Historical Sketch of Harding College Harding College as the flowering ou t of the spi rit and dream of its great founder, James A. Harding, hod the foundation laid for its beginning when the nucleus of its present faculty come together many years ago in the Potter Bible College, Bowling Green, Kentucky. James A. Harding become the first president of this Institution and here he hod associoted with him his daughter Woodson Hard ing, and her husband, J . N. Armstrong, and the loyol co-worke rs through the following yeors, B. F. Rhodes, S. A. Bell, and R. N. Gordner, all of whom ore with the present institution. Thi s group of loyal fri ends, however, in 1905 moved their work farther west to Odessa, Missouri, and established there the Western Bible and Litera ry College with J . N. Armstrong as its first president. Students of this institution are coun ted among the alumni of Harding College and many of the children o f these students are now enrolled in the present institution. Because of ill health President Armstrong resigned after two years and went West, but In 1908 accepted the presidency of Cordell Christian College, Cordell, Oklahoma. The next year o the rs of the old faculty joined him until practically the entire group were together again wi th o thers added. Until this time no emphasis hod been given to sc:unng affiliation with the universities or accrediting agencies, but during the ten years in which the school operated a t Cordell it secured recognition for three years of college work and was the first Christian college to receive better than junior standing. DUring the dark days of the war In 1918, it was decided to close the institution temporarily but almost immediately an invitation was received to combine the work with the recently established Harper College at Harper, Kansas. This was done, and the work was carried on at Harper until 1924, when the institution was consolida ted with Arkansas Christian College o f Morrilton, Arkansas . In this consolidation the nome was changed, in honor of the original founder, to Harding College. Through these years the institution has been corned on in inadequa t e buildings, but even under these handicaps It hod grown in prestige and hod secu red recognition as a standard sen io r college. In 1938 come the opportunity to secure an en tire college plant with adequate buildings and excellent equipment located at Searcy, Arkansas, and the Boord o f Trustees Immediately moved the ins tituti on to its present location. While Harding College has hod a varied history since ItS beginnings, with each change It has grown 10 power and influence, until it now possesses a college plant of which It can be i'-ls tly proud, and which for the first t ime gives It permanence .
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