George Metzger (1782-1879)

George Metzger was born on November 19, 1782, the youngest of six children. His parents, Paul and Susanna Maria Bower Metzger, were well-to-do residents of Hanover in York County, Pennsylvania. George was sent to study at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1797. He was elected to the Union Philosophical Society but he did not complete his studies and instead went to study law, first with an attorney in Lancaster, and then with David Watts of Carlisle.

In 1805 George was admitted to the Cumberland County bar. The following year he was appointed deputy attorney general for Cumberland and Adams Counties, and from 1813 to 1814 Metzger served as a Pennsylvania State Legislator. Not being particularly fond of public office, he resumed his law practice after only one term in office. He continued to make his home in Carlisle throughout his life, serving as a trustee of Dickinson College from 1825 to 1833, as well as acting as a founding trustee of Second Presbyterian Church. George Metzger died June 10, 1879.

Having never married, Metzger stipulated in his will that his home, his library, and an initial endowment of $25,000 was to be used to establish a female college. Classes at the Metzger Institute, a school exclusively for women, began in September 1881. Lacking enough money to maintain the school, the trustees closed Metzger Institute in 1913 and use of the buildings, including the four-story Metzger Hall, was granted to Dickinson for housing of female students. Funds from the Metzger Trust, ever since, have been donated in support of women's education at the College.