Ellsworth College was named for Eugene Stafford Ellsworth. He was born near Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1848. During the Civil War, he served as a drummer boy in a Wisconsin regiment. After the Civil War, his family moved to Iowa Falls. He was industrious and made a fortune in freight, real estate and lending. In his later years, he developed the desire to leave a positive legacy. He provided funding to establish Ellsworth College in 1890 under the direction of Professor John Tobin. Tobin had experience in establishing institutions of higher learning. Ellsworth began as a private Academy providing high school courses, business courses and education coursework for country school teachers. In the early 1900s, Ellsworth Academy evolved into Ellsworth college, a private four-year institution. Eugene Ellsworth continued providing support to the college for operating expenses and campus growth. During this time, classroom buildings and dormitories were built as the college grew. Eugene Ellsworth died in 1907. In his will he left farmland in a Trust to be managed by the College Board of Trustees. Income from the Trust continues to provide support to the College. In 1928, after several years of hardship, the College Trustees entered into an agreement with the Iowa Falls Community School District and Ellsworth College became the public Ellsworth Junior College under the auspices of the Iowa Falls Board of Education. Ellsworth continued as a public Junior College offering college transfer classes until 1968 when Ellsworth Junior College became Ellsworth Community Collage under the auspices of Merged Area VI, now known as Iowa Valley Community College District. Ellsworth began adding Career Education programs to meet workforce needs and desires of students. Campus facilities changed to meet the changing needs of students. The only original building on campus is Bullock-Jones Hall. It was built as the Carnegie-Ellsworth Library. After a new library was built, it became a classroom building. Dormitories were built early in Ellsworth College's history. Lloyd Residence Hall is a third-generation student living facility. College Athletics have a long history at Ellsworth with the first football and baseball teams organized in the early 1900s. A constant through Ellsworth's history has been strong support from the Iowa Falls Community. Over the decades, several successful capital campaigns were conducted. Those funds along with successful bond issues funded facilities such as Reg Johnson Hall, Gentle Student Center, Dale Howard Family Activity Center and the Agriculture and Equestrian Centers. Community generosity has also been expressed through scholarship endowments contributed by donors through the Ellsworth College Foundation. Over $600,000 in scholarships are awarded annually to students attending Ellsworth funded by the Foundation and Board of Trustees. Students graduating from Ellsworth have the lowest amount of student loan debt as compared to graduates of similar institutions.