- Lombard College
Lombard College was a college located in
Galesburg, Illinois .History
Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the
Universalist Church as the Illinois Liberal Institute. In 1855, however, a major fire damaged much of the college, placing its future at risk, but a large gift fromBenjamin Lombard , anIllinois farmer and businessman, rescued the institution, rechristened as Lombard University. The official name of the school was changed to Lombard College in 1899.Lombard was
coeducational from its founding, reflecting the Universalist philosophy. The institution was the seat of theRyder School of Divinity from sometime in the 1880s until 1913. The very first chapter of the national sorority Alpha Xi Delta was also founded there in 1893.Lombard College was a member of the
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1910-1929.The
Great Depression proved to be too much for Lombard; the last class was graduated in 1930. While Lombard did not merge, some of its students transferred to nearby Knox College, and its alumni activities take place at Knox.Notable alumni
*
Edwin H. Conger - U.S. Congressman, diplomat, and ambassador toChina
*Carl Sandburg - author, poet,Pulitzer Prize winner
*Paul Jordan Smith - editor, educator, poet
*Dorothy Tilden Spoerl - theologian, writer, educator
*Evar Swanson - professionalbaseball and football player; fastest player in history of baseball
*Sewall G. Wright - geneticist
*Quincy Wright - educator, poet, economist
*Theodore Paul Wright - engineer, first director of theCivil Aeronautics Administration
*Ken Carpenter, the late radio and TV announcerNotable faculty
*
Phillip Green Wright
*David Starr Jordan - ichthyologist, president of Indiana University; founding president ofStanford University External links
* [http://catalog.knox.edu/archives/manuscripts/lombard.htm The Lombard College Collection] at Knox College
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