The Carlisle Grammar School had been founded in 1773 as a frontier Latin school for young males in western Pennsylvania.
Within years, Carlisle's elite, especially James Wilson and John Montgomery, were pushing for development of the school as a college
In 1782 Benjamin Rush, a leader during the American Revolution and the preeminent physician in the new nation, had met in Philadelphia with Montgomery and William Bingham, a prominent businessman and politician.
As their conversation about founding a frontier college in Carlisle took place on his porch, "Bingham's Porch" will long be a rallying cry at Dickinson.
Dickinson College is chartered by the Pennsylvania legislature on September 9, 1783, six days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris that ends the American Revolution; it is the first college to be founded in the newly independent nation.
Rush intends to name the college after the President of Pennsylvania John Dickinson and his wife Mary Norris Dickinson, proposing "John and Mary's College."
The Dickinsons have given the new college an extensive library which they jointly owned, one of the largest libraries in the colonies.
The name Dickinson College is chosen instead.
When founded, its location west of the Susquehanna River makes it the westernmost college in the United States.
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