Coe College

Coe College was founded in 1851 by the Rev. Williston Jones as the School for the Prophets. While canvassing churches in the eastern United States to raise money for students to attend eastern seminaries, Jones met a farmer named Daniel Coe, who donated $1,500 and encouraged Jones to open a college in Cedar Rapids. Coe's gift came with the stipulation that the college should offer education to both men and women, and when the Cedar Rapids campus opened in 1853 as the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute, it was a co-educational institution. In 1875, the college was reestablished as Coe College Institute and in 1881, after a private donation from T. M. Sinclair, founder of the Sinclair Meat Packing Company, was finally founded as Coe College.

Coe was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1907. In 1910, Presbyterian clergyman John Abner Marquis became president and initiated a period of growth that lasted for several years; Marquis was a sought-after speaker and served as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, its highest office.