Wabash College history

At first he was the sole instructor as well as principal, but by 1835 Wabash College had a faculty and Mills was professor of languages.

Starting in 1846 he wrote anonymous messages (signed “One of the People”) to each Indiana state legislator.

The college was initially named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary and Manual Labor College", a name shortened to its current form by 1851.

He continued writing until, in 1852, the legislature passed an act that established a system of common schools and provided tax support for them.

In the interim, Mills served as state superintendent of public instruction (1854–57). During his administration, he helped found the Indiana State Teachers Association, and he awakened the people of the state to the need for normal schools to produce better-trained teachers.

Joseph F. Tuttle, who became president of Wabash College in 1862 and served for 30 years, worked with his administrators to improve town-gown relations in Crawfordsville.

Owing to legislative imperfections the act was later invalidated by state courts, but a subsequent act in 1865 finally established the system.

17, 1879, Crawfordsville, Ind.), American educator known as the father of Indiana’s public schools.

As the 1920’s progressed the club began taking an interest in events and activities benefiting the Wabash community at-large.

Announcement of the founding of the Sphinx Club in The Bachelor, December 16,1921

The first formal banquet honoring the Wabash football team was sponsored by the Sphinx Club in 1927 and the club continued it as an annual event for several years.

Members began serving as judges for the annual Homecoming float contest among the fraternities in the early 1930’s.

First appearance of the Wally mascot in The Wabash, 1956

The referendum, which was held on December 10, 1960, passed by more than a three-to-one margin, 2,195 to 631, to establish a junior college – our Wabash Valley College.

1, 1961. (Bluff Cottage, located near Mt.

WVC’s first Commencement was held on June 2, 1963, in the American Legion Auditorium.

On July 14, 1964, ground was broken for the first building, which was named Main Hall.

Prior to the 1969 merger with Olney Central College, WVC had three Deans:

In 1970, the new Senate called on the Sphinx Club to take over “freshman sing”, an event where all freshmen would gather to prove their knowledge of Old Wabash, the school fight song.

The first play which was presented in the Brubeck Theatre was on October 13, 1973. “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” directed by Barbara Wallace, opened a week of dedication activities for the new Learning Resource Center (Bauer Media Center) and the Fine Arts Building (Brubeck Arts Center).

The 1980’s brought a more active role for the Sphinx Club in cheer leading at Wabash home sporting events.

Sphinx Club members at a home football game as pictured in The Wabash, 1987

In 1996, Wabash became the first college in America to stage Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

The Sphinx Club organized a revival of a voluntary chapel hour in 1997.

- an executive director of the NCAA Project 2000

WVC won its first National Championship title in Athletics in 2001 when the Warriors basketball team won the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Wabash National Study began in 2006, when first-year students from 19 institutions completed a series of surveys that gathered information about their precollege experiences and that measured liberal arts outcomes.

In spring 2007, students from this first cohort returned for follow-up assessments on their college experiences and the liberal arts outcomes.

And in fall 2008, 26 institutions joined the study, including Wabash College, Hampshire College, and the University of Rhode Island, which entered for additional rounds.