Your visit brings you to Franklin & Marshall College, the private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1787 as Franklin College and later merged with Marshall College in 1853, this institution is one of the oldest in the United States. Its name honors Benjamin Franklin, who gave the college its first endowment, and John Marshall.
In its early years F&M was bilingual, serving the local Pennsylvania Dutch community in German and English; it began as the German College and Charity School and received its charter in 1787 from the Pennsylvania General Assembly as a German-language alternative to the University of Pennsylvania. Among its early supporters were Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and Peter Muhlenberg. Today the school offers 58 fields of study across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, languages, and other disciplines, and it even operates an advanced studies program in Bath, England.
You’ll find a student body drawn from 43 U.S. states, districts, and territories and from 50 countries; all students are undergraduates and nearly all live on campus. This college now teaches 58 fields of study to students drawn from 43 states and 50 countries, nearly all living on campus.