Eleutherian College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A National Historic Landmark, Eleutherian College, founded in 1848 as Eleutherian Institute, was the first college in Indiana to admit students without regard to race or sex. Its name comes from the Greek word eleutheros which means "free". It is located in the unincorporated town of Lancaster in Jefferson County. Some of the school's trustees were active in the Underground Railroad and made Lancaster an important stop for fugitive slaves traveling from Madison on the Ohio River to Indianapolis. In 1856, the college had 18 African-American students, 10 of whom were born slaves. In 1860, two hundred students were enrolled, 50 of them African-American. This was at a time when the Indiana constitution prohibited African-American immigration into the state. The college and chapel building, constructed between 1854 and 1856, became a public school in 1888 and remained in use until 1938.
External links
- Historic Eleutherian College
- Eleutherian College Historical Marker
- Abolitionist Movement in Indiana, 1816-1865
- National Park Service: Aboard the Underground Railroad
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