History
The school was founded on May 3, 1866, by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches as Northfield College. Two local businessmen, Charles Augustus Wheaton and Charles M. Goodsell, each donated 10 acres (4 ha) of land for the first campus. The first students enrolled in fall 1867. In 1870, the first college president, James Strong, traveled to the East Coast to raise funds for the college. On his way from visiting William Carleton of Charlestown, Massachusetts, Strong was badly injured by a train. Impressed by Strong's survival, Carleton donated US$50,000 to the fledgling institution in 1871, and the Board of Trustees renamed the school in his honor.
The college graduated its first class in 1874. The first two graduates, James J. Dow and Myra A. Brown, married each other later that year. On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang, led by outlaw Jesse James, attempted to rob the First National Bank of Northfield. Joseph Lee Heywood, Carleton's Treasurer, was acting cashier at the bank that day. He was shot and killed for refusing to open the safe. Carleton later named a library fund after Heywood, and the Heywood Society is the name for a group of donors who have named Carleton in their wills.
In its early years under the presidency of James Strong, Carleton reflected the theological conservatism of its Minnesota Congregational founders. In 1903, modernist religious influences were brought when William Sallmon, a Yale Divinity School graduate, was hired as college president. Sallmon was opposed by conservative faculty members, who forced him out by 1908. After Sallmon left, the trustees hired Donald J. Cowling, another theologically liberal Yale Divinity School graduate, as his successor. In 1916, under Cowling's leadership, Carleton began an official affiliation with the Minnesota Baptist Convention. It lasted until 1928, when the Baptists severed the relationship as a result of fundamentalist opposition to Carleton's liberalism, including the college's support for teaching about evolution. Non-denominational for a number of years, in 1964 Carleton abolished its requirement for weekly attendance at some religious or spiritual meeting.
In 1927, students founded the first student-run pub in the nation, The Cave. Located in the basement of Evans Hall, it continues to host live music shows and other events several times each week.
In 1942, Carleton purchased land in Stanton, about 10-mile (16 km) east of campus, to use for flight training. During World War II, several classes of male students went through air basic training at the college. Since being sold by the college in 1944, the Stanton Airfield has been operated for commercial use.
The world premiere production of Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle was performed in 1948 at Carleton's Nourse Little Theater.
In 1963 the Reformed Druids of North America was founded by students at Carleton, initially as an excuse to avoid attending the then-required weekly chapel service. Later the group conducted legitimate spiritual exploration. Meetings continue to be held in the Carleton College Cowling Arboretum.
The popular early computer game, The Oregon Trail, was created and refined by students at Carleton in 1971.
President Bill Clinton gave the last commencement address of his administration at Carleton, on June 10, 2000.
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