Five stories of red brick stand at the western edge of Merom, near the bluff over the Wabash, with a cupola at the top of College Hall. A spiral staircase climbs to it. From up there, the view runs for miles, with the Wabash off to the west and Illinois across the river. The grounds spread out from the building into lawn, pine grove, flood-plain woods, and restored prairie.
College Hall was completed in the early 1860s for Union Christian College, one of the first co-educational colleges in Indiana. The college operated until 1924. The campus reopened in 1936 as the Merom Institute, a rural enrichment center. Today the Merom Camp & Retreat Center runs as an independent non-profit and the campus is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Summer camps run for kids and youth from June through August. Weekend retreats fill out the calendar for church groups, athletic conditioning camps, and corporate gatherings. The campus also works as an event center, with weddings, receptions, and family reunions booking out across the grounds. Through the year, it brings in live music and other events open to the public. Holt Hall, built in the 1940s as the girls’ dorm, holds a Thomas C. Steger mural and serves as the dining hall today.
The Live Long and Love It (LLALI) lunches gather on campus on Wednesdays from August through May, open to anyone in the area. Donations toward the upkeep of the historic campus are always welcome.
