Macalester College - History

History

Macalester had its beginnings in the mid-to-late 19th century due to the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Edward Duffield Neill, who had founded two schools in Saint Paul and nearby Minneapolis which were named after M.W. Baldwin, a locomotive builder and friend of Neill's. Neill feared the secular and nonsectarian attitude of the nearby University of Minnesota. Neill's idea was to make the new college an appendage to the university offering a thoroughly Christian curriculum based upon the British university model. He named this new institution "Jesus College" leading immediately to controversy and accusations of blasphemy. However, Jesus College failed to attract many students, and Neill turned to Charles Macalester, a businessman from Philadelphia, for sponsorship for the failing institution. Macalester donated a building near Saint Anthony Falls, and the college was chartered in 1874. The college moved to its present location in 1885 after building an endowment and seeking the help of the Presbyterian Church. Due to its distance from both St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1891, the college board approved and funded an electric trolley line through the middle of campus, which is now Grand Avenue. The College first admitted women in 1893, and despite being affiliated with a religious institution, remained open to students of other faiths. Neill opposed the admission of women to Macalester, not because he did not approve of women's education, but rather because of his prior commitment to send female applicants to Macalester's sister school, Albert Lea, which closed in 1915.

Macalester was largely carried through financial hardship and brought to prominence by Dr. James Wallace, father of DeWitt Wallace. Wallace was acting president of the college from 1894 to 1900, president from 1900 to 1906, and professor until just before his death in 1939. After World War II, the college developed a reputation for internationalism under the presidency of Charles Turck (later the namesake of Turck Hall), who recruited overseas and created a more diverse student body. Macalester's positive reputation grew during the 1960s, when it consistently drew many National Merit Scholars, enough to come in at the country's top ten; during this time the college also benefitted heavily from DeWitt Wallace's success with Reader's Digest. Macalester continued to develop into the 1990s, building its endowment and adding new facilities and equipment.

Macalester's reputation has grown within the last 20 years with the addition of newer facilities, such as the DeWitt Wallace Library, among the largest among liberal arts colleges in the United States. The college has also extensively developed its ties to the Twin Cities, with an extensive focus on community service and involvement. Recent years have brought much new development as well as controversy. Many buildings have been extensively renovated and a new athletic facility (The Leonard Center) opened in the fall of 2008. In addition, Macalester has recently created the Institute for Global Citizenship.