page_title: Principia College
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Principia College / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Overlooking the Mississippi River
context_page_description: Principia College is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." It has no affiliation with the Church of Christ, Scientist, but according to the college "the practice of Christian Science is the cornerstone of campus life." Students and staff are expected to be practicing Christian Scientists.
  Principia sits on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River between Alton and Grafton in the Metro East region of Southern Illinois, thirty miles north of St. Louis. A portion of the school's 2,500-acre campus is a designated National Historic Landmark District, for its many buildings and design by architect Bernard Maybeck.
context_section_description: Although Principia College was born out of The Principia, founded by Mary Kimball Morgan in 1897, the name Principia was not adopted until the year 1898. As Morgan's school grew, the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, approved The Principia's reference as a Christian Science school. Emerging from the Principia Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools founded between 1898 and 1906, Principia College was established with a purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science through appropriate channels open to it as an educational institution."  The college, however, has no official affiliation with the Christian Science Church and Christian Science is not taught as a subject, but its principles form the basis of community life at Principia. The first Upper School class graduated in 1906 and it is from this class that a junior college was established, whose first alumni graduated in 1917. Principia College has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1923.
  Following this time period, architect Bernard Maybeck was commissioned to design a new college campus in Elsah, Illinois and by 1931 ground was broken on what would become Maybeck's largest commission.
  In 1934, Principia College graduated its first class as a full four-year institution and in 1935 the college was officially moved to its present-day location in Elsah. On April 19, 1993, about 300 acres (120 ha) of the campus was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior. The year 1998 marked centennial celebrations by the school. The Principia College campus was once considered as the site for the United States Air Force Academy though ultimately the Air Force chose a location in Colorado Springs, Colorado, instead.
caption: Principia's campus sits on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River
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