Grinnell College

See also: List of presidents of Grinnell College Before the June 17, 1882 tornado that destroyed these buildings In 1843, eleven Congregational ministers, all of whom trained at Andover Theological Seminary in Massachusetts , set out to preach on the frontier. The group also sought to establish a college, which followed in 1846, when they collectively established Iowa College in Davenport . The first 25 years of Grinnell's history saw a change in name and location. In Davenport, the college had advocated against slavery and saloons , leading to conflict with the Davenport city council, which retaliated by constructing roads that transected the campus. [ 8 ] Iowa College moved farther west from Davenport to the town of Grinnell and unofficially adopted the name of its new home, which itself had been named for the abolitionist minister Josiah Bushnell Grinnell . The name of the corporation, "The Trustees of Iowa College", remained, but in 1909 the name "Grinnell" was adopted by the trustees for the institution. Josiah Bushnell Grinnell : one of the four founders of Grinnell, Iowa, and benefactor of Grinnell College In its early years, the college experienced setbacks. Although two students received Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1854 (the first to be granted by a college west of the Mississippi River ), within 10 years the Civil War had claimed most of Grinnell's students and professors. In the decade following the war, growth resumed: women were officially admitted as candidates for degrees, and the curriculum was enlarged to include then-new areas of academic studies, such as natural sciences with laboratory work. After the June 17, 1882 tornado In 1882, Grinnell College was struck by a tornado—then called a cyclone, after which the college yearbook was named. The storm devastated the campus and destroyed both college buildings.

Rebuilding began immediately, and the determination to expand was not limited to architecture: the curriculum was again extended to include departments in political science (one of the first in the United States—the University of Minnesota 's department was founded in 1879, three years earlier [ 9 ] ) and modern languages. Grinnell became known as the center of the Social Gospel reform movement, [ 10 ] as Robert Handy writes, "The movement centered on the campus of Iowa (now Grinnell) College. Its leading figures were Professor George D. Herron and President George A. Gates ". [ 11 ] Other firsts pointed to the lighter side of college life: the first intercollegiate football and baseball games west of the Mississippi were played in Grinnell, and the home teams won. As the 20th century began, Grinnell established a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, introduced the departmental "major" system of study, began Grinnell-in-China (an educational mission that lasted until the Japanese invasion and resumed in 1987), and built a women's residence hall system that became a national model. [ 12 ] The social consciousness fostered at Grinnell during these years became evident during Franklin D. Roosevelt 's presidency, when Grinnell graduates Harry Hopkins '12, Chester Davis '11, Paul Appleby '13, Hallie Flanagan '11, and Florence Kerr '12 became influential New Deal administrators. [ 13 ] Concern with social issues, educational innovation, and individual expression continue to shape Grinnell. As an example, the school's "5th year travel-service program", preceded the establishment of the Peace Corps by many years. Other recent innovations include first-year tutorials, cooperative pre-professional programs, and programs in quantitative studies and the societal impacts of technology. Every year, the college awards the $100,000 Grinnell College Innovator for Social Justice Prize , which is split between the recipient and their organization.

[ 14 ] In 1975, Grinnell College through their Grinnell Communications subsidiary purchased NBC affiliate WLWD from Avco Broadcasting Corporation for about $13 million. [ 15 ] The station changed its call letters to WDTN once the sale closed. [ 16 ] Shortly after WDTN became an ABC affiliate, the station was sold off to Hearst Broadcasting for $45–$48 million. [ 17 ] In 2022, Grinnell became the first fully unionized undergraduate school in the U.S., when student workers voted to expand their dining hall workers union to include all student workers. [ 18 ] The move was supported by the president of the college. [ 19 ]

Grinnell College is located in the town of Grinnell, Iowa , about halfway between Des Moines and Iowa City . The main campus, which was once a stop on the Underground Railroad , [ 20 ] is bounded by 6th Avenue on the south, 10th Avenue on the north, East Street on the east and Park Street on the west. The 120-acre (0.49 km 2 ) campus contains sixty-three buildings ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to Bauhaus to Tudor to Modernist . [ 21 ] Goodnow Hall and Mears Cottage (1889) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . [ 22 ] [ 23 ] Immediately west of the college is the North Grinnell Historic District , which contains over 200 National Register of Historic Places contributing buildings . East Campus dormitories connected by Grinnell's distinctive loggia The residential part of campus is divided into three sections: North Campus, East Campus, and South Campus. North and South Campus' dormitories are modeled explicitly after the residential colleges of Oxford and Cambridge . The four East Campus dormitories feature a modern, LEED -certified design constructed from Iowa limestone . [ 24 ] [ 25 ] All three campuses feature dormitory buildings connected by loggia , an architectural signature of the college. The loggia on South Campus is the only entirely closed loggia, while the loggias on East and North campus are only partially closed. From the time that the first dorm opened in 1915 until the fall of 1968, the nine north campus dorms were used exclusively for male students, and the six south campus dorms reserved for female students. The dorm halls house significantly fewer students than halls at other colleges. [ 26 ] Most academic buildings are located on the southwestern quarter of campus. [ 27 ] The athletic facilities are mostly located north of 10th Avenue.