Lafayette College

Founding A lithograph of Lafayette College, c. 1875 South College, one of Lafayette's largest residence halls, housing approximately 220 students in a coeducational setting A group of Easton residents, led by James Madison Porter , son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown, Pennsylvania , met on December 27, 1824, at White's Tavern to discuss founding a college in town. [ 14 ] The recent visit of General Lafayette to New York during his grand tour of the US in 1824 and 1825 prompted the founders to name the college after the renowned French military officer , a hero of the American Revolutionary War , as "a testimony of respect for [his] talents, virtues, and signal services... in the great cause of freedom". [ 9 ] [ 15 ] The group established a 35-member board of trustees, a system of governance that continues at the college to the present. [ 16 ] They selected Porter, lawyer Jacob Wagener, and Yale -educated lawyer Joel Jones to come up with an education plan. [ 17 ] The charter gained state approval from the legislature and, on March 9, 1826, Pennsylvania Governor John Andrew Shulze . [ 18 ] Along with establishing Lafayette as a liberal arts college , the charter provided for religious equality among professors, students, and staff. [ 19 ] The board of trustees met on May 15, 1826, for the election of officers: Thomas McKeen as Treasurer, Joel Jones as Secretary, and James Madison Porter as the first president of the college. [ 20 ] Over the next few years, the board met several times to discuss property and funding for the college's start-up. [ 21 ] Six years after the first meeting, Lafayette began to enroll students. [ 22 ] The college opened on May 1, 1829, with four students under the guidance of John Monteith . [ 22 ] At the start of the next year, George Junkin , a Presbyterian minister , was elected first official president of the college.

[ 23 ] He moved the all-male Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania from Germantown (near Philadelphia) to Easton to assist with the physical construction of the college's first building. [ 24 ] Its first two professors were Charles F. McCay and James I. Coon. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] Classes began on May 9, 1832, with instruction of 43 students in a rented farmhouse on the south bank of the Lehigh River . [ 9 ] Junkin supported colonization of Liberia by ex-slaves from the United States. He proposed Lafayette for educating free African Americans for missionary work in the new American colony established by the American Colonization Society . Between 1832 and 1844, ten black students were enrolled at Lafayette, four of whom later served as missionaries in Liberia . [ 27 ] During the college's first years, students were required to work in the fields and workshops to allow the college to earn money to support its programs. [ 9 ] This manual labor was retained as part of the curriculum until 1839, as the college was focused on preparing students for Military and Civil Engineering. [ 28 ] Later that year, Lafayette purchased property on what is now known as "College Hill" – nine acres of elevated land across Bushkill Creek . [ 9 ] [ 29 ] The college's first building was constructed two years later on the current site of South College. [ 9 ] [ 30 ] A dispute, largely related to the financial well-being of the school, between Porter and Junkin led to the latter man's resignation from the presidency in 1841. [ 31 ] The next decade was fraught with financial difficulties and a rotation of four new presidents of the college, including the return of Junkin for a brief period. [ 32 ] In an effort to restore financial order to the institution, the trustees explored the potential of adding a religious affiliation. [ 33 ] In 1849, Lafayette College became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church via the Synod of Philadelphia .

[ 33 ] By relinquishing their control, the college was able to collect $1000 a year from the Presbyterian Church Board of Education as regularly as the latter could pay it. [ 33 ] In the time from 1855 to 1856, Lafayette had a peak enrollment of 112 students in total. [ 34 ] The class of 1857, a close-knit group of 27 men, worked in secrecy to establish charters in national fraternities , thus founding the first Greek-letter fraternities at Lafayette College. [ 35 ] These fraternities remained secret until 1869, as they were initially discouraged by the college authorities. [ 36 ]

In preparation for United States entry into the World War I , which had involved European nations since 1914, Lafayette announced that current students would be awarded their degrees in absentia if they enlisted or went to work on farms to support the war effort. Professor Beverly Kunkel organized The Lafayette Ambulance United, Section 61, United States Army Ambulance Corps . [ 37 ] During the summer of 1917, MacCracken arranged to adapt the campus as a war camp for the War Department. [ 38 ] Lafayette remained a war camp until January 2, 1919, when the regular course of study was re-established there. [ 39 ] On December 16, 1925, the nation's largest fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega , was founded at Lafayette. [ 40 ] [ 41 ]