[1] The congregation of the church was made up of families living on newly settled farms, who chose a central location on which to erect a 2-story building large enough to accommodate a church on the first floor and an academy or secondary school on the second.
[1][2] A small town, first called Haran, but later renamed Weaubleau for the stream upon which it is located, grew up around the Church and Institute.
[2][3] The institute was incorporated under a board of trustees, the majority of whom were to be perpetually drawn from among the members of the church.
[1] One of the college's Presidents, John Whitaker, called it a "frontier college," and wrote that many of the student taught terms in frontier schools to earn their tuition fees.
[2] Some papers related to the college and the Church are held by the State Historical Society of Missouri.