The Pennsylvania State Legislature, at the request of the two Boards of Trustees of Washington College and Jefferson College, granted a charter on March 4, 1865, uniting the Colleges under the name Washington and Jefferson College. This union of the two colleges was necessitated by the devastation of the ranks of college students and the financial condition of both schools brought about by the Civil War. The Consolidation Act of 1865 stated the two colleges “shall hereafter be one corporation, in fact and in law, under the name of Washington and Jefferson. The objects of the corporation shall be the cultivation and advancement of literature and science, of morality and religion, without regard to sect, or creed, by the education of youth of the male sex, in classical learning including ancient and modern languages, in philosophy, and in the useful arts and sciences, and to promote and encourage high attainments therein, and in the learned professions, by conferring upon those found worthy, degrees of merit and honor.”

Each of the original boards elected 15 members to the united Board of Trustees. On August 1, 1865, new by-laws were adopted. The merger of Jefferson College and Washington College, located only ten miles apart, included a peculiar compromise. It was decided that Rev. Jonathan Edwards, elected the first president of the united colleges, would reside in Canonsburg, home of Jefferson College. Although united by administration, Board of Trustees and by-laws, each college continued as a separate campus. The sophomore, junior and senior classes were at Canonsburg and the freshman class, a Scientific Department and Preparatory Department at Washington. Along with President Edwards, the faculty for the three upper classes was located at Canonsburg, and the Vice-President and other professors at Washington.

By 1868 this arrangement proved ineffective. The Board of Trustees created a committee to procure legislation enabling them to continue Washington & Jefferson College with one location. The resolution of this single site was to be submitted to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In August of 1868 the Board decided instead to resolve the issue of the location of the college by a two-thirds vote. Not limiting themselves to the two existing sites, the Board entertained propositions from Uniontown, Wooster, Kittanning, and Steubenville to locate the college in their towns.

The Charter of Washington & Jefferson was approved by the Legislature on April 20, 1869, with the amendment stipulating that the college be located within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Canonsburg offered $16,000 if the college would locate there and the citizens of Washington countered with an offer of $50,000 for locating in Washington. After eight ballots, the Board elected Washington as the location. Consolidation of the College at Washington took effect September 22, 1869.

Among the distinguished alumni of Washington & Jefferson College are: Dr. Jesse Lazear, who identified the mosquito carrier of yellow fever; Sir James Caruthers Rhea Ewing (1876), missionary to India; Charles M. Kurtz (1876), art director of the St. Louis Exposition of 1904; William H.M. McFarland (1884), originator of the modern cadence count now commonly heard on every drill field of the U.S. Army; C.S. Fleming (1905), developed and patented the aluminum paint used on the San Francisco Bay Bridge; H.W. Cook (1919), piloted the first continental airmail liner; Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis (1933), creator of the comic strip “Rex Morgan, M.D.”; Joseph A. Walker (1942), chief test pilot at NASA, 1963’s Pilot of the Year; John Astin (1952), actor.