Also known as: the Sesquicentennial Mace.
The Davidson College mace made its début on January 29, 1988 in time for the college’s Sesquicentennial Celebration. Planning for this mace had begun eight years earlier under President Samuel Spencer, Jr., and the idea was commissioned by the Board of Trustees.
Students who attend manual labor schools are required to work outside of the classroom to generate income for the college.In addition to the benefits of work experience, students receive compensation for producing crops and crafts.
It was with this passion, this assurance that the Martin Science building came to stand on Davidson College land. Chemistry, part of the Davidson College curriculum since its opening in 1837, has not always been the expansive, well-equipped department it is today. The Martin Chemical Laboratory of 1901 housed a department composed of a sole professorship.
The Science Hall is at last an assured fact. Plans for the
building have been adopted by the Trustees. It is to be very complete and convenient and will contain an elegant room for the display of natural history.
A graduate of Davidson College, class of 1932, Dr. Grier Martin, LL.D. served as Davidson College treasurer under President Cunningham. He was forty-eight years old when he accepted the presidency of Davidson College and already had demonstrated service, loyalty, and superb administrative ability during his seven years as college treasurer under President John R. Cunningham. A native of Covington, Georgia, Martin attended Emory University and Harvard Business School for his graduate studies. He was awarded honorary degrees from King College, Wake Forest University, Duke University, Erskine College, Davidson College, and the University of North Carolina.
Dr. “Bill Joe” Martin, M.D, Ph.D, LL.D. was born in Columbia, Tennessee, but moved with his family to Davidson in 1870. His father, Colonel William Joseph Martin, was a professor of Natural Sciences at Davidson College and also served as acting president in 1887-1888 during President Luther McKinnon’s illness. William Martin, Jr. graduated from Davidson in 1888 and earned an M.A. the following year. In 1890, he earned his M.D. degree from the University of Virginia and in 1894 he received a Ph.D. He returned to Davidson in 1896 as professor of Chemistry, a position he held until 1912, when he became president of the college.
Eleven men wearing Masonic aprons stand together. One is holding a sign saying "Davidson Lodge No. 511." James Howard is on the far left and Ken Norton is the center of the back row.
In August 1854, the trustees officially proclaimed that “Any student graduating at this Institution having been engaged in literary pursuits for three years, and of good moral character, shall be entitled to the degree of A.M” (Beaty 181)
The founding fathers of Davidson College strongly believed that mathematics was central to a student’s education. With this in mind, the original curriculum called for students to take algebra in their first year.
