WILMORE, Ky. (LEX 18) — We're kicking off a weeklong series, shining a spotlight on the town of Wilmore in Jessamine County.
Wilmore was established in 1876, and you can't think of Wilmore without Asbury College, now Asbury University, which first opened its doors on September 2nd, 1890.
When the college opened its doors, there were 11 students enrolled and three faculty members. The non-denominational, Christian school now has about 1,800 students from 44 states and 43 countries, and they have 50 majors to choose from.
Most people don't know that in 1890 when John Wesley Hughes decided to establish an institution of higher learning here in central Kentucky, his first stop was in Carlisle County, but that community rejected the idea... something the people of Wilmore are grateful for.
As one long-time supporter told me, without this Asbury, there would be no Wilmore.
Harold Rainwater is a native of Wilmore, a student at Asbury University, and an employee there for 51 years. He's now Mayor of Wilmore, and few communities and campuses are as intertwined as Wilmore and Asbury.
"We would be a wide spot in the road if it wasn't for Asbury College and University," said Rainwater. "We say we are the proud home of Asbury University, and I hope Asbury says we are proudly housed in Wilmore, Kentucky."
In February, Asbury made national and international news because of a chapel service that spontaneously lasted hour after hour, day after day, and turned into an outpouring of faith and revival that lasted 16 days.
"To have that happen in your hometown when at other universities had shootings and people dying, we had no fights, no arrests," he said. "My police kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing happened."
"Our founder, John Wesley Hughes, said over a century ago that Asbury exists to develop the full person," said Asbury University President Dr. Kevin Brown.
So while textbooks, course names, and methods of teaching may change, Dr. Brown says students here know the mission does not.
"To see they have a responsibility to serve the world and to improve their environments and to do that with a moral compass... those are values that are important over a century ago, important today, and certainly will in the future," said Dr. Brown.
Connecting the past to the future may be just one reason someone like Harold would stay for half a century even as Asbury grows well into its second millennium.
