Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, United States. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated one of Illinois' first Black college graduates. Colloquially known as the "Harvard of Evangelical Schools", it has been considered one of the leading Christian universities in the United States and an influential institution in North American evangelicalism and as an anchor of the "Bible belt" centered around the Wheaton area.