of the Mississippi River chartered specifically for men and women. As of fall 2022, the college enrolled 999 students.
== History ==
In the 1850s, Pat Henderson and other Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) leaders were interested in creating an institution for the education of male and female students. Describing the site of the college that he had helped to select, Henderson said: Here on the summit of two of a circle of hills, divided by a vale so virgin in its primitive luxuriance of forest and tangled wood that twilight lingers at midday beneath its bough, are to arise the structures dedicated to the equal culture of the male and female mind. In 1853, the college's founders were granted a charter by the State of Missouri to establish Christian University, in which classes began in 1855. Christian University was the United States' first co-educational institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River. James Shannon became the college's first president the following year.
=== Civil War ===
After …
