In the not-so-distant past, it was a popular perception that young women went to college to get a degree in teaching or an MRS. degree. Outside of teaching, there was little women could do with a college degree. Even women with law degrees were relegated to reading abstracts at law firms. There are some voices today that wax nostalgic and wish to inhale the musty air of the past in calling for women college graduates to fulfill their role of marriage to a house. Thus, has been the case for most of the history of higher education and particularly of Butler University.
When Northwestern Christian University (soon to be renamed Butler University) began classes at its new Irvington campus in the fall of 1875, the Friday evening meetings of the literary societies for men — the Mathesians, Pythonians, and Philokurians — provided a convenient opportunity for a boy to invite a girl to a university approved “intellectual gathering” where, as Butler alum Hilton U. Brown noted, “The programs of the societies included essays, declamations, orations and debates, and, unofficially, match-making…No matrimonial agency could have been as successful in bringing on engagements as were these literary societies.”
Other opportunities for students to meet socially from time to time included receptions at Professor Scot Butler’s home and Friday night parlor dances at Ingleside — the co-ed boarding house. It was at Ingleside that Brown met Jennie Hannah, and he later wrote, “Half of the college (romantic) matches in the first five years after [Butler] came to Irvington may be safely credited to this place.” Hilton and Jennie married in 1883 and went on to raise a family in the house atop Brown’s Hill at Emerson Ave. and Washington St.
In addition to student romances, an occasional student-faculty romance occurred. Hugh Thomas Miller, professor of Romance Languages, married his former student, Nettie Sweeney of Columbus, Indiana in 1900. This union produced a son, J. Irwin Miller, who became a noted industrialist and banker. He was a patron of the arts and his philanthropy encouraged public art and the unique design of public buildings that would transform Columbus into the Athens of the Midwest.
The women’s dormitory on the Butler campus was a center of romance at the dawn of the 20th century. Swains went to great lengths to impress their sweethearts, and occasionally received unexpected rewards. One evening several young men decided to serenade some of the young women who had promised them a reward of freshly baked cookies. All properly groomed and polished, the men went to the side of the dorm and began singing. After a number or two, the vocalists eagerly awaited their reward, only to have their ardor doused with a bucket of cold water. Apparently, the young men sang below the wrong window.
Getting the courage to ask a girl to a dance has been an age-old dilemma for a boy. But after the “date” had been set, let the dancing begin! A boy clasping his girl in a tight embrace, and sweeping across the dance floor, ah! those were the days! One romantic couple in the 1920s, Maurice Mackey and Rebecca Daugherty, was typical of the age. Maurice, two years older than Rebecca, was attending the Indiana Law School, a Butler affiliate; Rebecca, a Butler English major and a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority. They must have been a popular couple, and their college romance must have been generally known. In the 1924 Butler annual, the Drift, in addition to the usual school activity information appearing below the student photo, a brief phrase was also added. Beneath Rebecca’s picture reads, “Just a minute, Maurice.” The words leave to the imagination their meaning.
A June wedding united Maurice and Rebecca in 1926, a year after her graduation. The bride was described as “radiant.” However, the sunlit joy of June was crushed like the dry leaves of fall when Rebecca became ill and died in October. Maurice never graduated from law school but he did become a successful Indianapolis businessman. He married again and raised a family, but there was always Rebecca’s ring with him to remind him of his college sweetheart.
Not all Butler College romances waited for the big June church wedding. Occasionally an announcement would appear in the Indianapolis papers announcing the marriage of Mr. so and so, a member of such and such fraternity, and Miss so and so, a member of such and such sorority, students at Butler College, Irvington, who were married in Small-town, Indiana before a justice of the peace. Sometimes the elopement was not immediately made known. One marriage that occurred during the spring term in 1911 was not announced, even to the close friends of the couple, until late summer after the young man had taken a job out of state and the couple’s absence from the fall term would have been noticed.
A more conventional elopement occurred in 1924 when Mr. Richard Corya, a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and Miss Martha Steele, a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, slipped away one October morning and went to Franklin, Indiana where they obtained a license and were wed at noon in the local Presbyterian Church rectory by the pastor. The afternoon Franklin paper carried the announcement of the marriage noting, “Their marriage will come as a surprise to their many friends in Indianapolis.” A brief honeymoon followed in Key West, Florida. Among those surprised in Indianapolis was the new Mrs. Richard Corya’s father. He sent two telegrams to the newlyweds a couple of days after their marriage. The first one read:
Richard Corya. Wish you much happiness, but at same time wish you two had waited several years, naturally. Of course, I realize Martha would be married some day, but I wished that day far away. So as it has happened, will look on it the light that I have not lost a daughter, but gained a son. Take care of her always. – Dad
A little later in the second telegram he wrote:
Mrs. Richard Corya. Certainly sounds peculiar to address my daughter by any but her own name, but as this has happened there is no use making a fuss about it. The only thing is to wish you both much happiness but you should have waited until both through college. You should continue. My love for you as great as ever but still I think I should have been consulted. Much Love – Dad
We don’t know if all son-in-laws were greeted as amicably after an elopement. Upon their return to Irvington, the couple took up residence with the Steeles and Martha continued her studies at Butler, graduating in 1926.
These are a few of the many Butler College romances. Although the shaded walks and the quiet corners of the Irvington campus are gone, the old library — the Bona Thompson Memorial — remains as the headquarters of the Irvington Historical Society. Among the building’s shadows you can imagine young lovers answering a note or soft whisper to, “Meet me at the library.”
