An Ohio historical marker outlining the institution's history
Henry Solomon Lehr founded the Northwestern Ohio Normal School in August 1871. When the college's curriculum grew to include pharmacy, engineering, law and business programs, its name was changed to Ohio Normal University and, eventually, in 1903, Ohio Northern University. In 1899, it became affiliated with the United Methodist Church to reduce debt.[3]
Interwar and post-war education
Martin Luther King Jr. statue at Ohio Northern University
Before the Great Depression, more than one thousand students were typically enrolled at Ohio Northern every year. Both the Great Depression and the following World War II plunged the school into low enrollment, and the possibility of closure was considered. During World War II, enrollment reached a low of 156 students. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, Ohio Northern was able to bring enrollment back up to nine hundred students by 1946.
Throughout the 1960s, a number of ONU students and faculty/staff participated in the American Civil Rights Movement. ONU hosted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 11, 1968, four days before his 39th birthday and just three months before his assassination.[4] During his visit at ONU, King famously spoke regarding the myth that many immigrant and/or ethnic groups successfully pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, whereas African Americans were incapable of doing so.[5][6] ONU honored King and his speech on campus with the unveiling of a statue in his likeness on April 17, 2018.[7][8]
Later 20th century into today
Growth continued under Dr. DeBow Freed through the 1980s and 1990s with additions to the Taggart Law Library, Presser Hall, Dukes Memorial, Wilson Art Building, Biggs Engineering, Heterick Memorial Library, and Meyer Hall of Science, and the construction of the Freed Center for the Performing Arts and a new president's on-campus home. Under Dr. Kendall Baker, campus additions include Dicke Hall, an expansion of the Robertson-Evans Pharmacy building, the Dial-Roberson Stadium and the Mathile Center for the Natural Sciences. In 2008, Ohio Northern University built and opened The Inn at Ohio Northern University.[9] A new engineering building was opened in October 2019.[10]
Leadership
Melissa J. Baumann is Ohio Northern University’s 12th president, and first female to serve in the role.
Past ONU presidents
Henry Solomon Lehr (1871–1900)
Leroy A. Belt (1900–1905)
Albert Edwin Smith (1905–1930)
Robert Williams (1929*–1943)
Robert O. McClure (1943–1949)
Frank Bringle McIntosh (1949–1965)
Samuel Lewis Meyer (1965–1977)
Ray B. Loeschner (1977–1979)
Harold A. Bolz (1979, interim)
DeBow Freed (1979–1999)
Kendall L. Baker (1999–2011)
Daniel A. DiBasio (2011–2022)
Academics
Presser Hall, housing the music department of Ohio Northern University, with the Dukes and Lehr buildings in the background.
Prior to 1973, the law school was known as "the Warren G. Harding College of Law". It was renamed in honor of Claude W. Pettit, a judge and former dean of the college.[11]
Anthony J. Celebrezze, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the 49th Mayor of Cleveland, and a Sixth Circuit Appellate Judge
George Washington Crile, founder of the Cleveland Clinic and inventor of the system for blood transfusion
John W. Grabiel, Arkansas Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1922 and 1924; Ohio native, attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas, until his death in 1928[23]
Robert Franklin Jones, served as Allen County (Ohio) prosecuting attorney, 1935–1939. Elected in 1938 to the Seventy-sixth U.S. Congress, and elected for three subsequent terms to Congress, serving from 1939 to 1947. Appointed commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, serving from 1947 to 1952
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