History of Ohio Wesleyan University - Founders

Founders

The part of the Olentangy River now occupied by Delaware hosted a Delaware Native American village prior to the founding of the town in 1808. The Delawares called themselves Lenape or Leni-lenape, equivalent to "real men," or "native, genuine men" and were called "Grandfathers" by the Algonquian tribes because of their belief that the Delawares were the oldest and original Algonquian nation. During the American Revolution, the Delawares became a divided people. Many attempted to remain neutral in the conflict. Some adopted Christianity, while other Delawares supported the English, who had assumed the role of the French traders at the end of the French and Indian War. These natives thanked England for the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited colonists from settling any further west than the Appalachian Mountains, and feared that, if the Americans were victorious, the Delawares would be driven from their lands. Following the American victory in the Revolution, the Delawares struggled against whites as they moved onto the natives' territory. In 1829, the Delawares relinquished their remaining land in Ohio and moved to present-day Kansas.

The desire to establish an institution of higher learning was discussed for several years but did not assume a practical form until The White Sulphur Spring Property, a sanatorium in Delaware, Ohio, and also the geographic center of Ohio was offered for sale and Adam Poe in the summer of 1841 that it be purchased for the purpose of founding a new institution of higher learning. The property, which covered 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land with the former Mansion House and a few other buildings was bought on November 17, 1841 by the committee of Ohio citizens for $10,000.00 and the payment was concluded in 1849.

James Cobb, an ex-army officer and a graduate of West Point was the first informal principal of the preparatory school for both girls and boys. At the end of 1841, he retired from teaching due to his poor health conditions.

The following year, The State Legislature of Ohio under an old Ohio state constitution granted a special charter to the new school in on March 7, 1842.

On March 7, 1842, the founders formed a Board of Trustees and secured a charter, edited by a local resident Joseph Trimble, from the Ohio legislature. The charter established wide powers to a board comprising twenty-one members. The charter emphasized the democratic spirit of freedom of teaching.

Following the formal recognition by the state, the school appointed its first Principal, Solomon Howard and the formally recognized school unofficially opened its doors on November 1, 1842 six months later after the school obtained its official charter. The enrollement on November 1 comprised four boys. However, it increased to 130 students by the end of 1842, a number comprising students of both genders.

The school officially opened its doors on November 13, 1844 as a Methodist-related but nonsectarian college under the name Ohio Wesleyan University. It was among the first of a number of institutions named for Methodism founder John Wesley. The college originally admitted only male students, and began with twenty-nine students and three professors. The renamed Elliott Hall, formerly the Mansion House Hotel served as an academic facility, recitation hall and a dormitorie.