page_title: College of Wooster
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: College of Wooster / History
caption_attribution_description: English: University of Wooster, Ohio, organized Dec. 18th 1866, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church
context_page_description: The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. It is primarily known for its emphasis on mentored undergraduate research and enrolls about 2,000 students. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it officially has been non-sectarian since 1969, when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ended. From its creation, the college has been a co-educational institution. The school is a member of The Five Colleges of Ohio, Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.
context_section_description: Founded as the University of Wooster in 1866 by Presbyterians, the institution opened its doors in 1870 with a faculty of five and a student body of thirty men and four women. The wealthy Wooster citizen, Ephraim Quinby, donated the first 22 acres (8.9 ha), a large oak grove situated on a hilltop overlooking the town .  After being founded with the intent to make Wooster open to everyone, the university's first Ph.D. was granted to a woman, Annie B. Irish, in 1882.  The first black student, Clarence Allen, began his studies later in the same decade.
  It is rumored that when the college was founded, it was gifted a mummy and the head of Nat Turner. While the mummy is still located on campus, at the basement of the art center, the head of Nat Turner was lost in Old Main after a fire broke out .
  In the pre-dawn hours of December 11, 1901, a fire destroyed the five-story Old Main building, the centerpiece of the campus.  Within two years, it was replaced by several new buildings which (after substantial renovations within the last 30 years) remain the primary structures for the classes, labs, and faculty offices.  These include Kauke Hall (the center of campus), Scovel Hall, Severance Hall (which together form a large courtyard in front of Kauke Hall, all designed by Lansing C. Holden) and Taylor Hall.
  About ten years after the fire and rebuilding, there were eight divisions, including a medical school whose faculty outnumbered those in the college of arts and sciences. However, the university had gradually begun to define itself as a liberal arts institution and, in 1915, after a bitter dispute between the faculty and the Trustees, chose to become The College of Wooster in order to devote itself entirely to the education of undergraduate students in the liberal arts. The enrollment of the college is kept intentionally small, around 2000 students, to allow for close interaction between faculty and students.
  In the 1920s, during the clashes between liberal and fundamentalists, William Jennings Bryan, a prominent Presbyterian layman, and former United States Secretary of State, attacked the college for its teaching of evolution. The subject had been taught at the college for several decades and defended by then president Charles F. Wishart. Bryan called for the General Assembly of the church to cut off funding to the college. But in 1923 Wishart defeated Bryan for the position of Moderator of the General Assembly largely on the evolution issue, and the college continued to teach evolution.
  The 240-acre (97 ha) college has a tree endowment, established in 1987, which supports tree conservation, maintenance, and a tree replacement program.   The Oak Grove, a pleasant green space near the center of campus, plays host to commencement ceremonies each May.  Several of the Grove's trees are older than the college itself, including an eastern black oak near Galpin Hall that dates to 1681, as well as a 1766 white oak.  Each senior class plants a class tree in the Oak Grove on the day before graduation.
  On November 10, 2015, the College named Sarah Bolton as its 12th president, and first female president. Her term began July 1, 2016. Bolton was a dean and physics professor at Williams College.
caption: University of Wooster, lithograph, c1867
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