Amherst College, founded in 1821, has developed…
June 1821 CE
The college was originally suggested as an alternative to Williams College, which is struggling to stay open.
Although Williams remains open, Amherst is formed and diverges from its Williams roots into an individual institution.
Funds had been raised in Amherst in 1812 for a secondary school, Amherst Academy; it had opened December 1814 and incorporated in 1816.
The institution is named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, a veteran from the Seven Years' War and later commanding general of the British forces in North America.
On November 18, 1817, a project was adopted at the Academy to raise funds for the free instruction of "indigent young men of promising talents and hopeful piety, who shall manifest a desire to obtain a liberal education with a sole view to the Christian ministry."
This required a substantial investment from benefactors.
During the fundraising for the project, it became clear that without larger designs, it would be impossible to raise sufficient funds.
This led the committee overseeing the project to conclude that a new institution should be created.
On August 18, 1818, the Amherst Academy board of trustees had accepted this conclusion and began building a new college.
Moore, then President of Williams College, however, still believes that Williamstown is an unsuitable location for a college, and with the advent of Amherst College is elected its first president on May 8, 1821.
At its opening, Amherst has forty-seven students.
Fifteen of these have followed Moore from Williams College.
Those fifteen represent about one-third of the whole number at Amherst, and about one-fifth of the whole number in the three classes to which they belong in Williams College.