After 180 years, this University in Iowa closed in 2023
Iowa Wesleyan College Old Main Building, Mount Pleasant Iowa
The College was founded in 1842. Citing financial difficulties, it closed in May 2023, leaving an economic hole in the town of just over 9,000 residents in southeastern Iowa.
Old Main was planned and built under the leadership of College President, James Harlan (1853-1855). At the time of his acceptance of the presidency, the institution was called the Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute. The change of name to Iowa Wesleyan University with a new Iowa State Charter took place in 1855, as one of the goals of James Harlan in his presidency. The second goal was the construction of Old Main. James Harlan resigned the presidency of Iowa Wesleyan University in 1855 to become United States Senator from Iowa. He held that position until 1872 with a brief gap when he served as Secretary of the Interior (1865-1867). He returned to Mount Pleasant in 1873 and remained there until his death on October 5th, 1899. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Iowa Wesleyan from his resignation as president until his death.
The minutes of the Board of Trustees for the Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute for June 1853 authorize a campaign to raise $15,000.00 for the construction of the building. A fund drive was conducted by James Harlarand the Reverand Isaac Stewart, a member of the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who had been appointed Agent of the Institute. This campaign continued during the summer of 1853 on a door-to-door solicitation. In March 1854, the Trustees authorized the construction of a building 55 x 100 feet. Bids were advertised in The Observer on March 28th, 1854, and the contract was let to Alexander Lee on April 27th, 1854. The cornerstone was laid with special civic ceremonies on July 4th, 1854, and the sale of scholarship bonds for additional funds was authorized on October 3rd 1854.
The earliest representation of the building is an idealized steel engraving used on college stationery and on the scholarship bonds sold in 1855 and subsequent years.
Some construction work and all of the brick burning was done by Benjamin Franklin Pearson of Keosauqua, Iowa, builder of the historic Pearson House and other buildings in the state.
The building was first occupied for classes in the fall term of 1855. It has been used continuously by Iowa Wesleyan College for classes since that day. At one time the building housed a natural history museum, the college chapel, and the college library as well as social halls of the Literary Societies.
The P. E. O. Sisterhood, an international women's organization, was founded by seven Iowa Wesleyan College women students on January 21st, 1869 in the second floor music room. That room was designated by the Iowa State Chapter of the P. E. O. Sisterhood as the Founders' Room in 1917 when a bronze plaque was placed on the wall. The room was set aside as a memorial site at that time and is under the care of Chapter Original A of the P. E. O. Sisterhood, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
During the nineteenth century, the building was known simply as "the main building" or "the main edifice." After the construction of the Iowa Wesleyan Chapel building in 1892 and Hershey Hall in 1898, the names "Main" and then "Old Main" developed by common usage. A variety of college publications shows the gradual un-official movement from lower-case to upper-case letters.
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Building Description
Old Main is a three-story brick building 55 x 100 feet, constructed of local brick, which had been prepared by Benjamin Franklin Pearson of Keosauqua, builder of the historic Pearson home and other buildings in Keosauqua. The facade has a modified classic appearance with careful spacing of windows and doorways for simplicity and clarity of design.
The arched windows and doorways are accentuated with granite hoods and the front facade is marked by brick pilasters for the lower level. The wall and roof edges are marked by a continuous wood cornice spaced by wooden pilasters. The building is surmounted by a square wooden cupola topped with a low dome which has traditionally been painted gold.
The interior of the building is divided into two equal parts by a central stairwell with a gracefully curving staircase and landings between each level. These are surmounted by an arch of pleasing dimensions. Each stair landing has a large window of colored glasses.
The layout of the interior is entirely functional with classrooms of various sizes opening from a central hallway on the first and second levels. The rooms on the third level are of more generous proportions since they were originally designed for such purposes as library, natural history museum, and chapel.
Front view, taken from the south (1972)
View from southwest (1974)
