Timeline: 1851-1880

1851

• Rev. Williston Jones and his wife open a school ("The School of the Prophets") in parsonage of Presbyterian Church; his intent is to prepare young men for the ministry; school also includes three young women.

1853

• New York farmer Daniel Coe donates $1,500 to support Jone's school which will provide equal education opportunities for both men and women.

• The Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute is incorporated.  Trustees purchase an 80-acre farm.

• David Blakely is hired as principal  of the Institute.

1855

• Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute is suspended due to low attendance.

• Institute's Board attempts to give acquired property to the Iowa City Presbytery; offer is declined.

1867

• Many of the original founders of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute create Parson's Seminary, in hopes of securing financial support from the Parsons estate.

• Parson's Seminary begins its three-year span.

1868

• Parson's Seminary Building, the west half of Old Main, is completed in the summer; used by the seminary beginning in the fall of its second year.

1869

• Parsons Seminary Board report in February records institutional debt at $7,000.

1870

• Due to declining enrollments and increasing debts, the Parsons Seminary suspends operations at conclusion of spring term.

1872

• New fund-raising efforts are made to begin a new Presbyterian college in Cedar Rapids.

1875

• Trustees vote to put Parsons Seminary to rest and incorporate a new school, the Coe Collegiate Institute.

• On September 1, Robert Aaron Condit is appointed Principal of the Coe Collegiate Institute.

• Coe Collegiate Institute starts its first term on October 1 with 40 pupils.

1876

• Institute establishes a Conservatory of Music with C. W. Kidder serving as its principal.

• Fall term enrollment for 1876 is 160 students.

1879

• First graduates of Coe Collegiate Institute receive their diplomas in June.  Commencement exercises at the First Presbyterian Church.  Six graduates; Miss Maggie S. Cooper is valedictorian.

1880

• Institute's second graduate class, two graduate.

• Announcement during the school year; the Institute will become Coe College.

Forward: 1881 to 1890