Beloit College was founded by a group called Friends for Education, which was founded by seven pioneers from New England who agreed that a college needed to be established soon after arrival in Wisconsin Territory. The group raised funds for a college to be founded in their new town, and convinced the territorial legislature to enact their charter for Beloit College into law on February 2, 1846. The first building for the college (called Middle College) was built in 1847, and it remains in operation today. Classes began in the fall of 1847, and the college's first degrees were awarded in 1851.