Manasseh Cutler Hall is the oldest building of the first institution for higher education in the Northwest Territory. It honors Manassah Cutler, 1742 - 1823, a chaplain in the Revolutionary War, minister, physician, scientist, teacher, and statesman. Through his efforts, the Continental Congress in 1787 set aside two complete townships by land grant to be given perpetually for the purpose of a university, so that religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, and schools and the means of education, would forever be encouraged.