Humboldt College was an institution of higher learning in Humboldt, Iowa

Humboldt, Iowa

Humboldt is a city in Humboldt County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,690 at the 2010 census, gaining 238 people since the 2000 census.- History :...

 from 1876 until it closed in 1916. Only three people ever obtained degrees from Humboldt College.

Creating the "Harvard of the West"

Stephen Taft moved from New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to the prairie of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 in 1862, with hopes of founding an intellectual community that would rival the Eastern cities. He had five goals for his city, but the most important goal was founding a college "of university importance" that would not dissent into "factional disputes or denominational barriers". The Springvale Collegiate Association met for the first time in 1866, and upon renaming of the community to Humboldt, the group would meet again in 1869. Despite the excitement in the town for a college, the voters of Humboldt denied Taft the funds to purchase swampland on the city's northern boundary.

Not defeated, Taft looked East for financial backing, but funds were still scarce. Taft almost missed a deadline that would have caused an automatic default on his loan, but was wired the money with half an hour to spare. Eventually, Taft raised the necessary funds to buy the swamp, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 17, 1870. Taft ended his convocation to the attendees by saying "Hundreds are here present today. Tens of thousands shall gather here a hundred years hence to commemorate the birth of the institution and rejoice in the blessings it shall have conferred."

Opening

The first day of class at Humboldt College was September 13, 1872. As was the case with most period colleges, the first three years of education were material covered in today's high schools, since the public education ended at eighth grade. The first (and final) graduating class would come in 1879 and consist of three people. Taft had failed to make an endowment fund large enough to ensure permanency, and following financial crises in the East, the college would close in 1916.

Closing

The building was put up for rent, but with the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 approaching, tenants could not be found. The college was razed in 1926. The academics were moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, where it operated as the Humboldt Institute until the mid-seventies.

Humboldt now

Without the college to attract intellectuals, Humboldt fell short of Taft's lofty expectations. There is only one remaining building from the college, and it is privately owned.