by Elisabeth Abell, revised by Jordan Wilson

Funding the University

For twelve years, starting in 1847, the joint Presbyterian Synods of Ohio searched for a location to build a Christian university. At first, they asked for $200,000 from the public to build the school, but the number soon dropped to $150,000 and later to $100,000.¹ 

The citizens of Wooster and Wayne County quickly agreed to pay the sum since they were eager to “advance the moral, intellectual, and social condition of [Wooster],” which they believed had been ravaged by such moral indecencies as saloons and billiard parlors.

Ephraim Quinby, Jr., John H. Kauke, and Reasin Beall Stibbs, three of Wooster’s richest and most prominent citizens, headed the effort to raise money to build the school. In the end, the town submitted $58,000 in cash along with the generous donation of twenty acres of land from Quinby valued at $25,000, and a guarantee for the remaining $17,000 to the Ohio Presbyterian Synods.² 

 In 1866, the joint Ohio Presbyterian Synods visited Wooster and the school was formally incorporated on December 18 of that year.³

Dr. Lord’s Astounding Inauguration

The College of Wooster, for many years called the University of Wooster, has had a long tradition of coeducation. At the dedication of the university on September 7, 1870, the newly inaugurated President of the institution, Dr. Willis Lord, gave a speech outlining the University’s position on admitting women and different races and faiths, stating: “Let the Tree of Knowledge be just as accessible as God has made the Tree of Life. The essential term or test of citizenship in the commonwealth of science and letters, should be character, mental and moral quality and attainment, not condition, race, color, or sex…. [the] University [has] resolved that it shall be open to students of both sexes.”⁴  The point of the institution, however, was not to make bold political statements on equality, but to “glorify God in promoting sanctified education and thus furthering the interests of the church and its extension over the whole earth.”⁵  The College of Wooster honored its founding Trustees’ wishes until it became unaffiliated with the Presbyterian Synods in 1969. By the 1970s, the traditional religious requirements of the school were no longer a priority.

Pictured right: Dr. Willis Lord

Wooster in 1870

When the University of Wooster opened its doors in 1870, the city was not as large as it is today. The population was less than 2,000 families, and there were no paved roads leading downtown.⁶ Wooster was largely self-sufficient, only manufacturing and growing enough to provide for the needs of the town and surrounding district.⁷  With the arrival of the new schools in Wooster (both the new Presbyterian University and the Agricultural Research Station) the townspeople became optimistic that the new students and professors would increase the commerce of the town. They looked to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan as a reference for their expectations – hundreds of students flooding into Wooster would need lodging, a sewage system, and railroads connecting Wooster to Pittsburgh and Chicago.⁸ 

However, the townspeople were headed for disappointment. The complete count of students registered for classes in the fall of 1870 at the University of Wooster was a meager thirty-four.⁹  These first University of Wooster students were an odd bunch: nearly all were older than the average student, half of the first years came from a farming background and five had their education interrupted by the Civil War. When the school’s population jumped to 170 students in its third year, it is likely that the town finally started reaping the rewards they had anticipated when opening the school.¹⁰ 

Citations

¹ Reverend John Robinson, “Historical Statement,” in Dedication of The University of Wooster, and Inauguration of The President, (1870), 4.
² Ben Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time  (Indianapolis, IN: Robert Douglass, 1878), 473. 
³ Lucy Notestein, Wooster of the Middle West Volume One 1866-1910, (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1971), 20-21. 
⁴ Willis Lord, D.D., “Inaugural Address,” (Inauguration of the University of Wooster, Wooster, OH, September 7, 1870), 11. 
⁵ First Board meeting of the Board of Trustees, December 20, 1866 (282 from Notestein book). 
⁶ US Census Bureau, Census of Population and Housing, June 1, 1870, census.gov. 
⁷ Lucy Notestein, Wooster of the Middle West Volume One 1866-1910 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1971), 12. 
⁸ Ibid., 42. 
⁹ University of Wooster Catalog, Wooster, OH, 1870. 
¹⁰ Ibid. 

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