Louisburg College - Oak Yearbook (Louisburg, NC)

Page 18 text:

Ss -• ft a jr o - tj CoUese J isitorp I 9 7 ■ EFORE the guns of the Revolutionary War which resulted in the indepentl- ence of the Unitetl States, had ceased, the Countj- of Franklin was formed, and immediately following the formation of the County, the town of Louisburg was laid ofT. A hundred acres of land were purchased at the Fords of the Tar for this purpose, and of this one hundretl acres two lots uf twelve acres each were set apart for etlucational purposes. The Main Street of the town divides these plots, and on one of these Louisburg College is now locatetl. To the rear of the College buildings, additional land has been purchased, and the present holding s of the College are nearly twice as much as the original grant. In 1786 the Franklin Academy for Males and Females was chartered and started on its career of usefulness under the guiding hand of Mr. Matthew Dicker- son, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Yale, as its principal. The students were to receive instruction in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, English, Grammar, Geography, Belles-letters, Rhetoric, Ethics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Mathemat- ics, Astronomy, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Italian, languages and all, for the sum of $26.00 per annum. Mr. Dicker.son must also have been a wonder- ful financier for we are told that in the three years that he taught he acquired an estate quite sufficient to subserve the rational purpose of life, namely: a farm of more than 300 acres, six slaves and a quantity of stock. A few years later it was thought best to separate the male and female depart- ments, and in 1802 the Louisburg Female Seminary was chartered, and suitable buildings erected for the purpose of instructing the young ladies in Reaiiing, Writing, English, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, Astronomy, Painting, Music, and useful and ornamental needle work. The old building still stands on the edge of the campus. It is weather beaten, and moss covered, a reminder of other days, a rival in age with the old Green Hill house, in which in 1785 the first Methodist Annual Conference of the organized Methodist Episcopal Church in America was held, and which still stands a few miles from town. $ 9„ i ' A- QJ-. Page Fourteen] rr-

Page 17 text:

d XM i ] 1 I «4 f m ri 0 ' I I h 3 91 ' % [I ' aye Thirteen] ' !V

Page 19 text:

.8 :) i R P,•.. -.. the remainder of his life. In 1907 at the death of Air. Washington Duke, the property was given to the North CaroHna Conference I)y his son, Mr. Benjamin Duke. After the church assumed control of the property and poHcy of the school the Davis Memorial Building was erected and a laboratory and a central heating plant installed. It was given formal recognition as a Junior College bj ' the Gen- I ■ [Pane Fifteen] -: - ' --- ' 1k ' - %S -K -iSj - X In 1810 Mr. John B. Boljliitt was principal of the Boys ' Academy and Miss Partridge, a lady from Massachusetts, was in charge of the Seminary. Mr. Bobbitt and Miss Partridge soon became the victims of the bUiul god ' s arrow and were ' married. Under the joint leadership of these two worthy people tiiese schools o established a rt ' imtation that made them famous through the state. ' V — In 1855 another step forward was taken. For more than lialf a century the ' ' old Seminary had done its work, but the people realized that something more was [7 - v,i needed; that the time had arrived when j ' oung women should be given liigher J educational advantages. To meet this demand a joint stock company was or- ST ( ganized and chartered by the Legislature, under the name of the Louisburg :sj Female College Company, the object of which was to establish a college of Q high standard for young women. The present Main Building of the College was then erected, and its doors were opened in 1857. From its cla.ssic walls have gone out streams of influence, always Christian in character, which gladdened and blessed the lives of all who came within its sphere. The College stood unscathed throughout the bloody storm of the Civil War with Mr. Southgate, a man of wisdom and culture, at her head. In the spring of 1865 the president and his family moved , fC into the old Academy, and our beautiful building, for such it always has been, liecame a hospital for sick soldiers of the Federal troops that were garrisoned ( ' Y ,. in our midst. At one time, on account of debt, our Alma Mater was about to f go into the hands of northern philanthropists and become a school for colored Jk Presbyterians, liut a timely amendment to its charter provided that it should be J used as a school for the white race forever. In 1891 the property came into the hands of the great-hearted Washington ' | Duke, and was held by him for the education of North Carolina women iluring ,