Malone University

Malone University was founded in 1892, in Cleveland, Ohio, as Cleveland Bible College by Quaker religious leaders J. Walter and Emma Malone. It was established to train young people for inner-city ministry and social service in the Quaker tradition. After beginning with small gains, the school eventually became synonymous with service to the Cleveland community at beginning of the 20th century, growing substantially with every new year. It was originally located at 3201 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland but was eventually forced to relocate in 1956 after the state took the property for constructing Interstate 90.

Faced with the decision to stay in Cleveland or move, the board of trustees finally decided on Canton, Ohio as a good location where the school could become a leader in higher education. A thriving industrial metropolitan city at the time, Canton was the only city in the country with a population over 100,000 to not have an institution of higher education. It was this fact, among others, that played a key role in the decision to move the school to Canton on a 150-acre (0.61 km2) property between 30th and 25th streets from north to south, and Cleveland Avenue and Harvard from west to east. At the time of relocation the board also chose to change the name of the school to Malone College, in honor of the school's founders, J. Walter and Emma Brown Malone.

It was also at the time of the move that the school began expanding its academic programs. After only a short time, Malone had gone from a small Bible college in downtown Cleveland to a growing undergraduate college in the liberal arts tradition in Canton, Ohio offering degrees in education, political science, history, music and psychology. This was all a part of the overall mission of the board to use the forced move as an opportunity to grow the institution and become a regional leader in broader fields of professional and academic studies.

In February 2008, the Malone College board of trustees voted unanimously to rebrand as Malone University. The move to a university reflected a transition that had capped off in 1999, when Malone adopted a university structure on which to operate. According to the institutional press release, the transition to Malone University reflected the institution's "mission and emphasized the potential for enhanced educational opportunities within the liberal arts context for the growing number of undergraduate students already studying in 90 different academic programs". The rebranding process took place under the leadership of then-president Gary Streit.

Since becoming a university in 2008, Malone has experienced growth not only in academic offerings, but also in student enrollment and campus property. In 2009, the university completed construction on its newest residential hall, Blossom Hall. The building was named in honor of long-time philanthropist and former president of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dudley S. Blossom. The university currently sits on 96 acres (390,000 m2).