"Old College" (1781-1805)

Constructed in 1781 to house the Latin School which was under the care of the Presbyterian congregation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, "Old College" fronted on Liberty Alley on Town Lot #219, the lot donated by Thomas and John Penn on March 3, 1773. The construction of this brick building, according to the records of contractor John Creigh, cost £42/3/5½. An addition, faced with stone, was authorized by the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College on October 20, 1785, and was completed at a cost of $583.62. With the expansion completed, the property was legally transferred to the College trustees on October 3, 1788.

The first classes of the undergraduate courses were taught in the building until in 1802, in anticipation of the completion of a new building, the trustees of the College sold “Old College” to Charles McClure for $533.33. The College was granted the right to continue its use of the building, however, after the “New College” was destroyed by fire. Once Dickinson permanently vacated “Old College” in 1805, the building reverted to Charles McClure. Following McClure's death in 1811, the building came under the ownership of several schools in succession until, through carelessness or arson, it burned down on April 28, 1860. A new schoolhouse was then constructed on the site following the same design, and the image which appears here shows that all-brick building.