If colleges once get a standing place they display a vitality that is phenomenal. The amount of self-sacrifice that is often manifested to keep them going is a tribute to the hearts of those who engage in such despairing tasks, but it occasionally reflects upon their heads. Sometimes the case is so hopeless that they are left to their fate. There are those living who knew something of McDonough College. The “Old School ‘ ‘ Presbyterians felt the need of a college upon which they could lavish their affections and their money in the hope that they might produce a body of clergymen that would give success to their propaganda. It received its charter in 1836 and began operations in 1837. It deferred the college idea until 1848, contenting itself meanwhile with the work of an academy. Doubtless it rendered excellent service during that period when secondary schools were so few in number. In that year it secured a new charter and struggled to its feet. Three years later it called a president from Philadelphia, Rev. William F. Ferguson, D. D. For a time its prospects were encouraging, having an attendance as great as that now found in some of our existing colleges, but its following fell away and soon after it died from complete exhaustion.
From: Cook, J. W. (1912). Educational History of Illinois. Chicago: Shepherd & Co. http://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/oca/Books2007-06/educationalhisto00cook/educationalhisto00cook_djvu.txt