1929-1930 Academic Catalog

HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE At the meeting of the General Synod of the Reformed Presby– terian Church in North America, in Duanesburgh, N. Y., May 24, 1879, the Rev. J. F. Morton, D. D., presented a paper which inaugur– ated the movement in the church for a collegiate institution. This paper was unanimously adopted, amd a committee, of which Dr. Morton was chairman, was appointed to carry out the project. At a later meeting of the Synod, Rev. John Alford, D. D., of Beaver Falls, Pa., was appointed financial a,gent 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 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 McCollum, 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 March 11, 1887, the incorporators met in Cedarville and elected themselves 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, E sq., 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 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 of English Bible; W. Renwick McChesney, 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 Beazell, professor of Music. On September 19, 1894, the College was opened for instructiQn 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-quarters of a century ago, Dr. McMillan taught an academy, from which graduated a number of illustrious men. These quarters P .A.GE SEVEN