Page "Franklin & Marshall College" Paragraph 3

Franklin College was chartered on June 6, 1787 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on the site of a former brewery.

It was named for Benjamin Franklin, who donated £ 200 to the new institution.

Founded by four prominent ministers from the German Reformed Church and the Lutheran Church, in conjunction with numerous Philadelphians, the school was established as a German college whose goal was " to preserve our present republican system of government ," and " to promote those improvements in the arts and sciences which alone render nations respectable, great and happy.

" Its first trustees included five signers of the Declaration of Independence, two members of the Constitutional Convention and seven officers of the Revolutionary War.