The February 24, 1926 issue of the Pharos tells us that,
Since earliest times of civilization people have built walls around their cities and castles as a means of protection. The gates of these walls required much time and money because they were to be ornamental as well as useful. And then, as civilization advanced, there was no need for these walls and they gradually crumbled away, but the custom of using gates for ornamentation has been preserved to the present day. It is a rare thing to find an institution that does not have a gate somewhere on its grounds.
Of the hundreds of students that daily pass through these gates on Wesleyan’s campus probably few ever give a thought of them.
That was true then, and it is even more so today. In fact, the true stories behind these gates are becoming a bit fuzzy and dim.
Take, for example the Harmer Gateway.
1908
For many years, each class would choose someone they admired and would take the name of that person. The Class of 1908 was known as The Harmer Class after Harvey Walker Harmer.
In appreciation of this honor, and in honor of the class of 1908, he donated the funds for the Harmer Gateway.
The Honorable Harvey W. Harmer was a Trustee of the college from 1906-1937, and a Trustee Emeritus from 1937-1961.
He was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1894 and to the West Virginia Senate in 1900. He served on the Board of Regents of the State Normal Schools and for the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. He was the mayor of Clarksburg, West Virginia.
In George W. Atkinson’s 1919 work, Bench and Bar of West Virginia, Harmer is described as “a safe and wise counselor, a conscientious adviser, and is deliberate in all of his acts; and better than all else he at all times seeks to be just and entirely fair with his fellow men.”
1917 view of the Harmer Gateway
1926
On February 3, 1926, Harvey W. Harmer married the former Dean of Women – Florence Warden Stemple. Dean Stemple had been a member of the class of 1908! After receiving her degree from WVWC, she went on to get her masters degree from Columbia University before coming back to her alma mater as the Dean of Women from February 1924 through January of 1926.
She is quoted in the January 27, 1926 issue of the Pharos as saying,
It is necessary for someone to build a foundation upon which another woman, who has had special training, can build upon.
She was known as one who gave independence and guidance to the young women at Wesleyan. This just six years after women were given the right to vote when the Nineteenth Ammendment was passed in 1920.
2016
In the summer of 2016, the area was renovated and rededicated as part of a collaborative sidewalk project between the City of Buckhannon and West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Benches and plaques were included to honor President Pamela Balch, who was President of Wesleyan from 2006-2016 and Dr. Barry Pritts, who had been Vice President for Administration and Finance for a decade.
New Places, New Perspectives
A gateway leads us to a new place.
You can go through it from more than one direction and with more than one perspective.
Since 2008, this is the way you walk from campus to the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts. The next time you pass that way, give a thought of appreciation to Harvey Walker Harmer (and his wife).
Or, perhaps imagine in your mind’s eye the days when this was the front door of campus, and framed one of our oldest buildings.
