Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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collegiate buildings in Allentown for the use of the Lutheran Synod. To complete the task, a joint stoclc company was formed and a Board of Trustees elected by the cornpeny. Thus, the founda- tion for the new college was laid. The new Board of Trustees unanimously elected the Reverend Fredericlr A. Muhlenberg, D:D., as president of the new college, and at the suggestion of William H. Blumer, Esq., they named the institution Muhlenberg College, in honor of Henry Melcltoir Muhlenberg, the great pioneer of the Lutheran Church in America, a name honorable in Church and State. The property of the new college consisted of about five acres of land in the southeastern pert of the city of Allentown. It w s bounded by Walnut Street on the north, Fourth Street on the e , and Union Street on tlle soutlr, ancl was originally the property the Livingstones, relatives ofthe Allens, tl1e founclers of tlme which bears their name. The inauguration of the president and other members of faculty tool: place on Tuesday evening, September 5, 1867. rnoming after, recitations were loegun ancl Nlulllernlnerg was on its way to at successful continuance of There were one lrunclrecl ancl aca- I

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'7 In March of the year 1864, the A11entown Seminary ceased to exist and was replaced hy a new institution, chartered hy the legislature of Pennsylvania, under the name of the Allentown Collegiate Institute and 1VIi1itary Academy. It was at this time that the institution made its first steps toward the grade of a college. The curriculum was enlarged, and even though the institute took a slight mititary air, it sti11 remained essentially a private classical school with The Reverend M. S. Hofford as president. The two availahle were Bachelor of Arts, granted after four years y, and Bachelor of Science, granted at the completion of three years of study. The institute continued to function until June of the year 1867, when it was closed after commencement exer- cises, held as usual at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. It had Iong heen a desire of many of the Lutheran clergy nd Iaymen in the vicinity of Allentown to have an institution where a young man might prepare himself for the ministry. This desire was further intensified when, on October 5, 1864, the Theological .Seminary in Philadelphia was established. Conse- quently, at the meeting of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, held at Lancaster in the year 1866, a committee of seven men, with the Reverend S. K. Brohst as chairman, was appointed to secure the l Sqinmllgl' I'-0 ,fp '

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demic department during time first year. Tile courses offered that year were Greek, Latin, English, German, and Nlatliematics. AI- though the college was presented with many trying and diiiicult situations, it managed to weather the storms and continued to progress with increasing enrollments, and a continued interest in its existence and purpose. However, on September 11, 1876, the institution suffered a serious loss in the resignation of President Nluiileniuerg, who accepted a professorship of Greek in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, a position' which he was called to fill because of his national reputation as a Greek scholar. As his successor, the Board of Trustees elected tire Reverend Benjamin Sadtler, D.D., who had been time principal of the Lutilerville Ladies Seminary,.and at the time of his election was a member of the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I At the same meeting of the Nlinisterium, at which Dr. Sadtler was inaugurated, the Ministerium assumed entire control and re- for tile maintenance of the College. During the presi- of Dr. Sadtier very few changes occurred either in the or in management of the college. It was during this period that the class of 1885 published the first issue of tire Muhlenberg later to the Muhlenberg lvveeicly.