The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Harlan-Lincoln House

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Harlan-Lincoln House (2000), Iowa Wesleyan College

Institution Name: Iowa Wesleyan College
Original/Historic Place Name: Harlan House
Location on Campus: Northeast Corner
Date(s) of Construction:

1854	original construction

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Italianate, Regionalist/Vernacular (Glossary)
Significance: education, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: wood

Roof:

Function:

ca. 1854	president's house
ca. 1907	academic department building (art)
ca. 1907	administration
ca. 2004-present (2006)	museum

Narrative:
This building was the home of James Harlan, who served as president of the Mt. Pleasant Collegiate Institute from 1853-1855 and led the petition to change the name to Iowa Wesleyan University. Harlan resigned to become the first Republican Senator of the newly formed state of Iowa in the US Congress and maintained the home in Mt. Pleasant. Harlan also served as Secretary of the Interior and as a trustee of Iowa Wesleyan from 1855 until his death in 1899. He served as college president again in 1869-1870. Harlan's daughter Mary married Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, and Mrs. Robert Todd Lincoln gave her father's home to Iowa Wesleyan in 1907. The building has been the president's home, an administrative home, and has housed the art department. The home has a place in the college, community, state and national history.

The building is being maintained, and the current restoration projects are being driven by a Harlan-Lincoln House preservation committee. The group is working to restore the building and determine the focus of the museum.

References:

Brigham, Johnson. James Harlan. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1913.

Haselmayer, Louis A. A Sesquicentennial History of Iowa Wesleyan College (1842-1992). Mt. Pleasant, IA: Iowa Wesleyan College, 1992.

Haselmayer, Louis A., ed. "Yours truly. Jas. Harlan." Edited group of Harlan letters. 1975. Archives, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant, IA.

History and Genealogy of the Harlan Family. Tricentennial Reprint Edition. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1987.

Lange, Kay. Harlan-Lincoln House [Iowa Wesleyan College]. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1973.

McMurtry, Gerold. "The Harlan-Lincoln Tradition at Iowa Wesleyan College." Lincoln Herald 48, no. 3 (1946).