Olivet College

The small town of Olivet grew up around a college with big ideals. Olivet College — now the University of Olivet — was founded in 1844 by a band of missionaries from Oberlin College in Ohio, the famous abolitionist school. It was built in the same mold. From its founding it welcomed both women and students of all races, at a time when few schools admitted either. That made it the second coeducational college in the country. Its founders pictured a plain-living Christian community devoted to learning and to “the betterment of mankind.”

The college still anchors the town today. Its leafy campus of a few hundred students gives this little place its name recognition. Olivet itself was named for Mount Olivet, in keeping with the founders’ faith.