Greensboro College - Echo Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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G. H. IRELAND J. M. ODELL O. W. CARR J. A. ODELL DRED PEACOCK W. R. ODELL

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W. R. Odell President J. A. Odell Secretary Dred Peacock Treasurer J. M. Odell O. W. Carr C. H. Ireland B. N. Duke l,xeciaftiire C« J. A. Odell, President O. W. Carr,, Secretary C. H. Ireland

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.y THE history of Greensboro Female College antedates by many years that great civil struggle which may be regarded as the watershed dividing those two great streams of life, the Old and the New South, and stretches back into that remote, and some- what vague and hazy period so often referred to in South- ern parlance as before the war. Chartered in 1838, it is the second oldest chartered college for women in the South, and was among the first institutions of learning for advanced education of girls at a time when the merest rudiments of learning, with a few shallow accomplishments, was considered all the in- tellectual development required in the restricted sphere to which women were relegated. This eldest daughter of the Methodist Church in North Carolina was called into existence by generous-hearted, large-brained men who realized that the Church owes to her daughters as good intellectual training as to her sons. With almost prophetic insight, seeing that the service of Christian womanhood was to become an important factor in the great work of the evangelization of the world, they provided for the accomplishment of this mission by giving to the girls of the Church opportunities for both heart and brain culture. And right nobly have the daughters of the Church responded to the opportunity thus opened, for of the many hundreds who have passed through the portals of Greensboro Female College, few have failed to answer the call of the Church, and of very many of them it may be said with truth, Many daugh- ters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Owing to delay growing out of widespread financial depression in the country at large, the corner-stone of the building was not laid until 1843. I 1846 it was ready for occupancy. The following fall Rev. Solomon Lea, a man of scholarly attainments, was chosen president, and with an able faculty, the school was opened to the girls of North Carolina ; and, indeed, to the entire South, for in those days of paucity of schools for advanced educa- tion of girls, the College drew to itself many from the far Southern States, who came by stage coach or by pri- vate conveyance to avail themselves of the advantages not afforded, at that time, in their own States. On the resignation of Mr Lea, Rev. A. M. Shipp, of South Carolina, was chosen as his successor, and admin- istered the affairs of the College wisely for three years, after which he resigned and accepted a professorship in the University of North Carolina. Dr. Shipp was f llowed by Rev. Charles F. Deems, D. D., who was afterwards so widely known as the pastor of the Church of the Strangers in New York City. Under Dr. Deems the patronage was largely increased, and the College enjoyed an era of great prosperity. Doubtless, the intellectual vigor and robustness of character pos- sessed in a marked degree by Dr. Deems were powerful 10