It was three years ago this month that the Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Church, meeting at Clayton, Ill., voted to establish an academy at Monmouth. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of Gen. Abner Harding--a man of considerable influence in Springfield--the academy has been elevated to a full-fledged college.

While the Academy will continue to operate as a preparatory department for the college, its importance in the history of the educational betterment of the community should not be forgotten.

From the late eighteenth century onward, Associated Reformed Presbyterians at the edge of settlement had created a succession of educational institutions in location such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. By the 1840s, Presbyterians were also becoming concerned about the need for additional schools and colleges in the rapidly expanding settlements of the Midwest.

The first representatives of the Associate Reformed Presbyterians to arrive in what are today Warren and Henderson counties were the Clark and Jamieson families, who migrated from Indiana in 1829 to South Henderson Creek and established the frontier station of Jamieson Settlement. Another strong congregation, the Cedar Creek Church, formed shortly thereafter just north of Monmouth, with the Rev. James C. Porter as pastor.

In April 1853, Porter argued the case for establishing an academy at Monmouth at a presbytery meeting, stressing that the county seat had a new railroad, occupied one of the most promising agricultural areas of the Midwest. Porter’s final point was the decisive one-a signed subscription list from attorney James Madden and other community leaders pledging $1,150 for a school in Monmouth.

The Academy opened in November 1853 with the Rev. James R. Brown, a graduate of Miami University in Ohio, as its principal, and Maria Madden (sister of James Madden) as assistant principal. The initial student body numbered about 100, including pupils from Miss Madden’s school and a private school that had recently closed.  In curriculum and structure, the Academy was essentially a high school, providing a quality of education that was not available in the community’s poorly run grammar schools.

Monmouth College - Monmouth, Illinois