Use of なんと to begin a phrase, but not as a question > in the first year the school was established, (?) the astronomy club existed. what purpose is it serving here?

According to :

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The in your sentence is a (interjection), not a (adverb). It is uttered to express one's surprise or amazement. This cannot be rephrased as , and can mean "Believe it or not", "To my surprise", "Surprisingly enough", etc.

Examples from Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary:

> ****
> The woman who then entered the room was -- why! -- my own wife! / Who should then enter the room but my own wife!
> ****
> The debt went on increasing, reaching at last a surprising amount of 100,000 yen.