Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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SONNET TO MUHLENBERG COLLEGE. 0 E ACH golden morn Great Phoebus’ ruddy glow Greets thee in haste and leaves thee loath at eve Thy stately walls thus bathed in radiance grow Still grander, and from Nature fair receive New beauty rich as purest pearl and rare. Thy halls are hallowed by traditions old Of men and ages gone, which we can share, And Truth divine, eternal, for us hold. O Alma Mater dear ! our love is thine ! Thy tender care delighted we possess ; Thy glorious past thou’lt surely yet outshine When present hopes have met with longed success Thou lead’st us kind to the Pierian spring, For this thy name in honor e’er we’ll sing.

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HISTORY OF MUHLENBERG COLLEGE. v M UHLENBERG COLLEGE, located ill the City of Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, was founded in the year 1867 in order to meet a necessity long felt by many clerical and lay members of the Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church in Eastern Pennsylvania. Before the Revolutionary War, the Rev. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania and, indeed, in America together with his co-laborers made strong efforts to establish a higher institution for the education of the Lutherans. Such an institution was founded in 1773, but the project was thwarted by the Revolutionary War. The Lutheran Minis- terium aided the Gettysburg College with this view in mind, but without success. In 1866 the Ministerium of Pennsylvania was excluded from the General Synod, thus being almost forced to establish a college upon its own territory. The result of all this was the founding of Muhlenberg College. Thus it happened that Muhlenberg College became the successor, to some extent at least, of the Allentown Seminary, founded in 1848, and of the Allentown Collegiate Institute and Military Academy which succeeded the Seminary in 1864. In 1867, an appointed committee reported that u Muhlenberg College can and will soon be formally opened with fair prospects to success.” Public announce- ments were made that Muhlenberg College with its two departments — Collegiate and Academic, would be opened on the first of September 1867. Thus we see that after all the trials and hinderances prior to this time Muhlenberg was finally opened in 1867. Notwithstanding the different hinderances that still obstructed its progress, it steadily gained a firm foothold and greatly increased its number of students until the thought of founding a 11 Greater Muhlenberg ” finally presented itself to the honored President, the Rev. Dr. Seip, who labored diligently towards this project and made such an impression upon his faithful co-laborers that, although he was called away from his earthly labors when the building of Greater Muhlenberg had scarcely begun, they fully carried out his plans. After occupy- ing the buildings situated in the southeastern part of Allentown, since 1867, Muhlenberg College was moved to the western section of the city where it now possesses a site of fifty-five acres of land, on which a commodious modern college plant has been built. With the beautiful buildings and surroundings, the unexcelled courses of study offered, a steadily increasing number of students, and the hearty support of the public, we can predict a future for Muhlenberg College, such as it has never seen before. 17

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Ciarla Staff.