Encyclopedia Trinitiana

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====== Washington College ======

[{{ :pages_from_trustees_vol1.pdf.jpg?300|The first page of the Trinity Trustees minutes, May 1823. Photo credit: Trinity College Archives}}]

Trinity College was first named "Washington College" in order to avoid association with its [[Episcopal|Episcopal]] roots while petitioning for a college [[charter|charter]]. However, due in part to alumni dissatisfaction, the institution changed its name to Trinity College in 1845. 

During the late 1700s, Connecticut only had one college, Yale, which had congregationalist roots. Connecticut's first Bishop, [[seabury_samuel|Samuel Seabury Jr.]], intended to support an Episcopal college in Connecticut, and during his tenure the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire opened in 1794. Though it taught "the English language, Philosophy, Mathematics, History, and every other science usually taught at colleges," the Academy was unable to receive approval from the Connecticut General Assembly as the "Episcopal College of Connecticut," despite several petitions in the early 1800s. Today, the Cheshire Academy still operates as a college preparatory academy and one of its buildings, Bowden Hall, erected in 1796, is not only the oldest, continuously operating schoolhouse in the United States, but houses Trinity's old [[bell|bell]].

The dream of opening a Connecticut Episcopal college, however, persisted. In 1819, the [[brownell_thomas_church|Reverend Thomas Church Brownell]] was elected Bishop of Connecticut. Brownell, seeing the progress made by other states in establishing Episcopal institutions of learning, organized 18 clergymen in December 1822 to draft a petition to the Connecticut General Assembly for a college charter. The petition was completed by March 20, 1823, and was ready to be presented during the first Wednesday in May.

Brownell and his associates, which included Episcopalians as well as non-Episcopalians, chose the name "Washington College" in favor of "Seabury" in order to "avoid anything in either their propagandizing or in the petition itself which would jeopardize their case." In other words, naming the college after the former President of the United States "could have given offense to no one." Thanks to Brownell and company's strategy, the bill passed through Connecticut legislature without incident and Washington College was granted its charter on May 16, 1823. Downtown [[hartford|Hartford]] was chosen as its [[old_campus|location]] based on a winning vote. Brownell went on to become the first [[presidents|president]] of the new university.

Washington College was not a popular name among alumni and as early as 1842, there was a desire to change the College's name to something more closely associated with the Episcopal Church. The name "Brownell" was first recommended but Brownell, at that time no longer president but still heavily involved in the College, opposed it, so "Trinity" was recommended instead. In Christianity, the "holy trinity" is an important symbol, and the name was meant to "attest forever the faith of its founders, and their zeal for the perpetual glory and honor of the one holy and undivided Trinity."

On May 8, 1845, the [[trustees|Trustees]] of Trinity College held a special meeting, wherein a committee presented a report on "the expediency of changing the name of the College." The report read that there were at least four colleges in the United States with the name "Washington," in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Connecticut. Though the name change was in part directly related to recognizing its relationship with the Episcopal Church, it was not mentioned in the bill presented to legislature. On May 23, 1845, the bill passed and the name of the College officially changed to Trinity College. 


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===== Sources =====
[[https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:x633fb60t|Plan of the city of Hartford from a survey made in 1824]] (1824), surveyed and published by Daniel St. John and N. Goodwin ; engraved by Asaph Willard (1786-1880). Held by Boston Public Library.

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/trustees_mins/10/|Trinity College Board of Trustees Minutes Vol. 1, Part 1]] (1823-1860), by the Trustees of Trinity College.

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/4/|The History of Trinity College]] (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 1-90.

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