Introduction | The Founding | The Founders | The Universalists | The Building | The President and the Faculty | The Students and the Curriculum | The Flourishing
Nearly every major Christian denomination had built at least one college in the State of Ohio prior to 1871. The Presbyterians founded the College of Wooster, the Disciples of Christ founded Hiram College, and the Methodists founded Mount Union and Baldwin-Wallace. However, by the 1860s, the Universalists had only established three colleges in the United States. The Civil War delayed the founding of additional Universalist schools, but in 1867, at their annual convention in Mount Gilead, Ohio, the Ohio members of the Universalist Church took a definite step toward founding a Universalist college in their state.
At that meeting, Rev. Andrew Willson, Chairman of the Committee on Education, asked the committee to prepare a plan for the establishment of a State Seminary in Ohio, which was unanimously adopted the following year. It called for the subscription of $50,000 from Ohio Universalists. The seminary would be established in a town or city offering at least $10,000 in additional funds. Oxford, Kent, and Mt. Gilead made serious bids for the school, but were rejected for various reasons. However, there was a chance of securing the school for the city of Akron.
At the time, Akron was an up-and-coming city with a population of approximately 10,000, many of whom were successful entrepreneurs and philanthropists. In addition, the city had a strong Universalist church and its congregation had its share of influential members, including John R. Buchtel. At a meeting on January 9, 1870, the Akron Universalists became interested in the Ohio Convention’s work toward establishing a school in Ohio and agreed that Akron was the right location and Buchtel the right person to provide the financial support. They were right. He subscribed $31,000, which confirmed the location.
On May 31, 1870, the trustees of the Ohio Universalist Convention and the Committee on Education met at the Summit County Courthouse and voted unanimously to locate the college in Akron. They also authorized 10 additional people to act with them as corporators who immediately took the legal measures necessary to establish the college. Being the centennial year of Universalism in America, the Ohio Universalists considered the school, which was named Buchtel College, a centennial offering to the denomination.
From The University of Akron Board of Trustees Records in Archival Services.
This page from the first minutes of the Buchtel College Board of Trustees from May 31, 1870 documents the activities that led to the establishment of what would become The University of Akron. It recounts the discussion and decisions that led to the selection of the seal and the name of the college.
Photograph by Carl H. Pockrandt. Courtesy of the Summit County Historical Society.
The central portion of this building was Summit County’s original courthouse, which was completed in 1843. It was in this building on May 31, 1870, that the trustees of the Ohio Universalist Convention and the Committee on Education met and voted unanimously to locate the college in Akron. At that meeting, they also authorized 10 additional people to act with them as corporators who immediately took the legal measures necessary, selected a name for the college, adopted articles of association and a seal, and elected a board of trustees.
From the Buchtel College Records in Archival Services.
These are the original Articles of Incorporation officially founding Buchtel College in Akron, Ohio, on May 31, 1870. The articles were signed by the original corporators, including John R. Buchtel, George Perkins, Rev. George Messenger, Henry Blandy, Rev. Andrew Willson, Henry L. Canfield, Everett L. Rexford, and others, who worked judiciously to bring the college to Akron and to lay the groundwork for its founding and success.
From The University of Akron Artifacts Collection in Archival Services.
This bronze medallion depicts the seal of Buchtel College. The design was proposed by the college corporators at their first meeting, May 31, 1870. It was described as “a circular form . . . bearing upon its face . . . the sun rising over the earth and sea. The name of the school . . . shall be engraved in an outer circle with the location and date of its organization. In the inner circle above the device shall be the motto ‘Let there be light.’” The seal remained unchanged until April 13, 1914, shortly after Buchtel College became The Municipal University of Akron.
