Union Christian College was a small co-educational college located in Merom,

Sullivan County, Indiana Sullivan County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana, and determined by the US Census Bureau to include the mean center of U.S. population in 1940. As of 2023, the population was estimated at 20,757. The county seat (and the county's only ...

. Founded by the denomination called the Christian Church which eventually merged with the Congregational denomination which later joined with the Evangelical and Reformed Churches to form the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

. It was one of the first co-educational colleges that allowed women to take any class that a man could take. Other co-educational colleges would only allow their women to study home economics, nursing, teaching, secretarial, etc. At UCC women could study to be doctors, lawyers, ministers, or home-makers. UCC was very progressive for its time. One of its most notable alumni was James M. Hamilton (class of 1890), who became the third president of

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

, serving from 1904 to 1919.Burlingame, Merrill G., ed. "Introduction." In ''From Wilderness to Statehood.'' By James M. Hamilton. Portland, Ore.: Binfords & Mort, 1957, p. vii-x. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs Union Christian College existed from 1859 until it closed its doors in 1924. From 1924 to 1936 the buildings were empty except for the summer months when summer youth conferences (summer camp) took place on the grounds In 1936 the facilities were reopened as the Merom Institute and was owned by the Indiana-Kentucky Conference of the United Church of Christ and was known as the Merom Conference Center. In 2016 Merom Conference Center separated from the IKC UCC. It now stands as its own entity, Merom Camp and Retreat Center. It holds 7+ faith-based camps in the summer, and IKC sponsored retreats in the Fall and the Spring, along with private events. It has open pool time for the citizens of Merom every Friday in the summer and helps feed and give checkups to its people year round. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

References

University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Buildings and structures in Sullivan County, Indiana Educational institutions disestablished in 1924 Defunct private universities and colleges in Indiana 1859 establishments in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Sullivan County, Indiana Universities and colleges established in 1859 {{Indiana-university-stub