(Above image & text courtesy of Karen Campbell)
Article from the August 17, 1870 issue of the Miami-Gazette newspaper, Waynesville, Ohio
FRANKLIN COLLEGE PURCHASED BY THE FRIENDS.
On Monday afternoon the Franklin College Building and grounds [in Wilmington, Ohio] were offered for sale at public auction by the Sheriff of Clinton County at the door of the Court House.
General A. W. Doan, on behalf of the Society of Friends, made the only bid that was offered, two thirds of the appraised value, and it was knocked down to him at $11,333.33.
Committees representing the quarterlies of Miami, Fairfield and Center were present and witnessed the sale and purchase. The Friends have certainly secured a great bargain in this purchase, as there are fifteen acres of desirable grounds attached, and the building in its present unfinished state could not have cost less than $25,000. The several committees above referred to are to meet here again on the day of the Sabbath School celebration and determine upon an immediate course of procedure, looking to the completion of the edifice and preparing it for the purpose intended by the purchase.
The ample grounds are also sufficient for a Yearly Meetinghouse, and this purchase will be the great preliminary move toward securing that desirable branch of the Friends’ Annual Assemblage at Wilmington.
Friends changed the name of the college to Wilmington College. Twenty-two years later, in 1892, when Wilmington Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was established, its annual gathering held on the grounds of Wilmington College. Below is a photo of the “parking lot” at the 1909 Yearly Meeting held on the college campus.
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