Born in 1865, Dr. Lincoln Hulley, was reared near Philadelphia, working in the mills from the age of 10 to 17. At 14, he joined the Baptist church. His Sunday School teacher arranged for him to attend Keystone Academy, Factoryville, Pa., and he soon won a scholarship. 

Graduating in 1884, he went on to Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa. He was ordained a minister in 1890, but believed his place was in the classroom. After graduating from Bucknell, he earned a master’s degree from Harvard University. Active as a lecturer on the Chautauqua circuit, a system of summer education in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, he was encouraged to do graduate work at the University of Chicago. He studied foreign languages and literature there, including Arabic, Syrian and Assyrian, and earned a Ph.D. He joined Bucknell’s faculty in 1894, where he taught history until he came to Stetson as president in 1904 at the age of 39.

Enrollment was 210 and DeLand’s population was 2,000, except in the winter when it doubled. The young president found dissension among Stetson’s leaders, but soon got John B. Stetson reinstated as chairman of the trustees, and in return the Philadelphia hat maker paid off the school’s debts.  Under Hulley, the student body grew to 500, Stetson was accredited and the College of Law was recognized by the American Bar Association. Hulley worked to establish scholarships for worthy students, and saw that as many student jobs as possible were available on campus. He also established a student loan fund with his own money.

Under his leadership, Sampson Hall was completed as a Carnegie library in 1908 and Cummings Gymnasium was built in 1911. After World War I, he oversaw other building: Hulley Gymnasium (1929, later demolished), the Commons (1937, lost to fire), Stover Theatre (1930, first named Assembly Hall) and Hulley Tower (1934, finished after his death).

Interested in politics, Hulley was elected State Senator in 1918 and served two terms. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 1920. An accomplished orator, Hulley conducted Stetson’s chapel and vespers services himself. The vespers services were so popular that they were discontinued because local ministers said they interfered with their Sunday night services. Collections at the vespers services were used to purchase the Eloise Chimes, an 11-bell carillon that was first mounted in Elizabeth Hall’s cupola and then moved to Hulley Tower.

Hulley was also a prolific writer, poet and playwright, who loved having his plays produced at Stover Theatre. He died of heart disease in 1934 at the age of 69, and was interred in a mausoleum on the first floor of Hulley Tower.

His wife, Eloise Mayham Hulley, for whom the Eloise Chimes are named, was born in Camden, N.J., and graduated from Swarthmore College and the University of Michigan. She lived for 25 years after Hulley’s death and was a familiar sight walking briskly in DeLand.  A high-spirited woman, she also loved to swim in DeLeon Springs and was said to continue diving from the high diving tower there even in her 80s.  She was interred with her husband in the mausoleum when she died in 1959 at the age of 92.  She was survived by a son and two daughters.