Rockville, Indiana petition to Methodist Episcopal Church for establishment of Indiana Asbury University

Methodist leaders were ready to launch some kind of venture in higher education during the 1830s due to the dominating presence of Presbyterian educational institutions such as Hanover (1827), Wabash (1832) and the Indiana Academy (1825) now known as Indiana University (1838). The Indiana Conference attempted to persuade the Indiana General Assembly to force Presbyterianians to share with the Methodists in the management and faculty at the Indiana Academy which was a failed attempt. The Indiana Conference took final action on a proposal at its Indianapolis meeting in 1836, when it decided to establish “an institution of the first order.. upon an extensive plan of operation and equal to any College or University in the valley of the Mississippi.” A committee was set to draw up a charter for the Indiana General Assembly to approve while another committee evaluated offers from various towns to compete for the location of the institution. The locations in competition were: Indianapolis, Lafayette, Madison, Rockville, Putnamville, and Greencastle. The town of Greencastle raised $25,000.00 and won the bid for the institution. Another factor was Greencastle’s overall “healthfulness.” A community member, Dr. Tarvin Cowgill, supposedly said “people never die in Greencastle, although for convenience they have a cemetery there.”

This petition dated, August 29, 1836, mentions the overall “healthy situation” in Rockville, Indiana and the close proximity to the Wabash and Erie Canal as well as the Wabash River.