[5] Monmouth College was founded on April 18, 1853, by the Second Presbytery of Illinois of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

The college's campus was still under construction while virtually the entire male student body left for military service.

[12] President Wallace, believing that the college "must educate, whether there be peace or war," kept classes in session for what was then a primarily female student body.

Naval Flight Preparatory School, and later offered a V-5 Navy Academic Refresher Unit program for officers.

Monmouth's chemistry department gained national prominence in the 1950s when longtime professor William S. Haldeman was recognized with a major award by the American Chemical Society.

[18] The Steelman Report on Manpower for Research noted that Monmouth and four other small colleges—Hope, Juniata, St. Olaf and Oberlin—together had "produced more candidates for the doctor's degree in chemistry than Johns Hopkins, Fordham, Columbia, Tulane and Syracuse Universities combined.

Concurrent with dwindling financial support from the United Presbyterian Church, the college removed the Church Synod's role in nominating and confirming trustees, thus allowing for the cultivation of new trustees with stronger business acumen and financial resources than those during the college's earlier days.

Attendance at the college increased but then fell when the draft ended in the 1970s causing financial strain not unlike the losing of students to the Civil War had done in the then distant past.

This curriculum includes four signature courses designed to aid students in making connections across disciplines and understanding their education as an integrated whole.

[36] Over seventy off-campus programs are available in over fifty countries and run for as little as ten days or as long as a year but generally last one semester.

Programs provided through the Associated Colleges of the Midwest consortium take place usually for one semester at over a dozen locales around the globe and include cultural, scientific, economic, historical and other forms of study and research.

[37] These programs include scientific research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, government interning in Washington, D.C., and cultural activities in Florence, Italy.

Summer internships are also available in such offices as Admission, Financial Aid, Student Life, Hewes Library, Marketing communication, and fundraising.

[40] Summer research opportunities exist for students and also incoming freshmen and transfers in the sciences and other areas of study.

Among the resources on the 112-acre (0.45 km2)[41] campus are academic buildings, athletic fields and facilities, three wildlife sanctuaries for the study of ecology, and trails and other areas for hiking.

Notable resources include the Shields Collection of antiquities, the largest privately held collection of Native American artifacts in the region, the only direct copy of the Canopus Stone outside of the Cairo Museum, an astronomical observatory, the Mellinger writing center, the Wackerle Career and Leadership center, and sporting facilities.

In 2008, the April Zorn Memorial Stadium was completed, enlarging the seating capacity for football, lacrosse and track events to 2,600 and adding a new press box.

It encompasses the college's existing Glennie Gymnasium and includes a field house with indoor tennis courts and track, natatorium, fitness complex, wellness suite, locker and training rooms, classrooms and offices.

With over a half-million items catalogued, the Hewes Library provides a large interlibrary loan capability and houses collections of antiquities, rare books, art, and archaeology.

[47] Monmouth College has reduced its energy consumption and has increased its recycling contributions in recent years.

These efforts include energy reduction through the installation of new heating boilers throughout campus, the use of energy-efficient lighting, low-flow water systems and the replacement of windows in nearly all older buildings.

[50] The college provides free access to bicycles for student use,[49] and an electric vehicle recharging station is located on campus.

[54] The college owns a restored civil war cannon (technically called an artillery rifle).

The college is located in a residential neighborhood of Victorian homes, removing it from the safety concerns of many urban campuses.

[59] The athletic teams' nickname, Fighting Scots, was coined in 1928 to reflect the Scotch-Irish heritage of the college's founders.

[68] The men's water polo team won the CWPA Division III Club National Championship in 2012.

[69][70] Monmouth College fields over twenty club athletic teams for men and women spanning about a dozen indoor and outdoor sports.

[59] These include sand volleyball, ultimate frisbee, badminton, floor hockey, wrestling and table tennis in addition to the more traditional flag football, basketball, and softball.

Faculty offices, most lessons and classes, practice rooms, and a piano lab are located in Austin Hall, which is two blocks away.