The school began as a Baptist-sponsored high school for boys in 1854 and was chartered as a college in 1856. It closed in 1861 due to the Civil War but reopened two years later. It continued as a four-year college until 1920. From
1921 until closing in 1933, it was a two-year junior college. In 1928
it became co-educational. Over.
Reverse Description:
The sixteen-acre campus had five buildings: main building, the
president’s home, two dormitories, and library & gymnasium. Also had sixteen small homes for married ministerial students and an athletic field, Brookside Park. Confederate Convention met here, 1861. Campus was later used as a hospital during Civil War. Buildings razed in 1968.