Benjamin Franklin Riley served during one of the many precarious periods in Samford's history. When Howard College relocated to the East Lake community of Birmingham in 1887 it left behind its president and several trustees, not to mention the good will of some Alabama Baptists. Worst of all, the trustees discovered that an important section of the new campus site was not included in the donation of the East Lake Land Company, so they immediately had to purchase that additional property. Also, in spite of the land company's grand dreams, there was little in the rural area surrounding the new campus apart from Ruhama Baptist Church, which would serve as the spiritual home of the college through the 1950s, and the old school building of the defunct Ruhama Academy.
The economic bubble that led Howard College to Birmingham had burst and the school found itself once again in dire financial straits. Visions of a rich endowment and grand new facilities faded as the trustees realized the college's two temporary buildings would have to serve longer than expected. One trustee, a supporter of the relocation, proclaimed, "Well, if I had known that we were not to have buildings, I should never have voted for removal."
Historian Mitchell Bennett Garrett paints a vivid and unflattering picture of the campus in those early years in East Lake. More