The following piece was originally a commentary on NRR member station Tri States Public Radio, about the ongoing saga of the old Carthage College campus.
It was announced last month that Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, will close its doors. Commentator Alison McGaughey says that when the halls of academia begin to crumble, there’s only one solution: pray for pigs.
I couldn’t help but feel a kind of pang when I heard on the news that the once-prestigious Antioch College is set to shut its doors. Not because I, too, am a private-school grad–I went to nearby Monmouth College—but because I grew up in a town where a once-successful college closed its doors.
When I heard the news about Antioch, the first thought that came to mind wasn’t “what will happen to the students and faculty?” but:
“What will happen to the town?”
According to an Associated Press story, the non-traditional liberal arts college is being forced to close its doors because of a lack of funds and declining enrollment. Antioch officials say they do, at least, hope to re-open in four years.
But some schools—or should I say, some towns—aren’t so lucky.
My hometown of Carthage, Illinois was once home to a private, liberal arts school: the aptly named Carthage College. But because the town was far-removed from interstate access— located in a region once dubbed The Republic of Forgotonia—college officials voted in 1962 to move the campus to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
When I was a kid in the 80s, the campus was inhabited by a business school, Robert Morris College. But then Robert Morris moved, too—in this case to multiple locations in Peoria, Springfield, and the Chicago area—and I watched as my town slowly began to lose population, businesses, and, in some ways, hope.
The campus was sold to a South Korean man in 1994. But he neglected to do anything with the property.
By the time I was a teenager, when my friends and I would cruise the main drag through town for the millionth time, it was hard not to wonder what it would’ve been like to live in Carthage when a college was still there. There would’ve been an abundance of young people. Professors and their families. Theatrical and musical performances.
There would’ve been boys.
But instead of having a lively cultural center, my hometown had a miniature ghost town—buildings with broken windows and leaking roofs, a campus of thigh-high weeds. This is the depressing site that greets visitors who enter Carthage on the east side of town.
When I left home to attend college myself– to the small private Monmouth College– I learned that one of my English-major/theatre buddies, a guy from the Chicago suburbs, had transferred in to Monmouth–from Carthage College in Kenosha. When I excitedly asked him if he knew where Carthage College got its name, I was actually, like, mad at him when he said he had no clue.
Over the years, Carthage community leaders have tried to do what they could about the declining campus. One city leader even tried pitching the story of Kang Moo Lee’s extreme absentee landlord-ism to national news shows, but to no avail. Rumors have circulated for years that Mormons with ties to local history would buy the property. Nothing ever materialized.
But late last month, a local vet announced that his investment group, consisting of Carthage Veterinary Service, Ltd. and Professional Swine Management LLC, has purchased the property.
At least three of the 12 existing buildings are beyond repair and will have to be demolished, according to one news report.
But the group plans to turn at one former hall into office space for the veterinary clinic and swine management operations. They might also refurbish another building into temporary housing for new employees, and possibly for starting a small-business incubator.
Admittedly, a swine operation can’t promise the cultural boost that a college would.
But it’s the end of an eyesore—and an era of neglect and disrepair—and that’s the best shot in the arm my hometown has received in a very long time.
I can only hope the best for the town of Yellow Springs. And maybe now, if I happen to meet any other people who tell me they are alumni of the current Carthage College, I can ease up on them just a bit.
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Tags: Carthage, local_history, local_news
Wait a second… I was a kid you met that transferred from Carthage!
A former Carthage classmate and I visited the old campus while I was at Monmouth. Just so you know, after seeing the dilapidated buildings, I got kinda mad at the college too.
I graduated from Carthage College in 1960 – the IL campus. I was there as they started the Kenosha campus. Reason – there was a merger of Lutheran Churches which resulted in 2 IL colleges, Carthage and Augustana, but none in WI. That was the real reason for moving the campus which disappointed many of us connected with the IL campus. My grandfather had been a professor there until his death in the 1930s. He and his wife are buried in the Carthage cemetary. My mother and her sisters and brothers all attended Carthage. I’ve returned for several visits and been saddened by what I’ve seen. I’m glad to see that some of the buildings are being restored.