{{No footnotes, date=January 2022
The Huron Institute was a school located in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, in what was then Huron County.
The Huron Institute owed its existence to the extensive revivals of religion in the churches of Huron Presbytery in the years 1830 and 1831. The Institute was incorporated by act of the
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...
in 1832. With the local people being eager for the school to open, the first term was begun in April 1832 several months before the school building was completed in December 1832. Construction costs were $4,000, with $2,000 being raised by the Huron Presbytery and the balance being raised by the village of Milan.
Reverend Elded Barber was the first principal and the purpose of the school as stated in the Board of Trustees minutes was to provide "instruction to youth of both sexes in the higher branches of English education, the learned languages and the liberal arts and sciences."
It was the desire of the trustees of the institute to place education within the reach of all who would avail themselves of it, and in this they succeeded as nearly as was possible. The
tuition was fixed at four dollars per quarter in the classical department, and at three dollars in the English and female department, and the principal took it upon himself to furnish instruction from the avails of the tuition bills. Board was furnished by many of the best families in Milan at merely nominal rates. No student was ever refused admission or dismissed because too poor to pay his way in the institute.
At the time it was established, it was the only school on the
Western Reserve
The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...
west of
Hudson
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People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
where young men could be prepared for college.
The Huron Institute closed in 1857 and re-opened as the Western Reserve Normal School in the next year. The Normal School continued to operate until 1889 when it closed. The building remained standing until 1910 when it was razed.
Notable alumni
*
Omar D. Conger
Omar Dwight Conger (April 1, 1818July 11, 1898) was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan.
Conger was born in Cooperstown, New York, and moved with his father, the Rev. E. Conger, to Huron County, Ohio, in 1824. He p ...
,
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
and
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...