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- Although Monmouth College was originally founded as an
academy of the Associate Reformed (later United Presbyterian)
Church, it was the local business community that was responsible
for the institution actually being located at Monmouth, as
leading businessmen, lawyers and farmers made financial pledges
to assist the fledgling school. One of the college's first
benefactors, trustee Ivory Quinby, though a devout Baptist, was
a strong supporter of the college's role in bringing higher
education to the prairie wilderness.
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Unlike most private colleges of the time, Monmouth College was
founded in 1853 as a coeducational institution, at which women
took the same courses as men and stood on an equal academic
footing.
Racial tolerance was also a hallmark of the early
college. When a young black man enrolled in 1868, some bigoted
students dropped out of school in protest, but when the black
student decided he had better also drop out to avoid potential
trouble, the administration prevailed upon him to remain.
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Actor John Wayne, whose real name was Marion Robert
Morrison, was the great-great nephew of Monmouth College's first
professor of mathematics, Marion Morrison. Wayne was named after
his grandfather, a Civil War hero, who was the nephew and
namesake of the original Marion Morrison.
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Monmouth College's role in the Civil War is the stuff of
legend. Within a week of the fall of Fort Sumter, 20 MC students
had enlisted in the Union Army. The following year, the 83rd
Illinois Infantry, under the command of college trustee Abner
Harding, was mustered into service with Monmouth College
students comprising virtually its entire Company C, known as the
"Students' Company.".
With few able-bodied men left on campus
and the college on the verge of closing, President Wallace
issued his now-famous plea, "We must educate, whether there be
peace or war." The 83rd fought bravely at Fort Donelson,
successfully resisting an attack by 8,000 troops under generals
Forrest and Wheeler.
In the course of the war, MC furnished 41
commissioned officers, 48 non-commissioned officers and 143
privates--232 in all. By comparison, Amherst and Bowden
(much older institutions), sent only 263 and 267, respectively.
One in eight of Monmouth's student warriors made the supreme
sacrifice.
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Immediately after the Civil War, veterans returning to Monmouth
College established its first fraternities. MC's women students,
who had grown very independent during their male
counterparts' wartime absence, were not to be left out.
In
1867, 12 intrepid female students established the first
collegiate Greek letter society for women in the United States,
which today is known far and wide as Pi Beta Phi. Three years
later, another well-known women's fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma,
made its debut on the Monmouth campus.
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The
classic Georgian-style architecture that is prevalent on the
Monmouth College campus can be largely credited to the talents
of an 1887 Monmouth graduate. Dan Everett Waid, one of the
premier U.S. architects of the early 20th century, early in his
career designed the college's chapel, which was completed in
1897.
Throughout his distinguished career as chief architect for
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Waid was also the chief
architect for Monmouth College, personally designing McMichael
Residence Hall and the college gymnasium.
He also assisted in
the planning of McMichael Academic Building and Wallace Hall,
and following his death, Grier Hall, Winbigler Hall and Fulton
Hall were all designed by his associate, Arthur Angilly. Waid
was also a generous benefactor to Monmouth College and endowed
its first fine arts department.
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Monmouth College has a proud athletic history. Its football
rivalry with Knox College dates to 1891 and is the
seventh-oldest in college football. In the early days, the
Fighting Scots routinely competed against such teams as the
University of Illinois (T.H. McMichael, who would later become
MC president, once pitched and won both games of a doubleheader
against the school), the University of Iowa (Monmouth played the
first game ever held in Kinnick Stadium in 1929, and the
University of Chicago (coached by the legendary Amos Alonzo
Stagg).
Fighting Scots were among the pioneers of the National
Football League. Francis "Jug" Earp '21 played 11 seasons for
the Green Bay Packers and is credited with developing the
one-handed pass from center to quarterback, while Keith
Molesworth '28 was a star quarterback for the Chicago Bears and
later served as head coach of the Baltimore Colts.
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One
of Monmouth College's most prized possessions is a Civil War
cannon that was a graduation gift from the Class of 1903. Before
the cannon could be presented, however, it was stolen by the
rival Class of 1904, who burned the carriage and dumped the
barrel in a nearby creek, where it remained hidden for a half
century.
Retrieved from its watery grave in 1952, the barrel was
brought back to campus and embedded, nose-down, in concrete for
nearly another half century. In 1996, it was removed from the
concrete, restored, and attached to a replica carriage. It now
makes annual appearances at Homecoming, where it is fired to
celebrate Scot touchdowns.
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Two
Monmouth College alumni, remarkable for both their heroism and
their common background, are immortalized on the college campus.
The late Robert Dunlap '42 was awarded the Congressional Medal
of Honor by President Harry Truman for his heroism at Iwo Jima.
The Marine captain was wounded in intense fighting, enduring
constant enemy fire for two days and nights. Dunlap's cousin,
the late Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale '46, grew up in the same small
town in western Illinois. A naval fighter pilot who was shot down
over Vietnam in 1965, Stockdale became the senior POW at the
infamous Hanoi Hilton and was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor by President Gerald Ford. He later ran for vice president
of the United States. Monmouth College's student center is named
in honor of Stockdale, while the plaza in front of the building
is dedicated to Dunlap.
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Monmouth College's longest-tenured faculty member was recognized
in 1998 by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest working
pianist in the world. Gracie Peterson graduated from Monmouth
College in 1922 and was a member of its music faculty for the
next 50 years.
Following retirement, she played piano
professionally at a local restaurant until age 100. She also was
the regular piano player for the Monmouth Rotary Club for more
than 80 years, and was honored by the Rotary with a gala
concert, in which she starred, on her 100th birthday.
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WHAT COLLEGE WAS MEANT TO
BE |
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Founded in 1853, Monmouth
College is a nationally-ranked liberal arts college affiliated with the
Presbyterian Church (USA). Located in western Illinois, midway between
Chicago and St. Louis, Monmouth has an enrollment of 1,350 students, most
of whom live on campus in eleven attractive residence halls and a modern
apartment complex.
Monmouth's faculty devotes its full attention to
undergraduate teaching. A new general-education based curriculum, designed
to better prepare students for the challenges of living and working in the
21st century, was recently adopted. |
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