In 1870, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) founded Wilmington College. The College has remained on the site of its founding to the present day and the College has remained closely related to the Wilmington Yearly Meeting of Friends. For the first 45 years of its history, Wilmington was a liberal arts college with little indication of a vocational emphasis. Most of the students were from Wilmington and surrounding communities and were primarily Quakers. The Articles of Incorporation were in no way restrictive, describing the purpose of the College as “the promotion of education, religion, morality and the fine arts, and open to all without reference to religious beliefs."
Wilmington College's vocational emphasis appeared during the second 45 years, from 1915 to 1960. By 1923 the College was offering a bachelor's degree in education and by 1927 a School of Education existed with its own dean. Home economics and secretarial science were introduced several years later. Business administration, created as a separate department in 1921, was incorporated into the social sciences division in 1930 and became a separate department again in 1946. Industrial arts started in 1921 and acquired department status also in 1946. Agriculture, originally part of the science program, developed a 3-2 program with Ohio State. In the late 1960s, however, agriculture developed as a separate department and began to offer its own major.
In the late 1940s the College began to attract students from outside the local area. It was a self-help program that first gave the College wider recognition. Under the direction of President Samuel D. Marble, the College constructed several buildings with donated materials and student and faculty labor. At about the same time, the Randall work-study program began. This program allowed students to earn up to 80% of their College expenses by working in a local factory. At the peak of the program, over half the student body worked at the Randall plant and more than half the Randall labor force was composed of Wilmington College students.
The 1960s witnessed a rapid expansion of the Ohio public higher education system.
Increased competition led Wilmington College to expand its recruiting efforts outside of Ohio. The result was a more diversified student body with an increased emphasis on the humanities and the fine arts. By 1971 enrollment reached 999 students.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s three departments grew rapidly: agriculture, economics and administration (business), and education. Supplemented by new programs such as athletic training and communication arts, the on-campus part of the institution gave renewed attention to the career-oriented aspect of the College's mission. From 1975-1995 the College offered degree programs at three state correctional institutions. These programs were a direct outgrowth of Quaker concerns for prisons and prisoners. While funding for these programs has diminished, the College still provides some College level classes and pre-release programming at these institutions.