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Carthage College is a private college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It enrolls 2,667 students.
Carthage awards bachelor's degrees with majors in more than 40 subject areas and master's degrees in three areas. Carthage has 150 faculty. It is an affiliate of the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.
History
Carthage College was founded in Hillsboro, Illinois, by Lutheran pioneers in education, and chartered by the Illinois General Assembly on January 22, 1847. Originally known as The Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church in the Far West, its name was soon shortened to Lutheran College and known locally as Hillsboro College. With a two-person faculty and 79 students, Hillsboro promised "a course of study designed to be thorough and practical, and to embrace all the branches of learning, usually pursued in the best academies and colleges".
In 1852, the college moved to Springfield, Illinois, and was renamed Illinois State University, not to be confused with the institution in Normal, Illinois under the same name. During this period Abraham Lincoln served briefly on the board of trustees from 1860 to 1861, while his son Robert Todd Lincoln was a student in Illinois State University's preparatory academy from 1853 to 1859. Illinois State University's enrollment dwindled during the Civil War and closed in 1868. In 1870, several faculty reestablished the college in the rural west-central city of Carthage, Illinois, where the college acquired its current name, Carthage College.
The Great Depression and World War II lowered enrollment to 131 students in 1943, but enrollment increased again after the war as a result of the G.I. Bill.
After years of financial challenges, shifts in Lutheran synodical support, and searches for a suitable location, Carthage's board of trustees voted unanimously in 1957 to open a campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The lakeshore campus was dedicated on October 14, 1962.
By 1962, the college launched an era of growth. The next decade brought a period of continuous expansion. Enrollment increased fivefold, endowment tripled, and physical assets increased 600 percent. In fall 1995, Carthage enrolled 1,527 full-time students, setting a new record. Since 2001, the college has invested more than $130 million in new construction, major renovations, and technological acquisition.
Expansion
In 2001, the Hedberg Library opened its doors, adjoining the H. F. Johnson Center for the Fine Arts. The library won Wisconsin Library of the Year in 2004. The library also won the Highsmith Award in 2007 for Family Fun Night, a program for community members that encourages learning for children from 2 to 13.[19] The former Ruthrauff Library was renovated into the A. W. Clausen Center for World Business, opening in 2004.
The Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center opened in 2001, and the former Physical Education Center was rebuilt and renamed the Tarble Arena, opening in 2009.
In fall 2011, a new student union opened on the site of the former W. F. Seidemann Natatorium. It houses a new press box, new bleachers, a new and larger bookstore, new dining options, a campus "living room", a new dining room, a 200-seat theatre, an art gallery, and a gaming area. In April 2012 the student center was formally dedicated and named the Campbell Student Union in honor of retiring President F. Gregory Campbell and his wife, Barbara, for their 25 years of service to Carthage. President Campbell retired in August 2012.
The Oaks, a new student residence village overlooking Lake Michigan, opened in 2012, containing six villas with semi-private suites and a media lounge on each floor.
Straz Center
In fall 2015, a new science center opened in the newly renovated David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Natural and Social Sciences. Originally built in 1962, the former Science Hall was renovated and renamed in honor of David A. Straz, Jr., in 1995. The latest $45 million expansion added a new planetarium, twelve new science labs, new classrooms, faculty offices, and student gathering and exhibition spaces.
In fall 2018, the newest residence hall, The Tower, was opened. The Tower provides students with apartment-style suites with personal bathrooms, as well as media lounges on each floor and communal kitchens on every other floor. The new building also presented students with the Terrace, a new studying space with televisions, laptop bars, and a functioning fireplace.