1955-1957 Academic Catalog

Cedarville College tained a charter from the State of Ohio for the college. The first session opened on September 9, 1894; in that year thirty– six students were enrolled, and classes were conducted in a rented house, formerly owned by the Reverend Hugh MacMillan, who had conducted an academy there in the middle years of the 19th century. Among the faculty members that first year was W. R. McChesney, later the president of the college. In an– other year the first college building, ' 'Old Main' ' , had been com– pleted, and from 1895 on classes have been conducted there. In 1928 the General Synod of The Refon11ed Presbyterian Church unanimously voted to transfer ' 'all control, ownership, title, and vested property rights of the Cedarville College' ' to the Board of Trustees of the College, ' 'and their successors forever. ' ' In 1952-53 the Trustees of the Baptist Bible Institute of Cleve– land, Ohio found themselves pressed to expand the institution which, under their supervision, had been established in 1942 and which had occupied the educational building of the Hough Avenue Baptist Church. They began to plan for expansion but were unable to secure suitable property in Cleveland. Just when all doors seemed to be closed, the news came of Cedarville College being offered on most unusual terms: a campus of 15 acres and 9 buildings was to be given over to a church group willing and able t o continue with a liberal arts program. On Saturday, April 4, 1953, the Trustees of the Baptist Bible Institute of Cleveland met with the Trustees of Cedarville College. By a process of resignations and elections, the owner– ship and control of Cedarville College passed completely into the hands of the Trustees of Baptist Bible Institute. With the vision and purpose of having a true, fundamental, Baptist liber– al arts college along with the continuance of a greater Bible In– stitute, the Trustees immediately changed the name of the new institution to Cedarville Baptist College and Bible Institute. However, in the fall of 1954 the Trustees of Cedarville Baptist College met and voted to discontinue the Bible Institute program and to concentrate on the work of a liberal arts col– lege. The name was then changed to read: Cedarville Colleg~e- A Baptist College of Liberal Arts. 14 •