County of site: Sullivan County
Location of site: 8555 Phillips St., Merom
Collge existed: 1859 to 1924
Architects: O.H. Wheelock; G.W. Webster
" In the Sullivan County Democrat of September 20, 1856, is a card announcing that the Merom Bluff Academy, a new institution, will open October 1st, with Mr. E. W. Humphreys as Principal. He and his wife were the faculty, and the old court house building, abandoned on the removal of the county seat a dozen years before, and which stood on the site now occupied by the Merom town school, was the quarters of the academy. The academy was conducted with success for several years, until the proprietor, while on a trip abroad, conceived the plan of making a college out of his school.
"A convention of delegates of the various conferences of the Christian Church met, November 4, 1858,at Peru, Indiana, "to consider the interests of the Christian Church in the west and the propriety of erecting an institution of learning in the State of Indiana." The convention decided to "recommend the establishment of an institution of learning in the State of Indiana to be under the control of the Christian conferences in the state and vicinity." A committee was appointed to decide upon a location and to take all necessary steps to carry out the recommendations of the convention. The committee decided upon Merom as the location and the name Union Christian College was adopted as the name of the new institution.
"The first sessions of the new college were held in the old court house, as the five-story brick building was not completed until 1862. Thomas Kearns, of Merom, was credited with the skill and executive ability which resulted in the successful construction of this building. N. Summerbell was the first president after Mr. Humphreys, and was succeeded by Thomas Holmes, and he by T. C. Smith. The last named resigned in 1882, and was succeeded by Rev. Elisha Mudge.
"In 1902 the college received $50,000 endowment, as a result of the will of Francis Asbury Palmer, formerly President of the National Broadway Bank, of New York City, who offered the college $30,000 provided $20,000 was raised by other subscriptions. Dr. J. C. Jones, President of the college, worked with others vigorously to secure the funds. The death of Dr. Jones occurred in 1907, and he was succeeded by O. B. Whitaker, who is now President of the school. Union Christian College is an accredited normal school. Its average attendance is about 125, the students for the most part living within a radius of forty or fifty mile of Merom. Recently there has been completed a handsome dormitory for the women residents of the school. The school is on a fairly prosperous basis, and its half century of active educational and moral influence has been felt in the lives of hundreds of men and women whose names are synonymous with civic and business integrity." ~ Source: A History of Sullivan County, Indiana. Closing of the first century’s history of the county and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth. Thomas J. Wolfe, Editor. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909, page 130-131
A great image from Indiana Historical Society