A pioneering Universalist college in Illinois that championed coeducation before closing during the Great Depression.
Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the Universalist Church as the Illinois Liberal Institute. After a devastating fire in 1855, a substantial gift from Benjamin Lombard, a Massachusetts-born farmer and businessman, rescued the institution and led to its renaming. The college was coeducational from its inception, reflecting core Universalist principles of equality and inclusion. It served as the seat of the Ryder School of Divinity from the 1880s until 1913 and was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1910 to 1929.
Lombard was a vibrant center of student organization and social life. The first national chapter of Alpha Xi Delta sorority was founded there in 1893, and Sigma Nu's Delta Theta chapter originated as a local society in 1867 before joining the national fraternity in 1891. Both organizations continued their traditions at nearby Knox College after Lombard's closure. The college's former building and campus are now used as Lombard Middle School.
The Great Depression proved insurmountable for Lombard College, and the institution graduated its final class in 1930. Rather than merging, the college transferred its charter to Meadville Theological School in Chicago, a Unitarian seminary, along with a rare perpetual tax exemption. The combined institution eventually became Meadville Lombard Theological School, preserving Lombard's legacy in theological education.