Dickinson College

18th century The collaborative relationship between Dickinson College and Carlisle Indian Industrial School lasted almost four decades The Carlisle Grammar School was founded in 1773 as a frontier Latin school for young men in Western Pennsylvania . Within years Carlisle's elite, such as James Wilson and John Montgomery , were pushing for the development of the school as a college. In 1782, Benjamin Rush , a physician who was a prominent leader during and after the American Revolution, met in Philadelphia with Montgomery and William Bingham , a prominent businessman and politician. As their conversation about founding a frontier college in Carlisle took place on his porch, "Bingham's Porch" was long a rallying cry at Dickinson. Dickinson College was chartered by the Pennsylvania legislature on September 9, 1783; it was the first college to be founded in the newly independent United States of America. Rush intended to name the college after the president of Pennsylvania John Dickinson and his wife Mary Norris Dickinson , proposing "John and Mary's College." The Dickinsons had given the new college an extensive library which they jointly owned, one of the largest libraries in the colonies. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] The name Dickinson College was chosen instead. Dickinson College's location west of the Susquehanna River made it the westernmost college in the United States at the time of its 1783 founding. Rush made his first journey to Carlisle to attend the first meeting of the trustees, held in April 1784. The trustees selected Charles Nisbet , a Scottish minister and scholar, to serve as the college's first president. He arrived and began to serve on July 4, 1785, serving until his unexpected death in 1804. [ 9 ] Among Dickinson's 18th century graduates were Robert Cooper Grier and Roger Brooke Taney , both of whom later became U.S. Supreme Court justices.

An 1810 illustration of the original Dickinson College building, now known as West College, designed by Benjamin Latrobe A combination of financial troubles and faculty dissension led to a college closing from 1816 to 1821. In 1832, when the trustees were unable to resolve a faculty curriculum dispute, they ordered Dickinson's temporary closure a second time. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] The law school was founded in 1834, the third school of law established in the United States. It became a separate school in 1890, although the law school and college continued to share a president until 1912. The law school is now affiliated with the Penn State University . [ 10 ] During the 19th century, two noted Dickinson College alumni had prominent roles in the lead-up to the Civil War . They were James Buchanan , the fifteenth president of the United States , and Roger Brooke Taney , the fifth chief justice of the United States . Dickinson is one of three liberal arts colleges to have graduated a president and a chief justice ( Bowdoin and Amherst are the others). Taney led the Supreme Court in its ruling on the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, which held that Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories, overturning the Missouri Compromise. Buchanan threw the full prestige of his administration behind congressional approval of the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas. During the Civil War, the campus and town of Carlisle were occupied twice by Confederate forces in 1863. [ 12 ] Carlisle was also the location of the Carlisle Barracks , which was converted in the late 1870s for use as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School . In 1879, Dickinson College and the nearby Carlisle Indian School began a collaboration, when James Andrew McCauley , president of the college, led the first worship service at the Indian School. The collaboration between the institutions lasted almost four decades, from the opening day to the closing of the Indian School in 1918.

Dickinson College professors served as chaplains and special faculty to the Native American students. [ 13 ] Dickinson College students volunteered services, observed teaching methods, and participated in events at the Indian School. [ 14 ] Dickinson College accepted select Indian School students to attend its Preparatory School ("Conway Hall") and gain college-level education. [ 15 ] When George Metzger, class of 1798, died in 1879, he left his land and $25,000 ( equivalent to $844,000 in 2024 ) to the town of Carlisle to found a college for women. In 1881, the Metzger Institute opened. The college operated independently until 1913, when its building was leased to Dickinson College for the education of women. The building served as a women's dorm until 1963. [ 16 ] Zatae Leola Longsdorff Straw , an 1887 graduate of the college In 1887, Zatae Longsdorff became the first woman to graduate from Dickinson. [ 17 ] [ 18 ]

In 1901, John Robert Paul Brock became the first black man to graduate from Dickinson; in 1919, Esther Popel Shaw was the first black woman to graduate. [ 19 ] Dickinson also admitted Native American students: Thomas P. Marshall, a Sioux from Pine Ridge agency , [ 20 ] [ 21 ] South Dakota , was one of the first; his grave is in the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) cemetery. [ 22 ] In 1910, Frank Mount Pleasant was the first Native American to graduate from Dickinson. In the 1990s, the college experienced financial troubles. Acceptance rates climbed upwards. Henry Clarke , an alumnus who was in the ice cream business, founded the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at Dickinson College, and in 1994 established the Clarke Center . [ 23 ] William Durden , who became the 27th President in 1999, was credited with improving financial climate and revamping academics. [ 11 ]