to become president of Pennsylvania State University.Hillsdale's first president, Daniel McBride Graham, returned for a brief second term in 1871, notably rebuilding the campus after the catastrophic "Great Fire" of March 6, 1874. DeWitt Clinton Durgin, a Union College alumnus, was president from 1874 to 1884. In 1878, the Hillsdale Herald was launched, becoming the second oldest college newspaper in Michigan, behind Kalamazoo College's The Index (1877). In 1896, this paper merged with The Collegian (founded in 1893) to become The Herald-Collegian, soon simplified to The Collegian. In 1884, Spencer O. Fisher became the first Hillsdale alumnus elected to Congress.
George F. Mosher served as president of Hillsdale from 1886 to 1901. During this time, the college grew in size and in 1891, the Chicago Herald wrote, "Hillsdale has a college second in standing to no denominational college in the country."
=== 20th century ===
In 1900, Hillsdale ceased grazing livestock and removed the agrarian fence circling the …
