Having grown from a Reformed Church academy, Marshall College,
opened in 1836 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The school was named for the fourth Chief Justice of the United States
John Marshall, who had died the previous year.During its first year, 18 students were taught by Frederick Augustus Rauch and his assistant, Samuel A. Budd. Rauch, an
acclaimed young scholar and theologian from Germany who authored the first American textbook in psychology, also served as the
College’s president. The faculty grew in both size and status with the addition of John Williamson Nevin
and another German scholar, church historian Philip Schaff. Nevin became
the college’s president upon Rauch’s sudden death in 1841.However, despite being initially well-funded, Marshall College began to experience financial difficulties of its own. By the
late 1840s, financial support and enthusiasm among the local community had virtually disappeared, despite a growing reputation
that attracted students from as far away as the West Indies.