This stately building on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College was built in 1906 on the site of the original Seminary Building, which had burned on February 4, 1905.
After that tragic fire, in the Trustee Response, we read, “A vigorous campaign is in progress for money. The money can be secured only by dash, brains, faith, and persistence”. It ends by saying, “Let rallying be the order not dallying.” These were the words of President Wier.
President Wier did, indeed, go out and rally support.
Gifts came from many people who truly believed in the mission of the school. One major gift even came from Andrew Carnegie. Another from D.K. Pearson, a Chicago millionaire who was a very strong Methodist and a very serious philanthropist.
Daniel Kimball Pearsons had previously given money for the Seminary. He not only donated again when he heard of the tragic fire, but urged his friend Andrew Carnegie to do so as well. Pearsons and his wife had no children, and he had donated his fortune through the years to 54 church-related schools throughout the United States. He believed in education and in young people. In fact, in his biography, he referred to these as his 54 children. He said,
My children are all inanimate objects. I have placed the money I have given them in the shape of perpetual endowments in charge of the management, but those men are simply the instruments chosen to keep the money drawing interest for my children.
From 1906-07 it was simply called the New College Building.
From 1908-28 it was generally referred to as College Hall, although some pictures had the caption Hall of Liberal Arts.
Beginning in 1929 it was most generally referred to as The Administration Building until the Trustee meeting in Fall 1953 when it was renamed the Lynch-Raine Administration Building.
Who are Lynch and Raine?
These two men combined for nearly twenty years of leadership as Presidents of the Board of Trustees. Their work and their generosity were major reasons for the growth of the school throughout those early years.
Judge Charles Wesley Lynch
In Bench and Bar of West Virginia, George W. Atkinson said of Judge Lynch
He is incorruptible. He is severely candid and is essentially just. His ability is unusual, and his life and achievements stamp him as a lawyer, jurist, and a patriot of the highest grades.
John Raine
Upon his death, there was an article in the September 1940 issue of the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin honoring John Raine and expressing appreciation for all he had meant to the college.
It shows the determination of people not to give up when fire consumed the major building on campus in 1904.
It shows that people outside of our area, and who were not even connected to the school, believed in the mission of the institution.
It honors two men who provided great leadership.
It makes a statement.
