Thanks to the generosity and leadership of John R. Buchtel, business leaders and colleagues helped raise the funds needed to build and endow a college in Akron. Following construction of an impressive building, Buchtel College opened for business in 1872, with 46 students in the collegiate program and 171 in the academy, a preparatory program.
The University of Akron was founded as Buchtel College in 1870 by the Ohio Universalist Convention, which was influenced by the financial support of industrialist John R. Buchtel.
The University’s founding can be traced all the back to an 1867 convention of the Universalist Church of the state of Ohio. At the convention interest in founding a college compatible with Universalist religious principles was announced. John R. Buchtel, a prominent Akron businessman and Universalist, contributed significantly to the endowment and building funds. Buchtel College, named after…
Today, the University of Akron offers about 200 undergraduate and more than 100 graduate majors. It has an enrollment of approximately 25,000 students.
Chemical Laboratory and Buchtel Hall on the campus of the University of Akron.