History of Baldwin Wallace University
In 2012, Baldwin-Wallace College became Baldwin Wallace University and established the BW North Campus Historic District.
The region in Northern Ohio became known as the Western Reserve (a part of which was designated the Firelands, as the state of Connecticut gave land grants to these fire victims).
[1] Baldwin set out to found a Lyceum school, modeled after the Christian perfectionist movement championed by Robert Owen.
[1] Under Wheeler, a local business owner, James Wallace, pledged funds for a new building if college courses were offered.
Baldwin's sense of equality led to the school accepting any student regardless of race or gender,[6][7] and was one of the first in the nation to do so.
German Wallace College and Baldwin University existed in harmony, and students were allowed to take classes from either school.
In the late 1850s and early 1860s, a surge of German workers began to settle in present-day Berea, OH, to work in John Baldwin's sandstone quarries.
German American James Wallace pledged funds to Baldwin Institute under the condition that they offer college courses.
[1] The Reverend Jacob Rothweiler of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who served as a professor at Baldwin University, was appointed 3 June 1863 to inaugurate the movement to establish German Wallace College.
The college was established with the goal of promoting "scientific education and Biblical Christianity" for German Americans.
Rothweiler also sought a place for higher learning for the waves of German immigrants to the United States.
Before becoming a residence hall, it was first a hospital for Civil War veterans, and later believed to function as a mental institution.
This partnership helped bring forth the idea that Baldwin University and German Wallace College should merge.
As well, the remnants of the indoor swimming pool can be seen on the east side of the building, bricks having been left that form a curved shape on the SAC.
[28] BW's Greek life system is unique in that all fraternities and sororities are housed on campus in the school's residence halls.
The campus that exists today can be credited to the leadership of Alfred Bryan Bonds through much of the mid-20th century; during those years, BW grew to be a large and well respected suburban institution.
[1] In 1958, WBWC signed on as the first totally student funded and operated radio station in the United States.
Today, on the south side of the Baldwin Wallace campus, there is a "Tressel Street" named in his honor.
[38][39] Unlike neighboring institutions such as Kent State University and Oberlin College, Baldwin Wallace enjoyed relative calm during the Vietnam War era.
However, the college made headlines in its involvement in the federal witness protection program by producing credentials for mob informants in the 1970s.
In addition, the college purchased existing buildings in the Berea community for academic and student residential use.
During the 1990s, Bagley Hall was originally owned by the Cleveland Browns and was used as the team's summer training facility.
The 21st century at BW can be defined in several ways: the renovation of the campus established by Alfred Bonds; the growth of the campus academically and physically to adapt to a competitive college market; and the end of the presidency of Mark H. Collier and the beginning of Richard Durst's presidency.
In 2011, work began to open the Richard and Karen Durst Welcome Center which is located in the lot between the Union and Heritage Hall.
[49][50] Beyond this, the school expanded its curriculum with an interdisciplinary sustainability major, an environmental studies minor and courses in Green Business.
[51][52] The last sitting president prior to Obama to visit BW was Ronald Reagan during George H. W. Bush's 1988 Presidential run.
[53][54] The 2016 Presidential campaign resulted in visits from Bernie Sanders[55] and BW hosting John Kasich's Republican Ohio Primary Victory party.
[56] In the fall of 2011, President Dick Durst developed a task force to explore a name change possibility.
On February 11, 2012, it was announced that Baldwin-Wallace College would become Baldwin Wallace University after approval by the BW Board of Trustees.
In the summer of 2013, BW reopened the newly renovated Packard Center football facility formally called "Bagley Hall".
