On Sept. 23, 1899, Elizabethtown College was officially chartered by the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.
Samuel H. Hertzler, Joseph Rider, B.G. Groff, J.H. Eshleman, and Simon P. Engle all signed the charter, which had been in the works since the first meeting of the College Board of Trustees on June 16, 1899. Hertzler, Eshleman, and Rider presented the charter in person to a notary public on Sept. 16. Seven days later, Judge Charles I. Landis granted the charter, officially establishing Elizabethtown College as a corporation in Lancaster County.
The College was to be under the control of the German Baptist Brethren Church comprising the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and managed by a nine-member Board of Trustees. The original charter stated that Elizabethtown College’s purpose as a higher education institution was to develop student’s “physical, mental, and moral powers” with instruction in three departments: Bible, Collegiate, and Academic. View the charter.
The High Library will have the original, handwritten charter on display on the second floor throughout Charter Week from Sept. 23 through 29. The charter, which has been housed in the College library for decades, will be displayed in its 28.5” x 19.5” frame.
Read more about the early history of Elizabethtown College with a look back at the 1900s on etown.edu/125.