A.L. Whitcomb, the second president of Greenville, 1905 – 1908, led the college effectively during a period of transition from Hogue to Eldon G. Burritt, who swerved the second longest tenure of Greenville’s presidents. Whitcomb’s success as a pastor in the church prepared the way for his very successful fund-raising efforts among church members. And he was able to secure a couple of generous trustees to assist him.

With the growth of the student body to more than three hundred by 1907 (seventy-five of these in the college of liberal arts), the chapel in Old Main was no longer adequate. Plans were laid to build and pay for a new Assembly Hall Building (now called LaDue Music Center). It was during President Whitcomb’s three-year tenure that these plans were accomplished. In fact, Mary Tenney in her book Still Abides the Memory, points out that the $20,000 raised for the project also permitted steam heat and lavatories to be installed in Old Main. One trustee, James H. Moss, gave the lion’s share, having acquired his money from the housing development northeast of the campus. Tenney notes that they new Assembly Hall Building justifiably could have been named Moss Hall.

Whitcomb had indicated to Biship Hogue and the trustees at the time of his appointment that he would remain in office until he could train a successor. Such a man was Eldon G. Burritt, who had joined the faculty in 1894.