Willoughby Medical College

Chartered in 1834 and named after Dr. Westel Willoughby, founder of Fairfield Medical School (Herkimer, N.Y.), whose graduates helped secure the charter. Located in Chagrin, Ohio (renamed Willoughby in 1835), Willoughby University conferred degrees in the arts, sciences, and professions and consisted of male and female colleges, a law dept., and, most notably, the Medical College of Lake Erie. Filling the need for physicians in the pioneer West, the medical college was the first in the Western Reserve to offer medical education. In 1843, four professors, including Horace Ackley and J.P. Kirtland, left to form the nucleus of the Cleveland Medical College of the Western Reserve College of Hudson, Ohio. In 1847, legislative authority was received to move the remaining faculty to Columbus as Willoughby Medical College of Columbus. It became Starling Medical College in 1848. The newly-formed Willoughby Female Seminary occupied the vacated premises of the university in 1847.