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In 1858, Baker University was founded by what was then the
Methodist Episcopal Church on the Santa Fe Trail in the middle
of the area that was to become known as "Bleeding Kansas." The
Kansas Education Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church
received a charter from the territorial legislature to establish
a college at or near Palmyra, and on February 12 a charter was
granted for Baker University. The oldest four-year college in
Kansas grew up side-by-side with the state of Kansas to survive
the Civil War, drought, floods, tornadoes, and even grasshoppers
to become one of the premier colleges in the country. Today, the
University serves 3,000 students through the College of Arts and
Sciences on the Baldwin City campus; the School of Professional
and Graduate Studies in Overland Park, Lawrence, Lee's Summit,
Topeka and Wichita; and the School of Nursing Stormont- Vail
Health Care in Topeka. Old Castle Hall, a crudely quoined three-
story rubb