughty five (the Class of 1905). At 4:30 they attacked us. In the first rush they got within striking distance of the tree, but at no time after that was our banner in danger. About a dozen ‘06 men were carried off to the chain. What we did to ‘05 is hardly necessary to state. The scrapping was very gentlemanly throughout, although necessarily quite rough at times. Casualties few and not serious. When time was called the freshmen had possession of the field and were declared victors.”—Indiana Daily Student.

As for the studies offered, IU had changed from its original one-size-fits-all classical curriculum in 1887-1888 to one in which students could choose a major. All students were obliged to take such general education courses as English, mathematics and science. The average American worker was making $12.98 a week for a 59-hour work week.

What events had an impact on the country during their first two years in college? A national coal strike that began in May of 1902 ended in October, and the U.S. took perpetual control of the Isthmus of Panama, but those paled in comparison with three other events.

In 1903, Pierre and Marie Curie and another scientist were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of radium. In June 1903, Henry Ford incorporated his automobile company in Detroit, and the following December, Orville and Wilbur Wright pulled off the very first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. (Wilbur had been born in the Hoosier town of Millville and the Wright family had lived in Richmond, home of IU East, during the children’s formative years.)

For the IU freshmen who entered IU in that October of 1902, the world would never be the same.