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Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" named in his honor, through generous financial support, and through service on the college's Board of Visitors and Governors. Washington College is the 10th-oldest college in the United States and was the first college chartered after American independence. The school became coeducational in 1891. ==History== Washington College evolved from the Kent County Free School, an institution of more than 60 years’ standing in “Chester Town,” which by the college’s founding date of 1782 had reached considerable strength and importance as a port city. George Washington consented to the fledgling college’s use of his name, pledged the sum of 50 guineas to its establishment, and extended his warm wishes for the “lasting and extensive usefulness” of the institution.〔George Washington to William Smith, August 18, 1782. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress〕 He would later serve on Washington College’s Board of Visitors and Governors—his only such involvement with an institution of higher learning during his lifetime. The college’s first president, the Reverend William Smith, was a prominent figure in colonial affairs of letters and church, and he had a wide acquaintance among the great men of colonial days including Benjamin Franklin. Joining General Washington on the Board of Visitors and Governors of the new college were such distinguished figures as U.S. Senator John Henry, Congressman Joshua Seney and his Excellency William Paca, Governor of Maryland. The Maryland legislature granted its first college charter upon Washington College in May 1782.〔()〕 The following spring, on May 14, 1783, the college held its first commencement. President Smith had envisaged Washington College as the Eastern Shore Campus of a public University of Maryland with St. John's College as its Western Shore counterpart, a proposal incorporated into the later institution's 1784 state charter, but the Maryland General Assembly reluctance to provide funding meant this was never more than a paper institution and the relationship ended with Smith's return to Philadelphia in 1789. With his election as first President of the United States, General Washington retired from the Board of Visitors and Governors and accepted the honorary degree of doctor of laws, which a delegation from Chestertown presented to him on June 24, 1789, in New York, then the seat of Congress. Since Washington’s last visit to campus, Washington College has hosted five U.S. presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and George H. W. Bush. The original college building cornerstone was laid in May 1783, it opened in 1788 after selling off acreage and starting a lottery to fund the project. The hall was still incomplete by 1794 and was destroyed by a basement fire January 11, 1827. The oldest existing building — Middle Hall — was erected in 1844 on the site of the original college building. By 1860, Middle Hall was joined by East and West Halls. All three structures, known as the Hill Dorms, are on the Maryland Register of Historic Places.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?NRID=557&crowd=chestertown&county=kent&map=nrmapke.html&from=nrcrowdlist.aspx?county=kent )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Washington College」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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