[citation needed] He remained in office until 1836, when he was elected as editor of The Christian Advocate and Journal, an important periodical for the M.E.
[citation needed] The institution is said to have "opened most favorably," with a total enrollment of 341 the first year (1831–32), with 170-180 students attending at any one time.
[citation needed]In 1856-57 he was made Principal of the Genesee Model School in Lima, New York, an offshoot of the seminary.
Its difficulties were compounded by the next set of technological changes: the railroad that displaced the Erie Canal as the region's economic engine bypassed Lima completely.
In 1866, after several hard years, the trustees of the struggling college decided to seek a locale whose economic and transportation advantages could provide a better base of support.
[citation needed] As Genesee College began looking for a new home, the bustling community of Syracuse, ninety miles to the east, was engaged in a search of its own.
The rail age had expanded the prosperity brought by the Erie Canal, and the city was booming, but its citizens yearned for something more: "What gives to Oxford and Cambridge, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, to New Haven, Connecticut, their most illustrious names abroad?"
"[2]After a year of dispute between the Methodist ministers, Lima and contending cities across the state, it was resolved to remove the college to Syracuse, New York.