German Lutherans founded Carthage in 1847 in Hillsboro,
Illinois as The Literary and Thological Institute of the Lutheran Church of the Far West. In 1852 the college moved to
Springfield, Illinois and operated under the name
Illinois State University. However, the college closed in 1869 due to bugetary reasons. In 1870 the college was reopened as
Carthage College in Carthage, Illinois. Due to dwindling
enrollment numbers during the 1950s, Carthage decided to open up another campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1962, intending to
eventually relocate the college there. The Wisconsin and Illinois campuses ran simultaneously until 1964, when the Illinois
campus closed their doors and the college and its old traditions were moved to Wisconsin. This was the cause of much discontent
among students at the Illinois campus who were long under the impression that the Illinois and Wisconsin campuses would both be
operated by Carthage.