The story
On March 23, 1835, Methodist settlers in Spring Arbor Township obtained a charter for a new seminary from the Michigan Territorial Legislature. Construction began in 1837 outside Spring Arbor but the Panic of 1837 ended the project. A petition to move the seminary to Albion was approved by the legislature in 1839.
Sixty acres (243,000 m2) of land were donated by Jesse Crowell to the renamed "Wesleyan Seminary", and construction began in 1841. The first classes were held in 1843 in the local Methodist Church. In 1844, classes began in the newly constructed Central Building, rebuilt as the present Robinson Hall in 1907.
The "Albion Female Collegiate Institute", founded in 1850, merged in 1857 under the name "The Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Albion"; the merger was finalized in 1861, under the name "Albion College". The legislature authorized the college to confer full four-year college degrees upon both men and women that same year.
From Wikipedia’s article on Albion College, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5