Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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At a meeting of the Board of Trustees held May 21, 1867, the new institution was given the name of Muhlenberg, in honor of the great- grandfather of the first president, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. Although the president, in his modesty, regretted that the college had received the name of his family, there never has been any reason to make a change. In the fifty years of her history, Muhlenberg College has been true to the traditions of this name and has borne it worthily, as she hopes to do for many years to come. Indeed it would have been difficult to find a more suitable name for this institution than that of the first great Lutheran of Pennsylvania, the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America, and the father of the family that has deserved so well of church and state in the annals of Pennsylvania and the nation. He organized the first Lutheran synod in America, and his work in organizing and establishing the Lutheran Church in this country cannot be exaggerated. During the Revolution he and his sons were prominent patriots. One son, known as General Peter Muhlenberg, whose full name was John Peter Gabriel, was educated in Germany; and, tho maintaining his Lutheran connections and beliefs, submitted to ordination by the Church of England that he might serve the religious needs of people in Virginia, where the only recognized church was the Episcopal. It was at Woodstock, Virginia, that he made his dramatic appeal in the pulpit, when he threw back his gown and showed underneath it the uniform of a colonel in the Continental Army. He became brigadier general and later major general; he served with distinction in many battles, and enjoyed the confidence of Washington. He was a friend of Jefferson and Monroe. He was a member of the Virginia convention of 1776, was representative in Congress for several terms, and was elected to the Senate. His brother, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, a distinguished minister, was also a member of Continental Congress, 1779-80; of the Pennsylvania General Assembly; and in 1789-90 of the state constitutional convention. He was president of the Pennsylvania convention that ratified the federal constitution, and was speaker of the national House of Representatives, 1789-91 and 1793-95. Another brother, Gotthilf Henry Ernest Muhlenberg, was a pastor at Lancaster and a distinguished botanist. His son, Henry Augustus Muh- lenberg, was a pastor at Reading, representative in Congress, and minister to Austria. William Augustus Muhlenberg, great grandson of Henry Melchior, was a distinguished philanthropist and Episcopal clergyman. Another great-grandson was the first president of Muhlenberg College, a distinguished scholar and able administrator, who in the first trying years of the new institution placed it upon the firm foundation which has been the basis of its later success. Eighteen

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CIAPLA 1924 THE CRADLE OF MUHLENBERG COLLEGE History of tlie M ulilenbergs and How tlie College Came to be Named Muhlenberg afTl UHLENBERG COLLEGE was founded in 1867 to meet the needs of the Lutherans of Eastern Pennsylvania, by the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States, the oldest Lutheran synod in America. There was already in exist- ence at Allentown an institution of high grade and efficient work, in which Lutherans were interested. The Allentown Seminary had been founded in 1848 and was succeeded in 1864 by the Allentown Collegiate Institute and Military Academy, when the first advance was made toward the grade of a college by the enlargement and improvement of the course of studies. A plan was under way to transfer Pennsylvania College from Gettysburg to Allentown ; but this was not considered advisable by the Board of Trustees of that institution. After efforts of several years a new college was therefore started at Allentown to meet the needs of the Lutherans in Eastern Pennsylvania. The buildings, property, establishment, and goodwill of the Allentown Seminary and Academy were obtained; and the older institution was brought under the control and supervision of our church and raised to the grade of a full college. Rev. Professor Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, of Gettysburg, became the first president of the new institution. Seventeen

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The Lutheran Church has always laid great stress upon education. We must not forget that Martin Luther and his co-worker Melanchthon were university trained men and university professors. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg was a graduate of the University of Halle. This famous university was at that time a young institution, for it was founded only in 1694, as a refuge for professors and students from the University of Leipzig. It was a protest against a narrower type of education ; its founding was a turning-point in the history of educational progress in Germany; and from the first the new institution was to be representative of modern tendencies. It soon became one of the principal seats of Protestant theology. Muhlenberg, who came to this country in 1742, made great efforts to establish an institution of high grade ; but the plans were spoiled by the troublous times before and during the Revolu- tion, and the condition of the country and the church was such after the war that it was not possible. The Lutherans of the Eastern part of the state co-operated in the establishment of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg in 1832. But in time this proved to be too far away from the center of the territory of the Ministerium. It was then a happy day and a fortunate move when an institution was established in the heart of this Lutheran community, here at Allentown. This is the educational tradition of our institution. Muhlenberg College must keep abreast of the times, must search for the truth which gives freedom, must give the best education possible to its students, and must diffuse culture. The Lutheran Church believes in educated laymen as well as an educated ministry. ROBERT C. HORN. Nineteen