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UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

 

 

exhibit title: Our Presidents

 

Charles F. Thwing
Pronunciation: TWING
(11/9/1853-8/29/1937)

President, Western Reserve University, 11/1890-11/11/1921

Education

A.B., Harvard College, 1876

Graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, 1879

 

 

University Awards

The College for Women Class of 1922 established the Charles F. Thwing Fund to support the College’s library, 1922.

Western Reserve University awarded Thwing the honorary Doctor of Humanities, 1926.

Western Reserve University named its Euclid Avenue library building Thwing Hall to honor the President’s service, 1934.

Case Western Reserve University named its renovated student center the Charles F. Thwing Student Center, 1972.


 

Career

Pastor, North Congregational Church, Boston, Massachusetts, 1879-1886

Pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1886-1890

President Emeritus, Western Reserve University, 1921-1937


 

University Numbers
  1890/91 1921/22
Enrollment 482 2,150
Tuition $50 $200
     

 

Milestones
The School of Law was established and, in 1892, renamed the Franklin Thomas Backus Law School of Western Reserve University.
1891
 
The School of Art affiliation ended.
 
A Graduate school was established, but suspended in 1921.
1892
 
A Dental school was established. In 1906 it was sold to the Western Reserve Dental School Company, but re-purchased in 1917.
 
The Cleveland Conservatory of Music affiliation ended.
1895
 
 
1898
The United States fought the Kingdom of Spain in the Spanish-American War.
The Library School was established.
1903
Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered, sustained, controlled airplane flight.
The 5-year joint course between Adelbert College and Case School of Applied Science was established.
 
Cleveland School of Pharmacy affiliated with WRU.
1908
 
The Medical School absorbed the Medical Department of Ohio Wesleyan University.
1910
 
 
1913
Henry Ford developed the assembly line, revolutionizing automobile manufacturing.
 
1914
Countries around the world were plunged into World War I.
School of Applied Social Sciences was established.
1915
 
 
1916
The Cleveland Play House opened its first production.
 
1918
The influenza epidemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
 
The Cleveland Orchestra performed its first concert.
 
1920
Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution extended the franchise to women.
 
1921
The Cleveland Clinic was established.
     

 

Regional Population
  1890 1920
Cleveland 261,353 796,841
Cuyahoga County 309,970 943,495
     

 

Caution should be taken when comparing financial data across long periods of time. Accounting practices have changed substantially during CWRU's nearly 200-year history. In compiling these numbers, we have relied on the most authoritative contemporaneous sources available.

Information was compiled by staff of the Case Western Reserve University Archives, March 2007.