Charles Alexander Richmond
Tenth president of Union College, April 1, 1909 - January 20, 1928
Charles Alexander Richmond was born in New York City on January 7, 1862. The son of Scottish immigrants, he grew up in Orange, New Jersey. He attended the College of the City of New York for year before transferring to Princeton, from which he graduated in 1883.
Richmond taught for one year each as principal of the Ingleside Academy in Palmyra, Missouri and as professor of mathematics at the Cayuga Lake Military Academy; he then decided to become a clergyman.
He entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1885 and graduated in 1888. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister, and spent the next six years as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in East Aurora, New York. In 1894, Richmond accepted a call to Albany’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, where he remained until elected president of Union College.
As president, Richmond paid immediate attention to improving the appearance of the campus by building an alumni association. Richmond paid particular attention to the landscaping of the College, having the peripheral fields mowed on a regular basis, and having seven new additions constructed during his tenure (Campus Center, Payne Gate, Alumni Gymnasium, Hanna Hall, Butterfield Hall, Memorial Chapel, and Bailey Hall).
On March 2, 1917, Richmond joined twenty-three members of the faculty in urging President Wilson to declare and institute "universal compulsory military service." When the Student Army Training Corps was set up in 1918, essentially taking over the College, Richmond was named Regional Director for New York and New Jersey. Fortunately the war ended before most SATC officers saw action.
Richmond has the distinction of being the first College president to take a sabbatical year. While on leave, Charles B. McMurray, a trustee, served as acting president. During his sabbatical, Richmond traveled Europe extensively and wrote poetry.
During Richmond’s tenure, enrollment increased sharply, with the exception of the war years. He was equally concerned with improving the quality of applicants, having been quoted as saying, "It is hardly the main business of a college to provide intellectual crutches and invalid chairs in order that it may bring half wits up to the level of low mediocrity.".
Richmond’s years as president were prosperous years for the country and the College. He raised the endowment from $628,000 in 1909 to $4,000,000 in 1928.
Richmond resigned on September 24, 1928, at the age of sixty-six, citing personal reasons.
Condensed from Wayne Somers, compiler and editor, Encyclopedia of Union College History (Schenectady: Union College Press, 2003), page 654.
Image courtesy of Union College, Schaffer Library Special Collections and Archives, Photograph Collection