Centenary College of Louisiana - Yoncopin Yearbook (Shreveport, LA)

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€T 1 2 5 C IheQ o 270 OpW c CENTURY AGO CENTENARY WAS BORN. In 1825, just thirteen years after her admission into the Union, the State of Louisiana founded her first college. Thus was established at Jack- son, Louisiana, The College of Louisi ana, as Centenary was then called. The aim of the school then, as it is now, was to provide an educa- tion for a maximum number of deserving young men and young women; and as an expression of that aim, the Board of Trustees, as one of the first official acts, passed a resolution to the effect that Any number of children of indigent parents, not exceeding fifty at any one time, may be educated in the college or preparatory school, free of charge. ,, This resolu- tion is still effective. In 1839, the Methodist Episcopal Church South celebrated the centennial of the work of the Wesley brothers by providing for and stressing the importance of Christian education. In that year, the Louisiana and Mississippi conference established at Brandon, Mississippi, a Centenary College, which, six years later, purchased and absorbed the College of Louisiana. This consolidation of the two colleges was mutually beneficial. By locating the combined schools at Jackson, Louisiana, Centenary obtained good buildings and an excellent site, while the Col- lege of Louisiana profited by better financing. 5 j Page eighteen