James Stone (academic administrator)

James Stone was the first president of Kalamazoo College and led the school from 1842 through 1863. Stone was responsible for institution of high academic standards that allowed the College to receive its charter. Stone also played a role in the creation of the United States Republican Party. A meeting of disgruntled Michigan Whigs, Democrats, and abolitionists at the Stones' Kalamazoo residence set the date for an anti-slavery convention in Jackson, Michigan that resulted in one of the formal births of the Republican Party.