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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.
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��such an institution became more and more ap- parent and acknowledged b}- the church at large. Under these circumstances, repeated offers were made to Elder S. Z. Sharp, then Professor in Mar^^ville College, Tennessee, to take charge of the enterprise and bring it to a successful issue, which, after mature reflection, he accepted, and, in the summer of 1877, made a tour through Ohio in quest of a suitable loca- tion. Of the many places proposed, Ashland was selected ; and in June, 1877, a meeting was called of all the business men in Ashland ; the aims of the founders and the character of the proposed college presented to the crowded assembly in the town hall. Among the prom- inent features of the institution were men- tioned " freedom from yain show and extrava- gance in dress," assuming that " high intellectual and moral attainments" were the true objects to be placed before the student. The citizens of Ashland at once seconded the proposition to establish such an institution at this place, and raised SI 0.000 toward the erection of buildings, while agents were at work elsewhere collecting funds.
A corporation was formed, and, on February 22, 1878, a charter obtained b}' which the insti- tution was placed under the care of the church of the Brethren, and legallj^ on an equality with the best in the State. In the following summer, the main building was erected, 100 feet deep, 100 wide, and four stories high, with ten recitation-rooms, professors' rooms, literary halls, offices, and chapel for the accommodation of 500 students.
During the summer of 1879, another build- ing, 110 feet long and four stories high, was erected as dormitory and boarding hall. The buildings and grounds are valued at $60,000.
On the 17th of September, 1879, the college was formally opened ; fifty-nine students regis- tering their names the first day ; seventy-five during the first week, and closed December 24 with 112 enrolled.
��The charter provides for four departments : First, classical, with the degree of A. B.; second, philosophical, with the degree of Ph. B.; third, normal ; fourth, commercial. Students com- pleting either of the last two, will receive suit- able certificates of graduation. A department has also been added to prepare those wishing to take a scientific and classical course.
Each course is based on the most natural and philosophic plan by which all the powers of the mind are developed simultaneously and sym- metrically, and the time of the student divided among language, mathematics, science and phil- osophy, while opportunities are offered to study some of the fine arts.
The classical course requires four years to complete, and the studies are arranged as fol- lows :
Freshmen Year— First term. Virgil, Anabasis, geometry, sacred history ; second term, Virgil. Anabasis, higher algebra, sacred history ; third term, Cicero's De Senectute et Amicitia, Mem- orabilia, higher algebra completed, botan}'.
Sophomore Year — First term. Livy, Memora- bilia, trigonometry and surveying, chemistry, lectures on Roman history ; second term, Horace's Odes and Epodes, Homer's Iliad, trig- onometry and navigation, lectures and Greek history ; third term, Horace's Satires, political economy, general geometrj', zoology.
Junior Year — First term. Tacitus. March's English grammar and Milton, mental phil- osophy (elective), German, Greek or mathemat- ics ; second term, Demosthenes' Corona, men- tal philosophy, Gonafs Physics (elective), ancient or modern languages ; third term, En- glish literature, moral philosophy, physics (elective), ancient or modern languages, mathe- matics or science.
Senior Year — First term, philosophy, art of discourse, church history, geology and mineral- ogy, French ; second term, history of philosophy, rhetoric, Eusebius, astronomy-, New Testament history (elective), modern languages ; third
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