From: The Home and foreign record of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A, Volume 1 (1850)
Author: Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. , Presbyterian Board of Publication, pp. 38-39. View Online
Mcdonough College, Illinois.
McDonough College, located at McDonough, in Macomb county, in the north-western part of Illinois, has recently been brought under the superintendence of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbytery of Schuyler deserves great praise for the energy with which they have undertaken the management of this institution. We place on record a brief account of the history and present condition of the college, taken from a statement made by a committee of the Presbytery, consisting of the Rev. W. F. Ferguson, T. S. Vail, and J. Dickson.
Twelve or fifteen years ago, a college bearing the above title was located at Macomb, McDonough county. A respectable building, worth some three or four thousand dollars, was erected, and an institution of learning was commenced. But, through some mismanagement, a debt due to the mechanics who built the house was left unpaid; and, the funds being exhausted, the school was soon discontinued, the building became dilapidated, and was finally sold under the mechanics’ lien to pay the debt. It was purchased by the Masonic Lodge at Macomb, with a view of establishing a college under the control of the Grand Lodge of the State. The Grand Lodge having deferred acting in the case, the Macomb Lodge tendered the building to the Presbytery of Schuyler, on certain conditions, which conditions were finally withdrawn; and the Presbytery became the purchaser and sole proprietor and manager of the institution, with a view to establish a Presbyterian College ; the Macomb Lodge making a handsome donation to the Presbytery, in the sale or transfer of the building, on the sole condition that said Presbytery should complete the building and continue a suitable school or college in the same. In the mean time a new charter was obtained, and the institution was opened the second Monday of Nov. ult, with about forty students under the care of the Rev. Ralph Harris, with a prospect of a large increase.
The Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church has made a donation of four hundred dollars to aid in the support of professors the present year, and assist in purchasing the building. By means of this donation, the Presbytery has been able to purchase the building and commence the institution under favourable auspices. Some four or five hundred dollars have been expended in repairing the building so as to prepare the lower story for the reception of students, most of which has been raised by the citizens of Macomb and McDonough county. Five hundred dollars are yet necessary to complete the building and improve the lot so as to make it comfortable for students. When this is done, it will accommodate from one hundred to one hundred and fifty students. The institution will be open and free to all who may wish to resort to it, and all shall enjoy equal advantages. The object of those wbo manage the institution is, to make it a seat of sound Christian education. It is a chartered college, and competent to confer degrees ; and the plan of the institution contemplates as thorough a course of mental training as any of the colleges of our country. The number of professors will be increased as the wants of the college may require, until there is a full and competent faculty. Library and apparatus will be added, as means may be furnished, and the wants of the institution demand.
The year is divided into two sessions of five months each, commencing hereafter the first Monday of November and the first Monday of May, and closing the last of March and the last of September.
Tuition has been placed low, so as to bring the advantages of the institution, as for as possible, within the reach of all. Primary class $5 per, session; second class $7; college classes $10 per session. Boarding can be had cheap in respectable families, from $1 to $1.50 per week.
This young college, which has made a favourable beginning, is destined, we trust, to exert an important influence on the cause of education and religion in Illinois.