Lincoln and Lee University
{{Short description|Defunct college in Kansas CIty, Missouri, US}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox university
| image = Lincoln and Lee University seal.png
| motto = Fide et Constantia
| motto_lang = la
| type = Private
| established = 1927
| closed = 1933
| founder =
| religious_affiliation = Methodist Episcopal Church
| chair =
| president = Ernest Lynn Waldorf
| city = Kansas City
| state = Missouri
| country = United States
| free_label1 = Successor
| free1 = University of Kansas City
}}
Lincoln and Lee University was a Methodist Episcopal college in Kansas City, Missouri. It merged with the University of Kansas City in 1933.
History
In 1925, a group of Methodist Episcopal Church leaders decided to create Lincoln and Lee University at the intersection of 75th and State Line in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas.{{Cite web |last=Roe |first=Jason |title=A University is Born |url=https://kchistory.org/week-kansas-city-history/university-born |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=KC History |publisher=The Kansas City Public Library |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1925-12-18 |title=New University is Named |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-new-university-i/160748001/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |pages=31 |via=Newspapers.com}} Its founders included philanthropist Kate B. Hewitt, former president of Centre College Ernest H. Newcomb, and Methodist Bishop Ernest Lynn Waldorf.{{Cite news |last=Levings |first=Darryl |date=June 15, 2018 |title=Before UMKC, there were dreams of a Lincoln and Lee university |url=https://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article213216589.html |access-date=December 11, 2024 |work=The Kansas City Star}} Hewitt donated 143 acres of farmland for the university. Other donations expanded the campus site to 272 acres, with 37 acres in Missouri and the rest in Kansas.{{Cite news |date=1926-08-03 |title=School in Two States |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-news-press-school-in-two-stat/160749906/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=St. Joseph News-Press |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} Other notable donors included J. C Nichols, Henry S. Siegrist, and William Volker.{{Cite web |date= |title=History of the Missouri at Kansas City Chapter |url=http://thetanuepsilon.org/13Chaplis/Indivpages/UMKansasCity.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313092220/http://thetanuepsilon.org/13Chaplis/Indivpages/UMKansasCity.html |archive-date=2012-03-13 |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=Theta Nu Epsilon Society |via=web.archive.org}}
The university was incorporated in Missouri circuit court in January 1926, with 75 board members and Waldorf as its president.{{Cite news |date=1926-01-04 |title=M. E. Bishop to Talk Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/columbia-missourian-m-e-bishop-to-talk/160748302/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Columbia Missourian |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1926-01-05 |title=Trustees Named for University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-post-trustees-named-for/160748474/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Post |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} The name was selected to smooth the Northern and Southern branches of the church in Kansas City. Waldorf noted that the location in Kansas City could be healing as it was "where North met South and East met West". In addition, plans included a national memorial at the center of the campus and two tombs for unknown Federal and Confederate soldiers. The university was endorsed as a project of the board of education of the Methodist Episcopal Church in February 1926.{{Cite news |date=1926-02-04 |title=Lincoln-Lee University Indorsed by Methodists |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-lincoln-lee-university/160748690/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}} Its Kansas charter was received on March 2, 1927.{{Cite news |date=1927-03-02 |title=A Lincoln and Lee Charter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-a-lincoln-and-lee-c/160751171/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Star |pages=17 |via=Newspapers.com}}
The architectural plans for the campus were presented in April 1926.{{Cite news |date=1926-04-16 |title=Lincoln and Lee Campus Planned |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-post-lincoln-and-lee-cam/160749170/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Post |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} Its architect was Edward Buehler Delk.{{Cite news |date=1927-10-06 |title=Gothic Lines for L. and L. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-gothic-lines-for-l/160752198/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Times |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} A 1926 promotional brochure for donors said, "All history confirms the record. The university towers and Cathedral spires that fret the skies above the imperial cities of the world were never indispensable to their commerce or their business." Plans were in place to build seven buildings in 1926, including the university's administrative building, an academic building, the College of Arts and Sciences, a library, and a combined church and auditorium. Plans were also made to add athletic facilities and dormitories.
The university made agreements to merge with the Kansas City Dental School and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy in 1926.{{Cite web |title=Kansas City College of Pharmacy |url=https://www.lostcolleges.com/369-kansas-city-college-of-pharmacy |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=lost-colleges |language=en}} Hewitt's husband had been president of the former. This effectively meant that the university opened in September 1927.{{Cite news |date=1927-08-02 |title=Kansas City College of Pharmacy Lincoln & Lee University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-kansas-city-college/160751397/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Kansas City Journal |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1927-08-03 |title=Kansas City-Western Dental College, School of Dentistry Lincoln and Lee University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-kansas-city-wester/160751484/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Times |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}} The university also entered into merger agreements with the Kansas City School of Commerce and the American Savings, and Loan Institute in 1927.{{Cite news |date=1927-10-08 |title=Building and Loan School Joins Commerce Institute |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-building-and-loan-sc/160752735/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Kansas City Journal |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} In January 1928, the university's officials announced plans for a $600,000 bond that would allow construction of the new campus to begin in the spring.{{Cite news |date=1928-01-04 |title=See L. & L. Unit by Spring |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-see-l-l-unit-b/160753271/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Times |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
However, Newcomb and Waldorf's fundraising efforts only secured some $800,000 toward their goal of five million dollars, in part because their effort intersected with the 1929 stock market crash. The university did not graduate any students, except through its partner institutions.
In 1930, the Lincoln and Lee University's founders began meeting with a group trying to establish a junior college, the non-sectarian University of Kansas City, to discuss a possible merger.{{Cite news |date=1930-11-29 |title=Ratify University Plan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-ratify-university/160755404/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Times |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1930-06-18 |title=L. and L. Merger Step |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-l-and-l-merger-s/160755676/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Kansas City Times |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} The Lincoln and Lee University board ratified the proposed merger on November 29, 1930. The two groups merged their assets in 1933. The University of Kansas City opened on October 2, 1933.{{Cite news |date=1933-08-30 |title=Kansas City's New University to Open |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-kansas-citys-new-un/160755906/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Atlanta Journal |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Academics
The university offered classes through Kansas City Dental School and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy. Its School of Commerce started classes in October 1927, offering classes in business, finance, foreign trade, marketing, manufacturing, personnel management, production, and transportation.{{Cite news |date=1927-10-03 |title=The Lincoln and Lee University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/linn-county-budget-gazette-the-lincoln-a/160751796/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Linn County Budget-Gazette |location=Brookfield, Missouri |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Student life
The fledging university had a chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon, its only Greek letter social organization, and various musical organizations.{{Cite news |date=1927-05-26 |title=Lincoln and Lee University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-citizen-lincoln-and-lee-unive/160747898/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |pages=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} Its yearbook was called the Bushwacker.{{Cite web |title=1930 Lincoln and Lee University Kansas City Missouri Annual Yearbook Year Book |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/335437352904?_skw=Lincoln_and_Lee_University_seal.png&itmmeta=01JEW7JRY9YP8QXFCGPC4MMF93&hash=item4e199fcfc8:g:cUIAAOSwVSpmK4-r&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAABAHoV3kP08IDx+KZ9MfhVJKldAxqzhvqGAIrnbBo0/CdJCRFz0duJ8SsAjTlYUZs7tMh+jN7jCg3PCcDC1m8o49Cd8wlOm7YBhixvxypOWO7Z0nwQzFTV05k4re4tGWXA52L9ALB3InlHSB76uemnxaCT2f1TBDjx2TNSDbcwrHs3QrJTkC24L99cr0eqD/E280050tc9mfy/wYTiWgXkjvlK6fhU5ZSV5l2Ru0g7X1Dct/uY+Iu9ctGIRf16bu4EGSSJ2qyxu5dib0tQlND4uQ7c7rjdcxzSgRhiR3SAD4ca9by80mrcEi+qvl83qXl18auR5zZhMaU0FN16xlNJ9S4=%7Ctkp:Bk9SR5iPy4f3ZA |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=eBay |language=en-US}} There was also a chapter of Psi Omega professional dental fraternity and the Xi Psi Phi professional dentristry fraternity at the Dental School.{{Cite news |date=1927-10-06 |title=Harry Bridges Pledged to Psi Omegas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-neosho-daily-news-harry-bridges-pled/160752567/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Neosho Daily News |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1928-02-27 |title=About El Pasoans |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/el-paso-herald-about-el-pasoans/160754476/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=El Paso Herald |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} The university also had a basketball team.{{Cite news |date=1928-01-26 |title=Chillicothe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lincoln-journal-star-chillicothe/160753633/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Lincoln Journal Star |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1928-01-26 |title=Osborn Making Good on Kansas City Team |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cordell-beacon-osborn-making-good-on/160753743/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Cordell Beacon |location=Cordell, Oklahoma |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Colleges and universities in Missouri}}
Category:1927 establishments in Missouri
Category:Educational institutions established in 1927
Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1933
Category:1920s in Kansas City, Missouri
Category:1930s in Kansas City, Missouri
Category:1933 disestablishments in Missouri
Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church