Ex scientia, aurum: From knowledge, gold

Forged along the river

In the late nineteenth century, Merrow Falls was a thriving river valley mill town powered by the rapid falls of the Merrow River. Local textile and machinery works drove the region’s prosperity, yet civic and industrial leaders saw that mechanical labor alone could not sustain the future without deep scientific understanding and humane philosophy.

In 1891, a local industrialist and civic benefactor endowed land on the granite bluffs overlooking the river to establish a college where science, classical inquiry, and practical craftsmanship would flourish together. The original red-brick quadrangle centered on Founders Hall, which opened its lecture rooms and chemistry laboratories to its first entering class.

Students in those early laboratory cohorts were jokingly called “The Alchemists” by riverboat workers and townspeople, who marvelled at the beakers, mineral assays, and dynamos humming above the falls. Rather than discard the nickname, the faculty and students embraced it, pairing it with the formal motto Ex scientia, aurum. Today, The Alchemists remains our beloved mascot, symbolizing the power of learning to turn raw curiosity into valuable human insight.