During the years before it was renamed Hiram College, 1850–1867, the school had seven principals, the equivalent of today's college presidents. The two that did the most in establishing and defining the nature of the institution were Disciple minister Amos Sutton Hayden, who led the school through its first six years, and James A. Garfield, who had been a student at the Institute from 1851–1853 and then returned in 1856 as a teacher. As principal, Garfield expanded the Institute's curriculum. He left the Institute in 1861 and in 1880 was elected the 20th President of the United States.