Leander Clark (July 17, 1823 - December 22, 1910) was an American businessman, Iowa state legislator, Union Army officer during the Civil War, and Indian agent who was the namesake for Leander Clark College.Henry W. Ward (1911),
Western, Leander-Clark College, 1856-1911
', Otterbein Press, Dayton, Ohio. Clark was born July 17, 1823 in Wakeman, Huron County, Ohio, where he spent his childhood on his family's farm. He was educated in the public schools and at the Academy of

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

. In 1846 he moved from Ohio to Port Washington, Wisconsin where he worked as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, in a drug store owned by an older brother, and as

deputy sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

. In 1849, he undertook an overland journey to California to join the Gold Rush there. In California, he engaged in mining, packing, and trading, principally in the vicinity of Shasta and Yreka. He returned east via sea and the

isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...

in 1852 after accumulating between $3,000 and $4,000.History of Tama County Chapter XIII
, Union Publishing Company, Springfield, Illinois. 1883. Transcribed by Iowa GenWeb Project and accessed online July 15, 2010. In 1852, after his sojourn in California, he settled in Tama County, Iowa. In 1855 he became a justice of the peace in Tama County, in 1857 he began a four-year term as county judge, and in 1861 he began a term as the county's representative in the Iowa General Assembly. After the outbreak of the Civil War in 1862, he resigned his legislative seat to enlist in the

24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 24th Iowa Infantry was organized at Muscatine, Iowa and mustered in for three years of Federal service on September ...

. He enlisted as a private but was elected captain of his company. He remained in the Army throughout the war, receiving minor wounds at the battles of Champion Hill ( Mississippi) and

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

( Virginia). He was promoted to major in September 1864 and lieutenant colonel in January 1865 and mustered out in August 1865. Upon returning to civilian life after the war, he served another term in the General Assembly, and in 1866 became Indian agent for the

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and

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. In 1882, Clark Township, Tama County, Iowa was named in honor of Judge Leander Clark. This is documented on page 662 of the book "History of Tama County Iowa, 1883". Clark became wealthy through the buying and selling of land, first in Iowa and later also in the Dakotas and Missouri. He also served for many years as president of the Toledo Savings Bank in

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

, the county seat of Tama County where he made his home.

Support for college

In 1902, Western College, located in Toledo, announced that it would rename itself in honor of anyone who would donate $50,000 to start an endowment fund to help the school resolve its financial troubles. The following year, Clark responded to this announcement with a promise to donate that amount if the college could raise an additional $100,000 for its permanent endowment before January 1, 1906. The college met that challenge in 1905, due largely to a $50,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie. Accordingly, in 1906 Western College changed its name to Leander Clark College in honor of Clark's efforts to help the school achieve financial stability. In spite of that assistance, the college went bankrupt and merged with Coe College in 1919.Western College - A Brief History
, Coe College Archives website, accessed June 21, 2010Mike Donahey
Leander Clark College
''The Times-Republican'' (Marshalltown, Iowa), August 2009 After the merger, one of Clark's

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s filed a

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asking for return of the funds that Clark had provided to the college. The lawsuit asserted that the college had agreed to operate as an educational institution named for Leander Clark, and that the college breached its contract with Clark when it ceased to exist under his name. In 1922, the Supreme Court of Iowa decided the case in favor of the college, finding that the primary purpose of Clark's gift was not to perpetuate his name, but to support education.Lupton et al. v. Leander Clark College (Supreme Court of Iowa, April 4, 1922)
187 ''Northwestern Reporter'' 496.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Leander 1823 births 1910 deaths Businesspeople from Iowa Members of the Iowa House of Representatives People from Toledo, Iowa People from Wakeman, Ohio People of Iowa in the American Civil War People of the California Gold Rush United States Indian agents Oberlin College alumni Iowa state court judges Union Army officers American real estate businesspeople Patrons of schools People from Yreka, California 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American judges 19th-century American philanthropists Military personnel from California