Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

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A Common Campus Scene of the ’9o’s ONE HUNDRED YEARS 1AMSTEAD Academy, located at Clinton, Miss., was incorpor- i ated by legislature enactment on January 24, 1826. The school opened its first session in January, 1827, with G. F. Hopkins as principal, and enrolled during the term thirty pupils. Both boys and girls were admitted, but they were taught in separate rooms. In February following the opening of school the legislature submitted the charter, changing the name of the institution to Mis- sissippi Academy, and authorizing the trus- tees to raise $20,000 for buildings and en- dowment by means of a lottery. In 1 829 the legislature passed another act “for the benefit of Mississippi Academy, appropriating $5,000 to the institution to be expended in the erection and completion of its buildings. There is evidence that the school was at this time in a thriving condition. Daniel Comfort became principal in 1 829. By the aid of the loan from the state two new buildings were completed in 1 830, one for the girls and one for the boys. The legis- lature of that year again amended the charter, changing the name to Mississippi College and authorizing the trustees to con- OF MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE fer degrees. In June, 1832, the college conferred the degrees upon its first graduat- ing class, consisting of two young ladies. During the fall of 1836 the vacant posi- tion of president was filled by the election of Professor E. N. Elliot, a graduate of the University of Indiana, who arrived in Clin- ton in January, 1837. The female and male departments were divided into sepa- rate departments at this time, with the female department being the most prosperous. The curriculum of the female department at this time included Latin, Greek, French, Music, Painting, Gilding, Embroidery, Shell and Wax Work. After 1833, hdwever, the state govern- ment had taken no further steps toward mak- ing the college a state supported institution. The legislature controlled the college, in a measure, through its power to name new trustees, but state funds were no longer turned to its aid. After 1 84 1 , when the legislature had selected Oxford as the site of the University to which it expected to devote its funds, the trustees then determined to seek the backing of one of the great re- ligious denominations of the state. They turned first to the Methodist, but

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Tke College of T esterda

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Mississippi College Rifles, 1896-97 failed to interest the Methodist denomina- tion in the college. In 1842, they offered their property to the Clinton Presbytery of the Mississippi Synod, and the offer was ac- cepted. The local board of trustees of the college thereupon elected as their successors the gentlemen nominated by the Clinton Presbytery and then resigned, thus effecting the transfer of Mississippi College into a de- nominational school without a change of the school’s charter. Rev. Alexander Cambell was elected the new president. In 1846 the dissension between the “Old School’’ and the “New School’’ Presby- terians began to have its effect upon the for- tunes of the college. The “New School’’ won a majority in the Clinton Presbytery, and displaced the president of Mississippi College, who was of the “Old School’’ and elected as his successor the Rev. Simeon Colton, an adherent of the “New School.’’ After two years President Colton, tempted by a better position elsewhere, resigned, and the trustees promoted to the presidency Rev. Considor Parish. The division in the de- nomination was injuring the school serious- ly and as financial difficulties began to ac- cumulate, the trustees of Mississippi College found their responsibility growing irksome. Suddenly a new possibility of converting the school into a state institution opened before them. The Board made the offer to the legislature, but the offer was turned down because of the school plant being too exten- sive. For two years the school struggled along under the presidency of the Rev. Parish, finding an inadequate support and becoming more or less involved financially. In the summer of 1850 the Clinton Presbytery severed connection with the college. The citizens of Clinton now had a college on their hands, and were at a great loss as to know what to do with the school. They finally decided that the college be tendered to the Baptist State Convention. In the fall of 1850 at the meeting of the Baptist State Convention the tender was accepted and Mississippi College became the property of Mississippi Baptists. The Baptists at once began making plans for a large endowment and setting high ideals for the college. By 1855 over $100,- 000 had been raised for an endowment. The class of the session of 1852-53 was marked by the publication of the first col- lege catalogue. The Freshman and Sopho- more classes were organized by this time and by 1855 all four classes had been or- ganized. The trustees appointed by the convention commenced work with one teach- er and fourteen small boys, but by 1855