1925-1926 Academic Catalog

HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE At the me ting of th General Synod of the Reformed Presby– t rian hurch in orth America, in Duanesburgh, N. Y., May 21, 1 7H, the Rev. J. F. Morton, D. D., presented a paper which inaugur– ated the mov ment in the church for a collegiate institution. Thi!:! paper was unanimously adopted, and a committee, of which Dr. .\lorton was chairman, was appointed to carry out the project. t a Inter m eting of the Synod, Rev. John Alford, D. D., of Beavel' Palls, Pa., was appointed financial agent and succeeded in raising over $10,000 in subscriptions and cash throughout the church during the following year. At the meeting of the Synod in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Rev. David Steele, D. D., on May 26, 1885, offered a resolution that the college be started as soon as possible and located in or near edarville, Ohio. This motion was pa sed unanimously. The following committee was appointed to secure the site: Rev. J. F'. Morton, D. D., Messrs. Thomas Gibson, R. Park, Hugh McCollum, Jr., and H. H. McMillan. On January 20, 1887, the committee be ·an11:! incorporated under the laws of Ohio and on the 26th day of January, 1887, they obtained a charter for "The Cedarville College." On March 11, 1887, the incorporators met in Cedarville and elected themselves the first Board of Trustees of Cedarville College, with Mr. Thomas Gibs.on, 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 the 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 years. 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 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 stu~ents 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 fron~ which graduated a number of illustrious men. These quarter~ provrng too hampered for the work, the new building was erected and e~tere_d t~e follo_wing year. The cornerstone of this building ~as laid with impressive services on June 25, 1895, and the dedica– t10n took place during the meeting of Synod in 1896. Nearly three hundred young men and women have graduated trom ~he College and are successfully following honorable callings m var10us parts <?f the world. Cedarville College has a wide and favorable reputation for thorough work. It has been honored by PAGE SIX