Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1793, chartered as Hamilton College in 1812, and has been coeducational since 1978, when it merged with Kirkland College. Hamilton is sometimes referred to as the "College on the Hill", owing to its location on top of College Hill, just outside of downtown Clinton. Hamilton College is one of the "Little Ivies," and was ranked 18th in the nation among National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2010 U.S. News and World Report. Hamilton began in 1793 as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, a seminary founded by Samuel Kirkland as part of his missionary work with the Oneida tribe. He made the seminary open to both European-American and Oneida boys. Kirkland named it in honor of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who was a member of the first Board of Trustees of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy. The institution was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812, making it the third oldest college established in New York after Columbia and Union. Baron von Steuben, acting as Hamilton's surrogate, laid the college's cornerstone. It had expanded to a four-year college curriculum.