Shurtleff College

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Shurtleff College was founded 1827 in Alton, Illinois by Reverend John Mason Peck as Alton Seminary. It became Shurtleff College in 1836 honoring Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Boston, who donated $10,000 to the college. Andrew Carnegie in 1910 donated $15,000 for construction of a library. In 1950 Shurtleff reached its peak enrollment of 700 students, also seeing its highest number of graduates that year, 99.

The school ceased operating as Shurtleff College on June 30, 1957, when it became part of the Southern Illinois University system. Students enrolled at Shurtleff at the time continued their education and the last twenty-eight students of Shurtleff College graduated in 1958. Shurtleff College was the oldest Baptist college west of the Appalachians until it was absorbed by Southern Illinois University.

The college's first year as an SIU campus saw a jump on enrollment to 1,200 students. In two years the enrollment doubled. The Alton campus flourished until 1965 when SIU opened a campus at nearby Edwardsville, which became Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. In 1972 SIU decided to use the Alton campus for a branch of dental medicine. In its first year as a dental school SIU enrolled twenty-four students.

[edit] Well-known alumni

Shurtleff gained the national spotlight in 1938 when Robert Pershing Wadlow enrolled. Wadlow, fondly remembered as the "Alton Giant," was the world's tallest man at the time, measuring 272 cm (8 ft 11.1 inches) in height. He was born, educated, and buried in Alton. Today a statue of Wadlow stands on the campus that was his alma mater.