Lafayette College - History

History

A group of Easton citizens led by James Madison Porter met on December 27, 1824 at White's Tavern to explore the possibility of opening a college. The recent visit of General Lafayette to New York during his grand tour of the US in 1824 and 1825 prompted the founders to name the school after the French military officer. The group also established the 35-member Board of Trustees, a system of governance that has remained at the College since its inception. In need of an education plan, the meeting gave the responsibility to Porter, lawyer Jacob Wagener, and Yale educated lawyer Joel Jones. The charter gained approval and on March 9, 1826, Pennsylvania Governor John Andrew Shulze's signature made the college official.

The school did not open until six years later when the Rev. George Junkin, a Presbyterian minister, took up the charter and moved the all-male Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania from Germantown to Easton. Classes began on May 9, 1832, with the instruction of 43 students on the south bank of the Lehigh River in a rented farmhouse. Students had to earn money to support the program by laboring in the fields and workshops. Later that year, Lafayette purchased property on what is now known as "College Hill" – nine acres of elevated land across Bushkill Creek. The College's first building was constructed two years later on the current site of South College.