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A Legacy of 220 Years
Louisburg College had its beginning in the period
that witnessed the emergence of America as an
independent nation, the birth of the Methodist Church
in America, and the establishment of Franklin County,
North Carolina, and the town of Louisburg. Having
evolved from three earlier institutions, Franklin
Male Academy, Louisburg Female Academy, and Louisburg
Female College, Louisburg College is the oldest
chartered two-year, church-related, co-educational
college in the nation.
Franklin Male Academy
The roots of Louisburg College trace back to the
early years of the town of Louisburg, the county seat
of Franklin County. Founded in 1779, during the
American Revolution, the county was named in honor of
Benjamin Franklin and the town in honor of King Louis
XVI of France. When Louisburg was surveyed, a public
commons was set aside on the highest point of ground.
This town commons, which became famous for its oak
grove, is today the campus of Louisburg
College.
The first educational institution to appear on the
east side of the commons was Franklin Academy. On
December 4, 1786, Senator Henry Hill of Franklin
County introduced "An Act to Erect and Establish an
Academy in the County of Franklin." The bill was
enacted into law on January 6, 1787, thereby
providing Franklin Academy with its first
charter.
Among the academy trustees named by the charter were
some of the county's most prominent civic leaders and
planters; one trustee, The Reverend John King, had
been a participant in the first Annual Conference of
the Methodist Church held at Louisburg in 1785. No
records have been located regarding the first academy
project; in 1802, a second charter was issued for
Franklin Academy.
Franklin Male Academy opened on January 1, 1805,
under the able direction of Yale graduate Matthew
Dickinson, who was qualified to teach more than
twenty subjects, including five languages. The varied
curriculum available to students included such
subjects as English grammar, geography, Latin, Greek,
algebra, surveying, and astronomy. The first
examinations were held on July 2, 1805, when students
were examined before a large audience of trustees and
parents.
Franklin Male Academy prospered in its early years
and soon had an enrollment of ninety students,
including some twenty young men who were dissatisfied
with the policies of the University of North
Carolina. Among the academy's more notable principals
were John B. Bobbitt (1816-1820, 1832-1844), Charles
Applewhite Hill (1828), and Matthew S. Davis
(1856-1880). In 1905 the male academy property was
conveyed to the trustees of the Louisburg public
schools. The two-story frame academy building still
stands and serves as a reminder of the beginning of
educational opportunities in the town of
Louisburg.
Louisburg Female
Academy
The second stage in the evolution
of Louisburg College began on December 27, 1814, when
the state legislature ratified an act chartering the
Louisburg Female Academy. The charter named twelve
trustees, some of whom already served on the board of
trustees for Franklin Male Academy.
By August 1815, Louisburg Female Academy was
operating under the guidance of Harriet Partridge, "a
lady from Massachusetts, eminently qualified."
Subjects taught at the new female academy included
reading, writing, English grammar, arithmetic,
geography, painting, drawing, embroidery, piano, and
dancing. Harriet Partridge, who became Mrs. John
Bobbitt, served as principal from 1815-1820 and
1832-1842.
From 1843-1856, Asher H. Ray and his wife Jane Curtis
Ray were highly successful as principals of the
female academy, which in the 1850s was called
Louisburg Female Seminary. Among the courses offered
by the seminary were history, botany, algebra,
rhetoric, chemistry, geology, logic, French, Latin,
Greek, guitar, and calisthenics. The respected
reputation of the seminary contributed to a movement
to establish a female college.
Louisburg Female
College
The third stage of the evolution
of Louisburg College began in January 1855, when the
state legislature authorized the transfer of property
by the trustees of Louisburg Female Academy to the
directors of Louisburg Female College Company. The
female academy building was moved south of its
original location and utilized as a college annex
until destroyed by fire in 1927. A four-story,
fifty-room brick Greek revival building for the
female college was constructed in 1857 on the west campus
where the female academy building had formerly stood.
Old Main is still in use today as the administrative
building of Louisburg College.
In August 1857, Louisburg College opened under the
management of Professor James P. Nelson. There was a
primary department, as well as a college department.
Some course offerings were French, Spanish, Italian,
piano, guitar, drawing, painting, and needlework. The
female college continued to operate during the Civil
War under presidents C.C. Andrews (1860-1861) and
James Southgate, Jr. (1862-1865). After the war,
about 500 Union soldiers camped in the college and
male academy groves during May and June of
1865.
During the administration of Dr. Turner Myrick Jones
(1866-1868), former president of Greensboro Female
College, enrollment grew to 133 students. The regular
college course in 1867 included such courses as
English grammar, mythology, geography, botany,
physiology, trigonometry, Latin, French, and
"Evidence of Christianity."
After the College opened and closed several times
during the 1870s and 1880s, S.D. Bagley became
president in 1889. Matthew S. Davis, who had
previously served twenty-five years as principal of
the male academy, became president of the female
college in 1896 and held the office until his death
in 1906. He was succeeded by his daughter, Mary Davis
Allen (Mrs. Ivey Allen), who was president until
1917.
Louisburg College
At
the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of
significant changes took place. The institution
became known as Louisburg College, and the college
became officially linked to the Methodist Church.
Washington Duke, Durham philanthropist, had acquired
ownership of the college property in the 1890s; after
his death, his son Benjamin N. Duke presented the
property (1907-1909) to the North Carolina Conference
of the Methodist Church.
Other changes in the early twentieth century included
the erection of the three-story Davis Building, named
in memory of Matthew S. Davis, and the reorganization
of the college into an institution with junior
college rating (1914-1915). The Sea Gift and Neithean
Literary Societies were very active during this time
contributing books to the college library,
sponsoring special lectures, and publishing the
college paper.
During the presidency of Arthur D. Mohn in the 1920s,
Louisburg College experienced a period of building
expansion. The West Wing of Main Building, the Pattie
Julia Wright Dormitory, and the Franklin County
Building were constructed. Unfortunately, a
disastrous fire gutted Main Building and the new West
Wing in 1928. Closely following the fire came the
Great Depression, and the college was burdened with
debt and a shrinking enrollment.
The Reverend Armour David Wilcox, former minister of
the Louisburg Methodist Church, served as president
of the college from 1931 to 1937. Louisburg College
became co-educational in 1931, and student enrollment
immediately increased. By the end of World War II,
institutional debts had been paid. Walter Patten
served as president from 1939-1947 and Samuel M.
Holton from 1947-1955. In 1952, Louisburg College was
accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools.
In 1956, a planning committee of the North Carolina
Conference of the Methodist Church recommended the
establishment of two co-educational senior colleges
and the merger of Louisburg College into one of the
institutions. The college alumni and the citizens of
Franklin County joined to oppose the merger. A "Keep
Louisburg at Home" campaign emphasized the depth of
local support for the junior college. The Conference
decided, in response to this endeavor, to retain
Louisburg College as an accredited junior
college.
A period of revitalization and growth occurred during
the administration of president Cecil W. Robbins
(1955-1974). Student enrollment, faculty size,
budget, and physical plant were significantly
increased and improved. In 1961, the college
purchased the Mills High School property on the east
side of Main Street (formerly the Franklin Male
Academy property); the Mills Building was remodeled
to serve as the college auditorium-classroom
building. During the Robbins administration, four
dormitories, a library, a cafeteria and a student
center were constructed.
From 1975 to 1992, Dr. J. Allen Norris, Jr. served as
college president. The Board of Trustees initiated
the Third Century Campaign in 1980. The $4.2 million
goal of the first phase of the campaign was
surpassed, resulting in the construction of the E.
Hoover Taft, Jr. Classroom Building. Through the
generosity of the United Methodist Men of the Raleigh
District, the Clifton L. Benson Chapel and Religious
Life Center was opened in 1986. A new auditorium and
theater complex was also constructed.
During the 1986-87 school year, Louisburg College
held a Bicentennial Celebration in recognition of its
unique two-hundred-year heritage. The first college
flag was designed and displayed during the
celebration, and the first published history of the
college, Louisburg College Echoes, was issued in
1988.
Dr. C. Edward Brown, Jr. served as interim president
in 1992, and Dr. Ronald I. May was president of
Louisburg College from January 1993 through May 1998.
Dr. Brown again assumed the interim presidency in
June 1998. Dr. Rosemary Gillett-Karam became the
twenty-fourth president of Louisburg College in
December of 1998. Dr. Reginald Ponder assumed the
presidency in 2002. In July 2007, Dr. J. Michael Clyburn became the twenty-sixth president of Louisburg College.
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