1928-1929 Academic Catalog

HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE t th m ting of th G i:ieral_ Synod of th Reformed Presby– t r ian hurch in North Am nca, rn Duanesburgh. N. y., ~fay 24, 1 79, the Rev. J. F. Morton, D. D., presented a .pape_r w_hic~ maugu~– a ted the movement in the church for a collegia~ mst1tut1on_. This paper was unanimously adopted, a,nd a committee, of w~1ch Dr. Morton was chairman, was appomted to carry out the proJect. At a later meeting of the Synod, ~ev. John Alford, D. D., ?f BE:ayer Fall , Pa., wa appointed financial a.gent and succeeded rn ra1s!ng over 10,000 in subscriptions an~ cash throughout. the_ cI:urch .durn;1g the following year. At the meetmg of the Synod m Cmcmnat1, 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 located rn or near Cedarville Ohio. This motion was passed unanimously The following' committee was appointed to secure the site: Rev. J. F. Morton, D. D., Messrs. Thomas Gibson, R. Park, Hugh M.cCollum, 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 Mar~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 wer e 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 Coult erville, 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. J~mes F. Morto?, D. D., vice-president and professor of English B1bl~; W. Renwick McC~esney 1 A. M., secretary and professor of Ancient Language; Carrie Blair, professor of Mathematics· Frank H. Dean, A. B., professor of English and Science; and Belle 1 Beazell professor of Music. ' qn Se:ptember 19, ~894, the College was opened for instruction to thirty-six stu~ents m 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 quarter~ provmg too hampered !or the work, the new building was erected and en.tere1 t~e follo~mg year. The cornerstone of this building ~as laid with impressive services on June 25, 1895, and the dedica– tion took place during the meeting of Synod in 1896. Nearly four hundred young men and women have graduated ~om ~he College and are successfully following honorable callings £° various parts ?f the world. Cedarville College has a wide and avorable reputation for thorough work. It has been honored by PAGE IX

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