History

Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the Universalist Church as the Illinois Liberal Institute. In 1855, however, a major fire damaged much of the college, placing its future at risk, but a large gift from Benjamin Lombard, an Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 farmer and businessman, rescued the institution, rechristened as Lombard University. The official name of the school was changed to Lombard College.

Lombard was coeducational from its founding, reflecting the Universalist philosophy. The institution was the seat of the Ryder School of Divinity from sometime in the 1880s until 1913. The very first chapter of the national sorority Alpha Xi Delta

Alpha Xi Delta

Alpha Xi Delta is a women's fraternity founded on April 17, 1893 at Lombard College, Galesburg, Illinois. Alpha Xi Delta is one of the oldest women's fraternities as well as one of the ten founding fraternities of the National Panhellenic Conference...

 was also founded there in 1893.

Lombard College was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

The Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States.-History:...

 from 1910-1929.

The Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 proved to be too much for Lombard; the last class was graduated in 1930. While Lombard did not merge, some of its students transferred to nearby Knox College

Knox College, Illinois

Knox College is a four-year coeducational private liberal arts college located in Galesburg, Illinois. Knox is classified as a more selective institution by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and is ranked 75th among liberal arts colleges by the 2011 edition of America's Best...

, and its alumni activities take place at Knox. Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...

 fraternity's Delta Theta chapter, which formed at Lombard in 1867 as the Delta Theta Society and became a part of Sigma Nu in 1891, continues its activities at Knox to this day.

The former Lombard College building and campus is currently used as Lombard Middle School.

Notable alumni

• Edwin H. Conger
  Edwin H. Conger
  Edwin Hurd Conger was an Civil War soldier, lawyer, banker, Iowa congressman, and United States diplomat. As the United States' minister to China during the Boxer Rebellion, Conger, his family, and other western diplomatic legations were under siege in Beijing until rescued by the China Relief...
  
   - U.S. Congressman, diplomat, and ambassador to China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  
• Carl Sandburg
  Carl Sandburg
  Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
  
   - author, poet, Pulitzer Prize
  Pulitzer Prize
  The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
  
   winner
• Paul Jordan Smith - editor, educator, poet
• Dorothy Tilden Spoerl - theologian, writer, educator
• Evar Swanson
  Evar Swanson
  Ernest Evar Swanson , was a professional baseball and football player. He played outfielder in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox...
  
   - professional baseball
  Baseball
  Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
  
   and football player; fastest player in history of baseball
• Sewall G. Wright - geneticist
• Quincy Wright
  Quincy Wright
  Philip Quincy Wright was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work and expertise in international law and international relations.- Biography :...
  
   - educator, poet, economist
• Theodore Paul Wright
  Theodore Paul Wright
  Theodore Paul Wright was a U.S. aeronautical engineer and educator. Born in Galesburg, Illinois, he served as acting president of Cornell University in 1951. Theodore P...
  
   - engineer, first director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration
  Civil Aeronautics Administration
  Civil Aeronautics Administration may refer to:*Civil Aeronautics Administration - a division of Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Executive Yuan, Republic of China...
  
  
• Ken Carpenter
  Ken Carpenter (announcer)
  Kenneth Lee Carpenter was a longtime TV and radio announcer, who was best known for being the announcer for singer and actor Bing Crosby for 27 years.- Early life and education :...
  
  , the late radio and TV announcer

Notable faculty

• Phillip Green Wright
• David Starr Jordan
  David Starr Jordan
  David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
  
   - ichthyologist, president of Indiana University
  Indiana University Bloomington
  Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
  
  ; founding president of Stanford University
  Stanford University
  The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
  
  

External links

• Lombard history
• The Lombard College Collection at Knox College