History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/George F. Magoon
GEORGE F. MAGOON, first president of Iowa College, was born at Bath, Maine, March 29, 1821. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1841 and studied theology at Andover and Yale Seminaries. He came west and was principal of an academy at Plattsville, Wisconsin, and later was pastor of churches in Galena, Illinois, and Davenport and Lyons, Iowa. In Davenport he was pastor of the college church, was chosen a trustee, holding that office during the removal of the college to Grinnell. In 1862 he was chosen president of Iowa College, although he did not leave his church at Lyons until 1865. He remained president for twenty years, retiring in 1884, though he continued to teach mental and moral philosophy. During his administration Dr. Magoon aided materially in securing a larger endowment fund for the college. He was an ardent advocate of prohibition of the liquor traffic and wielded his pen with great effect in the cause. He was editor of the Iowa News Letter and the Congregational Quarterly, and a contributor to many educational journals. He died January 15, 1896, at his home in Grinnell.