Monmouth College history

Founded as "Monmouth Academy," the school became Monmouth College after receiving a charter from the state legislature on September 3, 1856.

Two were awarded the Medal of Honor, and Abner C. Harding, a college trustee who raised a regiment composed largely of MC students, was commissioned a brigadier general for his leadership in the defense of Fort Donelson in 1863.

When veterans returning to the college decided to form fraternities, a group of women was determined not to be outdone, and in 1867 established the first fraternity for women, known today as Pi Beta Phi.

The first Black student at the college came in 1868.

Monmouth College had gained national stature by 1911 as shown by its US government classification where 59 colleges and universities ranked higher and 244 ranked lower (out of a total of 345 top colleges).

Monmouth was founded in 1933 to provide opportunity for higher education to area high school graduates who, in those Depression-era days, could not afford to go away to college.

Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale ’46(opens in a new tab) was a POW in Vietnam in 1965 and later president of the Naval War College and candidate for vice president of the United States.

In 1983, a donation from an alumnus committed $5 million to the endowment and launched a $15 million capital campaign, the largest gift in college history to that point.

A Thousand Hearts Devotion: A History of Monmouth College (2002) to celebrate the college sesquicentennial.