Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland, which is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The college was founded in 1782 by William Smith, but is the successor institution to the earlier Kent County Free School which was founded in 1732.[1] Modern college classes – freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior – were introduced in the 1870s by President William Rivers.[2] At the same time, a class called sub-freshmen was created for students that did not meet the requirements to be freshmen. The college continued to admit sub-freshmen to the preparatory department until 1924.[3]
Washington College experienced major fires in 1827[4] and 1916[5] that destroyed most of the school's records. Because of this, it is impossible to know how many students graduated before 1916 and which years people graduated.[5] However, it is known that 218 students graduated between 1845 and 1903[6] and, that in 1910, the college had 113 students enrolled.[7] The college has continued to grow since then. In 1952, the college more than doubled its enrollment to 350 students.[8] Between the 1950s and 1970s, the college doubled its enrollment again to 800 students in 1972. Since the 1970s, the college has close to doubled the 1972 enrollment with 1,480 students enrolled in 2019.[9]
Alumni of Washington College includes two Governors of Maryland, a Governor of Delaware, four United States Senators, seven members of the United States House of Representatives, and nine State senators. Outside of the world of politics, nine alumni of Washington College played at least one game in Major League Baseball including Jake Flowers who was on two World Series winning teams. John Emory, the namesake of Emory University and Emory & Henry College, graduated from Washington College. Several alumni were successful writers including James M. Cain and Đỗ Nguyên Mai. Mary Adele France, who was the first president of St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Robert K. Crane, who discovered sodium-glucose cotransport, both found success in academia. H. Lawrence Culp Jr. has found success in business as the CEO of Danaher Corporation and the CEO of General Electric.
- A "?" indicates that the year of graduation is unknown.
- "A "‡" indicates the final year that a non-graduating alumnus attended the college.
- An "M" indicates a Master's alumnus.
Arts and entertainment
| Name | Class year[a] | Notability | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| James M. Cain | 1910 | Writer of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce | [10] |
| Linda Hamilton | 1978‡ | Actress who portrayed Sarah Connor in The Terminator | [11] |
| Laura San Giacomo | 1983‡ | Actress who portrayed Cynthia Patrice Bishop in Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Maya Gallo in Just Shoot Me! | [12][13] |
| Erin Murphy | 1990 | Poet | [14] |
| Geoffrey Girard | 1990 | Writer | [15] |
| Vicco von Voss | 1991 | Woodworking Craftsman and Artist | [16] |
| Raph Koster | 1992 | Game designer, Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design | [17] |
| Deborah Anzinger | 2001 | Visual artist | [18] |
| Frank Giampietro | 2002 M | Poet | [19] |
| Đỗ Nguyên Mai | 2019 | Poet | [20] |
Athletics
| Name | Class year[a] | Notability | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Burris | 1894 | Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies | [21] |
| Dave Zearfoss | ?[b] | Catcher for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals | [22] |
| Homer Smoot | 1897[c] | Center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds | [23] |
| John "Happy" Townsend | ?[d] | Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators, and Cleveland Naps | [24] |
| Ralph "Pepe" Young | ?[e] | Second baseman for the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Athletics | [25] |
| Frederick "Doc" Wallace | ?[f] | Shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies | [26] |
| D'Arcy "Jake" Flowers | ?[g] | Second baseman and shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds | [27] |
| Bill Nicholson | 1936 | Right fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies | [28] |
| John Howard | 1956 | Head coach of Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse and Professor of English | [29] |
| Dave Leonhard | 1960‡ | Pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles | [30] |
Law and government
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Other
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
- Dumschott, Fred W. (1980). Washington College. Chestertown: Washington College. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- Lanman, Charles (1868). Dictionary of the United States Congress (5 ed.). Hartford: T. Belknap and H. E. Goodwin. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- Palmer, Pete; Gillette, Gary; Shea, Stuart; Silverman, Matthew; Spira, Greg (2006). The 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781402736254. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 9. James T. White and Company. 1899. Retrieved 30 January 2020.