Hillsdale College history

In March 1845, the government of Michigan incorporated the college, and the college enrolled 25 undergraduates by the end of its first year.

Edmund Burke Fairfield assumed the presidency of Michigan Central College in 1848.

In 1850 the college finally received a charter from the Michigan Legislature, a charter that became a prize to be won when the lack of money to improve Michigan Central College provided the impetus for its relocation to Hillsdale.

"May earth be better and heaven be richer because of the life and labor of Hillsdale College." Prayer in Bible placed inside the cornerstone of Central Hall, 1853

Doctor Cressy, one of the original supporters for moving Michigan Central College to Hillsdale, was elected to the state Senate in 1854 and set about amending the current law that prohibited special charters for colleges.

Articles of Association were adopted on March 22, 1855, and on May 17, 1855, Hillsdale was incorporated under the new college law and received its charter.

A prominent leader, Fairfield attended the first Republican Party convention in 1858, and was elected lieutenant governor of Michigan.

On August 8, 1860, Hillsdale conferred its first degrees.

In 1861, many Hillsdale students joined the ranks of the Union Army during the American Civil War; a higher percentage of Hillsdale students enlisted than from any other Michigan college.

On March 20, 1863, the Michigan legislature formally legalized Hillsdale's change of name and location.

Hillsdale's Delta Tau Delta chapter, its first fraternity, was chartered on October 19, 1867.

Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., opened in 1868 and was the first American university to be divided into colleges offering different degrees.

When Johns Hopkins University opened in 1876, it was divided administratively into an undergraduate college and a graduate school.

But English universities founded after 1879—commonly called “red brick” universities—have no colleges.

In 1884, Spencer O. Fisher became the first Hillsdale alumnus elected to Congress.

In 1902, Joseph William Mauck became the college's sixth president, the first Hillsdale graduate to return as president of his alma mater.

During this time, Hillsdale acquired its 14-acre Slayton Arboretum, built new dormitories, constructed a new field house for its developing athletic programs, and, in 1924, chartered its chapter of Chi Omega.

In 1962, the college's trustees adopted its own "Declaration of Independence". It affirmed Hillsdale's stance against governmental control.

Russell Kirk taught at Hillsdale one semester a year throughout this time, beginning in 1973.

In 1975 the college refused to comply with a federal demand for an affirmative action plan, making its students ineligible for federal benefits including loans and G.I. Bill aid.

Following almost a decade of litigation, the United States Supreme Court decided against Hillsdale in 1984.

Roche resigned in late 1999, following his daughter-in-law Lissa Jackson Roche's suicide and her allegations of personal scandal.