Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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Rev. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg. D.D.. LL.D. 11818-19011 tPresident: 1867-18761 Dr. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, great- grandson of the Patriarch, was the first president of Muhlenberg College. The forerunner of the college had been Allentown Seminary, founded in 1848, which attained collegiate rank as the Allentown Collegiate Institute and Mili- tary Academy. When Dr. Muhlenberg was called from the Greek professor- ship at Gettysburg, Muhlenberg College was located at Fourth, between Walnut and Union Streets, and had seven faculty members, and 161 students, in- cluding the academic department. Under Dr. Muhlenberg the college steadily developed. The financial panic of 1873 resulted in the Ministerium as- suming the entire management in 1874. After serving failthfully for nine years, Dr. Muhlenberg accepted the Greek professorship at the University of Penn- sylvania, where President lohn A. W. Haas studied under him. From 1891 to 1893 he served as President of Thiel College, Greenville, Pa., and died in 1901. Rev. Beniamin Sadtler. D.D. 11823-19011 tPtesident: 1877-18851 Dr. Benjamin Sadtler, second presi- dent of Muhlenberg College, was grad- uated from Pennsylvania college at Gettysburg and from the theological seminary there. After seventeen years in four Pennsylvania pastorates he served for fourteen years as President of the Lutherville Female Seminary, and as a prominent member of the Board of Trustees at Gettysburg, the presidency of which he had declined. In Dr. Sadtler's inaugural address he expressed the aim of Muhlenberg Col- lege: harmoniously to combine the Christian element in education with a sound and comprehensive culture, her claim to the generous support of the Church and community. During Dr. Sadtler's flourishing administration no- table gifts were received in the form of the Asa Packer Professorship of Natural and Applied Sciences and the Mosser-Keck chair of Greek language and literature. In 1885 Dr. Sadtler sustained severe injuries from a fall on the ice, and re- signed the presidency after nine years of faithful and devoted services.

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I-Ion. Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg C1750-1801l Frederick Augustus, the second son of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, is known to history as the first speaker of the national House of Representatives. After attending Halle, Germany, along with his brothers, he was ordained and became his father's assistant. Among his ministerial charges were churches in New York City and Pennsylvania, but his patriotic views inclined him to re- tire from the ministry and enter the Continental Congress as representative of the Pennsylvania Germans. His high character and judicial firm- ness aptly fittecl him for public service, in which he held the offices of the first President Iudge of Montgomery County, presiding officer of the Pennsylvania assembly, and four terms as representa- tive to Congress, of which he was the first and third speaker. His most famous descendant was a grandson, the Rev. Dr. William A. Muhl- enberg, the eminent Episcopalian, who is remembered as the founder of SL Luke's Hospital, New York, and St. Iohnlandf' cmd as the author of the hymns: I Would Not Live A1way and Savior, Who Thy Flock Art Leading. Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg. D.D. H753-1 8 1 st The third son of the champion of Lutheranism in North America was G-otthilf Heinrich Muhlenberg, the emin- ent botanist and philologist. At age ten he went to Halle with his brothers to study for the ministry. Ordained at an early age, he was appointed assistant to his father and served congregations in New Iersey, Philadelphia, and Lan- caster, the latter for thirty-five years. As a botanist, he was esteemed by his contemporaries and successors. Among his works are books on grasses and a catalogue of the known and naturalized plants of North America. The number of species and varieties first established by him is said to be one hundred. A number of species of plants perpetuate his name, owing to recognition of his services to science, by later botanists. Six scientific socie- ties honored him: he received his M. A. from University of Pennsylvania and his D. D. from Princeton. He also pub- lished the first German-English, English- German dictionary in America. His grandson was the first president of Muhlenberg College.

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V Rev. Theodore Lorenzo Seip. D.D. C1842-1903i lPresident: 1886-1903i Dr. Theodore L. Seip served Muhlen- berg. from its beginning, as professor and president for thirty-five years. Dur- ing his college course at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, the battle of Get- tysburg was fought, and he joined the college company. He was a delegate of the U. S. Christian Commission in Tennessee and Georgia with General Sherman's army, directed hospitals, and was appointed agent for the U. S. Sanitary Commission. A graduate with the first class of the Philadelphia Seminary, he became a member of the Muhlenberg faculty, first principal of the academic department, professor of Greek anti Latin, and fin- ancial agent of the college. His seven- teen year administration of the affairs of the college saw an increase in the endowment, curriculum, faculty, and enrollment. In 1892 a quadra-centennial celebration was held. lt is worthy of note that at this time about half of the 325 alumni were ministers. After his death in office in November, 1903, the college was for a few months directed by Acting President William Wackernagel, D. D., professor of Ger- man, French, Spanish, and history. Rev. Iohn A. W. Haas. D.D., LL.D. 0862- 1 tPresident: 1904-19361 In the spring of 1904, Dr. Iohn A. W. Haas, left a church in New York to be- come President of Muhlenberg. In Ian- uary, 1905, the institution was moved to its present location, with a debt of Sl55,000, less than one hundred stu- dents, an administration building, part of the dormitories, and a combination power plant and chemistry laboratory. Under Da. Haas' leadership, not only has the entire present plant been de- veloped, but also the value of the col- lege has increased to over 352,500,000 the endowment to S930,000, and the en- rollment to 450. Dr. Haas has super- vised two drives, netting almost two million dollars. The scholastic record and many hon- ors of this great man are found else- where in this volume. He is known throughout the church and in educa- tional circles oi the nation as an out- standing student of philosophy, Chris- tian ethics and church history, ofttimes having been classed as one of the ten leading contemporary philosophers. His friends and admirers, made through a generation of service in higher education, view with regret his resignation effective in Iune, 1936.