Galesburg, Illinois. was once home to two colleges. Knox College is the oldest. It was founded 14 years before Lombard College, which was established by the Universalist Church in 1853. Alumnus Carl Sandburg earned money for school by ringing its bell.*
Lombard College is where Alpha Xi Delta was founded. Pi Beta Phi’s second chapter in Illinois was founded there, too. Pi Phi’s fourth chapter in Illinois was chartered at nearby Knox College. When Lombard College closed in the midst of the Depression, there was never any formal merger of the two colleges, and the Greek-letter organizations did the best they could to keep the Lombard chapters alive. For Pi Beta Phi it meant merging the chapter into the Illinois Beta-Delta Chapter, the only Pi Phi chapter with a dual Greek-letter name. I remember reading something about the Sigma Nu chapter at Lombard. A few years before the closure, the chapter built a new house. Once Lombard closed, the men were suddenly living a few miles away from the Knox campus. It caused problems for the chapter.
Lombard’s last class graduated in 1930. There were 83 students students – 30 seniors, 22 juniors, 28 sophomores and 3 freshmen – who transferred to Knox. The last of them graduated in the Knox College class of 1933. All 7,500 Lombard College alumni and their records were “adopted” by Knox College and the alums were invited to Knox events.
On November 10, 2014, Ray Truedson, the last living alumnus of Lombard College, died at the age of 104. A door closes for Knox College. I offer my sincere condolences to his family and Knox College friends.
This picture, posted on July 22, 2011, is from the Facebook page of Dr. Teresa Amott, the Knox College President, “I just returned from my first alumni event, the annual get-together of the Chicago FYC, held this year at Cantigny Park. Forty Chicago FYC members braved the 100+ degree heat to attend the luncheon and visit with one another and with me. One very special attendee was Ray Truedson, Lombard Class of 1932 and one of four remaining Lombard alumni. Ray was born 101 years ago on February 15th — Founders Day for both Knox and Lombard! We concluded the event with the Knox Fight Song, after which Ray did a solo on the Lombard Fight Song for a few of us.”
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Happy Founders’ Day to Omega Psi Phi and Delta Phi, founded on this day in 1911 and 1917, respectively.
* A search of “Lombard College” in the little search box on this page will bring up the past posts about the college.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
