Named for a Philadelphia representative and businessman who reluctantly signed the Declaration of Independence and then tirelessly raised money for the Revolutionary army, Robert Morris College received its Illinois charter in 1965. For the next decade, the small school provided associate degrees in liberal arts and business from its campus in Carthage, Illinois, 250 miles southwest of Chicago. In 1975, Robert Morris merged with Chicago's Moser School (a private business college founded in 1913) and made business and allied health the heart of its academic curriculum. After achieving accreditation in 1986, the school opened a series of branch campuses around Illinois: in Springfield, Orland Park, Naperville, and Bensenville. In 1998, the central branch of Robert Morris College moved into the landmark building at 401 South State Street in Chicago.

Sarah Fenton