Founder of Dickinson College

Entering this gateway to Dickinson College, you can see the statue of the college's founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813). The bronze statue, which was erected in 2004, is a replica of a statue unveiled 100 years earlier at the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C. Like that monument, this statue recognizes Rush's contributions to American history, medicine and education.

Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a representative at the Continental Congress and the physician general of the Continental Army. An influential advocate for American independence, the Philadelphia native was consulted by Thomas Paine on the writing of Common Sense and maintained close relationships with presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who appointed Rush treasurer of the U.S. Mint in 1797. Considered the father of American psychiatry, Rush was the first American doctor to champion humane care for the mentally ill. He also was a vocal proponent of the abolition of slavery, prison reform and universal health care and education.

Rush worked closely with John Montgomery, a prominent Carlisle merchant, soldier and politician, to expand the local grammar school into Dickinson College in 1783.

Opposed to the European higher-education model of learning for learning's sake, Rush steered Dickinson toward providing a useful liberal-arts education that prepares young people for lives of engaged citizenship. He remained a dedicated trustee of the college throughout his life.

Rush considered Carlisle, which was then on the edge of the western frontier, to be an ideal location for Dickinson's new, distinctly American form of higher learning. "Highly favored Village of Carlisle!" he wrote after one of several visits. "Your hills...shall ere long awaken our young philosophers from their slumbers to trace the planets in their courses."

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Show me all markers in:  Carlisle, PA  |  Cumberland County  |  17013  |  Pennsylvania  |  United States of America

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West College: A National Historic Landmark
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