Hillsboro College was founded as the The Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church in the Far West in Hillsboro, Illinois in 1847, shortening the name soon thereafter.
In the face of limited resources and a restricted student base, the college moved to Springfield in 1852, obtaining a new charter, receiving generous funding from the city residents, and changing the name to Illinois State University. Among the students at the institution during the period it was in Springfield were Robert Todd Lincoln and John Hay.
The college relocated again in 1870, moving to Carthage, Illinois and assuming the present name of Carthage College. It remained in Carthage until 1964, when the school moved to its current campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin which had opened in 1962.