1923-1924 Academic Catalog

HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE t the meeting- of the General Synod of the Reformed Presby– terian hurch in orth merica, in Duanesburgh, N. -y., ~ay 24, 1 79, the Re . J. F. 'Iorton, D. D., presented a.pap~r w.h1c~ maugu~– ated th movement in the church for a collegia~e mstitution,. This paper was unanimously adopt d, and a committee, of w~nch Dr. Morton was chairman, was appointed to carry out the proJect. At a later meeting of the Synod, Rev. John Alford, D. D., ?f Be.a-yer Falls, Pa .. was appointed financial agent and succeeded m ra1s~ng over $10,000 in subscriptions and cash throughou~ thE: c~urch. dun~g the following year. At the meeting of the Synod m Cmcmnab, 0~10, the Rev. David Steele, D. D., on May 26, 1885, offered a resolution that the college be started as soon as possible and loc.ated in or near edarville Ohio. This motion was passed unanimously. The following 'committee was appointed to secure the site: Rev. J . F . Morton, D. D.; Me srs. Thomas Gibson, R. Park, Hugh M?Collum, Jr.; and H. H. McMillan. On January 20, 1887, the committee became incorporated under the laws of Ohio and on the 26th day of January, 1887 they obtained a charter for "The Cedarville College." On Marc'h 11 1887, the incorporators met in Cedarville and elected themselve~ the first Board of Trustees of Cedarville College, with Mr.· Thomas Gibson, president, who served in that capacity until his death. At the meeting of Synod in May, 1887, the following persons were added to this first Board of Trustees: Robert Abbott, James Patterson, Alexander Kerr, and Ephraim Young. The enterprise then slumbered until the meeting of Synod in Cedarville in 1892, when the Ohio Presbytery reported that William Gibson, Esq., of Cincinnati, an elder in the Presbyterian Church of that city, had left $25,000 for the college in memory of his father, Peter Gibson, an elder of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation of Cincinnati for a long period of years. Again the Board of Trustees took up the work and at . the meeting of Synod in Coulterville, Ill., on May 18, 1894, the college was launched with Rev. David McKinney, D. D., as president, who served in that capacity for twenty-one yearn. Rev. J. F. Morton, D. D., was chosen vice-president. Rev. W. R. McChesney, D. D., was chosen the first professor, beginning his work for the college, July 10, 1894. Upon the resignation of Dr. McKinney in 1915, Dr. McChesney was elected president. The first faculty consisted of Rev. David McKinney, D. D., president; Rev. James F. Morton, D. D., vice-president and professor of English Bible; W. Renwick McChesney, A. M., secretary and professor of Ancient Languages; Carrie Blair, professor of Mathematics; Frank H. Dean, A. B., professor of English and Science; and Belle Beazell, professor of Music. On September 19, 1894, the College was opened for instruction to thirty-six students in the fine old mansion formerly owned by Rev. Hugh McMillan, D. D., the first pastor of the Main Street Reformed Presbyterian congregation of Cedarville. In this place three-qu~rters of a century ago, Dr. McMillan taught an academy, from. which graduated a number of illustrious men. These quarters provmg too hampered for the work. the new building was erected and entered the following year. The cornerstone of this building was laid with impressive services on June 25 1895 and the dedica– tion took place during the meeting of Synod in 1896. early three hundred young men and women have graduated trom ~he College and are successfully following honorable callings m various parts of the world. Cedarville College has a wide and favora~l~ re~utation for thorough work. It has been honored by such d1stmgmshed men as W. J. Alford, Esq., Andrew Carnegie and Ambassador Whitelaw Reid among its benefactors. PAGE SIX