Letter from Ernest Hildner to Jacob T. Bowne (August 24, 1891)
Description:
This is a letter from Ernest Hildner (Class of 1893) to Jacob T. Bowne, Director of the Secretarial Department of the Intentional YMCA Training School (now Springfield College), dated August 24, 1891. The letter was sent along with his application for admissions to the school. One point of interest, in the letter he asks that, when contacting references, to refer to him as George not as Gotthold as listed on Application.
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Ernest G. Hildner was the youngest participant in the game of basketball. Born October 26, 1873, he was just 18 years old when Naismith introduced the game to his class. After graduating from the YMCA Training School in 1893, Hildner became an assistant secretary at the YMCA in Albany, New York. In 1894, he left this position and returned to school, this time going to Union College in New York. After two years there, he went to the University of Michigan, again for two years. This, coupled with his time at the YMCA Training School, led him to to enroll at the Seminary in Auburn, New York. He completed his education there in 1901, and began his Presbyterian Ministry in Michigan. He worked for a Presbyterian Church in Vassar, Michigan, from 1901-1902. He then moved to Detroit, and served as the assistant pastor of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church. Then, in 1904, he became the pastor of the Church of the Covenant from 1904-1908. In 1908, he moved once more, this time to Indiana, where he served 21 years as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton. He returned once more to Michigan, this time to Hillsdale, where he served as pastor from 1929-1937. His final stop in his ministry came in 1937 in Indian River, Michigan, where he served the next five years as pastor of the Presbyterian Church.
