BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH In 1906 a young men's Bible cl ass was organi zed in th e Immanuel Presbyterian Church by Rev. T. C. Horton, Bible teacher of the Church. Thi s cl ass soon took on larger pro porti ons and was named "The Fi shermen' s Club." A short time later Mr. D. H . Stee le, an elder o f the same church and manager o f a depa rtment sto re, r equested Mr s. H orton to open a Bible class fo r the yourig women of hi s store, off ering a la rge room fo r the purpose. The cl ass g r ew to la rge number s by the coming in of young women fr om oth er stor es and was named "The Lyceum Club." F rom such young peopl e the first students of the Bible In sti tute were r ecruited. In the Fall of 1907 Mr. H orton secured the co-operation of Rev. A. B. Pritcha rd, pastor of Central Presbyteri an Church, and some day classes were held in the lecture room of that church. It soon became cl ear that a building was needed, and several weeks were spent in search of proper qua rter s. A location was secured on South Main Street, not an idea l location, but the bes t tha t then offer ed. On F ebruary 25, 1908, a meeting was ca ll ed to effect a permanent organization. At thi s meeting the foll owing persons were elected as officers: Lyman Stewart, President; A. B. Pritchard, Vice-Pres ident; T. C. H orton, Superintendent; R. A. H adden, Asso ciate Superintendent; B. C. Atterbury, Secretary, and Leon V. Shaw, Treasurer. There was a rapid development o f th e school. Mess r s. Horton, Hadden and Pritchard formed th e Faculty and t ook up th e teaching work. From th e beginning the school was evangeli stic in character. Shop meetings were taken over and conducted, Bible vVomen' s work was o rgani zed, a wo rk among J ews was commenced, as was a lso Span ish Mi ss ion wo rk, and work among the men of the o il fi elds, and Ex tension classes were o rgani zed in the city and sur ro unding towns. In 1911 th e Board of Directors decided upon an advance movement and called Dr. R. A. Torr ey a s Dean. Dr. Torrey entered upon hi s duti es in J anua ry, 1912. In order to meet th e enl a rg ing needs and t o• provide a more suitabl e and permanent home fo r th e schoo l, a new site was purchased at Sixth and H ope S treets and a build ing was put up, ground fo r which was broken on June 22, 1912, and the building was dedi cated the fo llowing yea r. Dr. T orrey cont inued as Dean until 1924, when he again enter ed the evangelistic fi eld. Early in the yea r of 1925, Dr. John M. Macinnis enter ed upon his duties as Dean of the Institute, in which capacity he served until the close of 1928. In the spring of 1929 Dr. William P. White was elected Pres ident of the Institute, and Dr. E lbert L. McCreery was elected Dean of the Faculty. DOCTRINAL POSITION OF THE INSTITUTE The Bible Institute seeks to cooperate with a ll evangelical denominati ons. It has no purpose or thought of fo rming a new denominati on. The Institute r ecognizes and r ej oices in the. great good that is being accompli shed by the churches o f the different denomina ti ons, and seeks t o help them to do even mor e effici ent work. It des ires and cultivates the fellowship and co-oper ati on o f all the evangelica l denomina tions and of individua l beli evers in a ll the churches . \,\lhi le there is a church wo rshipping on the Lord's Day in the Auditorium of the Bible Inst itute, tha t church is an entirely sepa rate o rgani zation, and the In st itute does not r equire tha t students coming to the Institute will become members of that church. The church is open to those who des ire to become members of it, b1tt it is expected that the st11.dents of the Bible I nstitut e w ill be /o31al to the denomina,tion to which they belong . The directors and teacher s of the Insti tute a re chosen without r egard to their denomi nati onal affiliation , and have a lways r epr esented a number of differ ent denominations and thus is strictly Interd enominati ona l. The Institute, however , does stand fo r a defi nite doct r ina l statement of faith . All its teacher s and directors, r ega rdless of denominationa l affili a tion, ar e r equired once a year to sign the Statement of F aith. All moneys contributed to the Institute will be held inviolabl e for the t eaching of these truths. The Institute is under mora l and legal obli gati on to do this, and permission to t each what is contra ry to these truths would be a violation of its Constitution. 5
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