McKendree Hypes Chamberlin, President of McKendree College

This is the biography of McKendree Hypes Chamberlin,written by his son, Professor Clifford D. Chamberlin in 1914. McKendree Hypes Chamberlin was born in Lebanon, Illinois in 1838. His lifelong dream was to see that McKendree College, a small college in his home town, was properly endowed. To fulfill his dream, Dr. Chamberlin embarked on a varied and colorful career. After his graduation from McKendree, and a masters degree from Harvard, he became a lawyer in Kansas City, and then an innovative financial advisor to the nation's growing railroads, next becoming secretary of the Illinois Railway Commission. He developed mines in the far west, fleeing from the Apache Indians in Black Hills, and finally returning to Lebanon where he became President of McKendree College, saving it from the sheriff's hammer.