Wesleyan was founded by Adam Poe and Charles Elliott, leaders of the local Williams Street Methodist Church and residents of Delaware, Ohio, in
1841 when the Delaware residents agreed on the need to establish a university "of the
highest order" in central Ohio. When the Mansion House Hotel went on the market later during the same year, Adam Poe, a pastor of
the Methodist Church in Delaware, Ohio, encouraged citizens of
Delaware to purchase the property. Later, 172 citizens raised a $10,000 contribution and purchased it.Wesleyan opened as a college in 1844. In the 19th century, Ohio Wesleyan University
consisted of several schools: a College of Liberal Arts (founded in 1844), a School of
Oratory (founded in 1894), a School of Music (founded in 1877), a School of Fine Arts (established in 1877) and a Business School
(established in 1895). The university is one of the first universities named for John Wesley, and is among the oldest of the numerous Methodist universities in the U.S. and abroad.The college was originally an all-male institution, but it became coeducational in 1877. Wesleyan's traditions date back to
its founding, when the College of Liberal Arts opened its doors with an enrollment of 29 male students taught by three
professors. The college was housed in Elliott Hall, formerly the Mansion House Hotel, which had been constructed in the early
1830s when the current East Campus was a popular health resort. The resort was known for the “health-giving although
odoriferous waters” of its famed Sulphur Spring, a favorite spot of future generations of students.The Ohio Wesleyan Female College was
established in 1853. In 1857, the female college
moved to Monnett Hall, named for school benefactoress Mary Monnett
Bain. In 1877 the Ohio Wesleyan Female College was merged with the University and became coeducational. Monnett
Hall remained the center for women's housing on campus well into the twentieth century.