Allegheny College

For a list of presidents of Allegheny College, see List of presidents of Allegheny College . Pre-colonial history The area where Allegheny College stands was the ancestral land of the Eriechronon people until the Iroquois Confederacy forced them out. [ 8 ] Having been displaced from their ancestral lands in what is now Eastern Pennsylvania, the Lenape or Delaware Tribe moved into the now unoccupied region. They formed an alliance with the neighboring Seneca , one of the five tribes that made up the Iroquois Confederacy, and other displaced Lenape. Under the leadership of Chief Custalog , they founded the settlement of Cussewago. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] This settlement would later be abandoned and claimed by David Mead to become Meadville, Pennsylvania , on May 12, 1788.

Allegheny College was founded in April 1815 [ 12 ] [ 13 ] by Timothy Alden , a graduate of Harvard's School of Divinity . The college has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1833 but does not integrate religion into the classroom or pedagogy. William McKinley , Allegheny student for one year, eventual President of the United States The first class, consisting of four male students, began their studies on July 4, 1816, without any formal academic buildings. Within six years, Alden accumulated sufficient funds to begin building a campus. The first building erected, the library, was designed by Alden himself, and is a notable example of early American architecture. Bentley Hall is named in honor of William Bentley , who donated his private library to the college, a collection of considerable value and significance. In 1824, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Alden, expressing the hope that his University of Virginia could someday possess the richness of Allegheny's library. [ 14 ] Alden served as president of the college until 1831 when financial and enrollment difficulties forced his resignation. Ruter Hall was built in 1853. [ 15 ] Allegheny College in 1909 Allegheny graduate Ida M. Tarbell , crusading muckraking journalist who exposed abuses by Standard Oil . Allegheny began admitting women in 1870 Allegheny began admitting women in 1870, [ 16 ] early for a US college; a woman was valedictorian of the Allegheny class of 1875. [ 16 ] By the time Ida Tarbell , future journalist, arrived in 1876, nineteen women had attended Allegheny and only two had graduated. Tarbell described Ruter Hall in her writing, "...looking out on the town in the valley, its roofs and towers half hidden by a wealth of trees, and beyond it to a circle of round-breasted hills.

Before I left Allegheny I had found a very precious thing in that severe room--the companionship there is in the silent presence of books." [ 17 ] In 1905, Allegheny built Alden Hall as a new and improved preparatory school. [ 12 ] Over the decades, the college has grown in size and significance while still maintaining ties to the community.

In 1970, the film Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me based on the Richard Fariña novel was filmed on college grounds. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] While the word "Allegheny" is a brand for the college, it is also the name of a county, a river, and a mountain range, and the school has tried to prevent other entities from using this word. For example, Allegheny objected in 2006 when Penn State tried to rename one of its campuses "Allegheny". [ 20 ] [ 21 ] Allegheny president Richard Cook said 'Allegheny' was "our brand." [ 20 ] It sued the Philadelphia's Allegheny Health and Research Foundation in 1997 to change its name. [ 22 ] Under president Richard J. Cook, Allegheny was reported to have had a "stronger endowment, optimal enrollment, record retention rates, innovative new programs and many physical campus improvements." [ 23 ] These years were marked by significant growth in the endowment, marked by a $115-million fund-raising drive, bringing the endowment to $150 million. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] In 2008, James H. Mullen Jr. took office as the 21st president of Allegheny. [ 26 ] The college and the town cooperate in many ways. One study suggested the Allegheny College generates approximately $93 million annually into Meadville and the local economy. [ 27 ] Since 2002, Allegheny hosts classical music festivals during the summer. [ 28 ] In October 2006, the college attracted negative publicity after local enforcement cited over 100 people for underage drinking at a college party. [ 29 ] In July 2007, a 1,500-pound wrecking ball demolishing part of Allegheny's Pelletier Library broke its chain, rumbled down the hill, careened "back and forth across the street," hit nine parked cars, wrecked curbs, and crashed into the trunk of an Allegheny student's car, pushing his car into two cars in front of him. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] Eight soccer balls in his car "likely lessened the impact of the wrecking ball," and possibly spared his life, according to a police officer on the scene.