Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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WARTHMORE l OL-L-EGE History, Offidefg, Stodeftts.

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N the stormy years of public peril Avhen the great Civil War was at its height and educational movements throughout the country were involved in the general uncertainty of the times, the Friends, with their char- acteristic love for the better pursuits of life, made their greatest step in the direction of advanced learning, and Swarthmore College, strange to say, dates its inception to the days of the Rebellion. The movement to establish a college, ' although such a thing had been more or less agitated since the time of the separation, pre- vious to 1830, first made itself felt in the several Yearly Meetings about 1 86 1, but it was not until two years later that it took any well- defined shape. Meanwhile a number of prominent persons identified themselves with the project, foremost among them being Edward Parrish, who, by means of public speeches, correspondence and the publication of a book, Education in the Society of Friends, did perhaps, more in the way of effort than any one other person to awaken interest in the matter. In 1863 a stock company w as formed and shares were taken in large and small blocks by hundreds of Friends. In 1864 a charter was granted the corporation, and this may be taken as the legal date of the founding of the college. The work of collecting money and making preparations for the erection of the buildings, like other great undertakings, moved slowly, and it was not until May 10, 1866, that the corner-stone of the main hall was laid. This was a great occa- sion and a large number of interested persons were present. Samuel Willets, of New York, who afterwards became the college ' s greatest benefactor, was chosen to preside, and Edward Parrish, who had already been elected President of the college, led the cere- monies. From the speeches on this occasion a firm belief in the feasibility of the then almost untried experiment of co-education is