William Roberts McDaniel

It is not a coincidence

that McDaniel’s grave lies in the same lot as John Smith (of Wakefield). They were in-laws;

William McDaniel married Ada Smith, John’s youngest daughter, in 1895. William McDaniel was born on the Eastern Shore, but enrolled in Western Maryland College ten years after its founding, and was one of the first students to receive a Maryland Senatorial Scholarship when they were offered in 1878. He graduated in 1880 as salutatorian of his class. After graduation he taught high school for a year in Frederick County before returning to Westminster as a tutor of Greek, Latin, and mathematics at his alma mater and its preparatory school. He soon left to pursue a

doctoral degree in mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, but returned to Western

Maryland early in 1885 to fill a temporary vacancy in the mathematics department

before he completed his graduate degree. The temporary position turned into a fulltime

one as professor of mathematics later in 1885, a position he held for nearly 60 more years.

During 1906-1907 McDaniel assumed the role of college president while then-president

Thomas Hamilton Lewis was away. Upon his return, Lewis commented, “I have learned that

the past year has been one of the most prosperous the College has ever enjoyed…This is no surprise to me, because I have been long convinced that we have in Vice President McDaniel a man equal to any responsibility the Board might put upon him.” At the 1911 Western Maryland College commencement, McDaniel was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. The degree may have made amends for the disappointment he might have felt for not receiving his doctorate in mathematics from Johns Hopkins in the 1880s. In awarding the degree, President Lewis complimented McDaniel by saying, “You have been faithful in all things, scholar, teacher,

administrator, counselor, Christian gentleman.”

In the nearly 70 years William Roberts McDaniel was associated with Western

Maryland College, it grew from an enrollment of 59 students to 600. His contributions

were immense. The college trustees were prophetic in 1942 when they eulogized him

thusly: “Somehow or other, one feels that the life of William R. McDaniel will be

interwoven into the destiny of Western Maryland College, as his life has been into

every decade of its history…” Sixty years later the trustees officially changed the

college’s name to honor this man who had done so much for so long.

William Roberts McDaniel was born in a small village near St. Michaels, Maryland on August 11, 1861. In the fall of 1877, he enrolled in Western Maryland College as a sophomore and was one of the first students to receive a Maryland Senatorial Scholarship when the program was created a year later. McDaniel graduated, salutatorian of his class, in 1880 alongside future college president, T.H. Lewis.

While at Western Maryland College, McDaniel met Ada Smith, daughter of the college Board of Trustee president, John Smith of Wakefield. The two married on November 21st, 1895 and had one daughter, Dorothy McDaniel Herr.

Following his graduation from Western Maryland College, McDaniel taught a year of high school in Buckeystown. He then enrolled at John Hopkins to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics alongside fellow classmates, Woodrow Wilson and John Dewey. McDaniel returned to his alma mater in 1885 at the request of J.T. Ward, the college president, to act as a substitute mathematics teacher. The post became permanent later that year, a position McDaniel would hold for fifty-seven years.

McDaniel served the college in numerous ways throughout his tenure at WMC. In the fall of 1885, he was named secretary of the faculty, a position he held until 1906 when he was named vice president of the college. Unusually, McDaniel was elected a member of the Board of Trustees in 1911 while still an active faculty member. He also served as treasurer of the college and alumni association, superintendent of the Sunday school, and, on four occasions, acting president of the school itself.

As a scholar, McDaniel held many interests. He was largely responsible for introducing and integrating physical education into the curriculum of the college. McDaniel was particularly known for his method of club swinging, a coordinated exercise routine combining calisthenics and music. He also established a bicycle club on campus and had a hand in forming the tennis club. McDaniel also possessed a keen interest in astronomy, lecturing on the topic several times throughout his time at Western Maryland.

McDaniel died on April 19, 1942 at the age of eighty. His lasting impact on Western Maryland College resonated sixty years later when the college renamed itself in his honor, officially becoming McDaniel College in July 2002.