History
Gordon State College was initially founded in 1852 as The Male and Female Seminary, a private school for higher education of boys and girls. Though church-sponsored, it was not a seminary in the usual sense. During the American Civil War, boys were organized into a corps of cadets. Girls continued to attend but were never included in military programs.
In 1872, the school was renamed Gordon Institute to honor Georgia native and former CSA General John B. Gordon, and its scope was extended to the elementary grades. In 1890, J. C. Woodward, who later founded Georgia Military Academy was hired to start a military program. In 1907, the name changed to Gordon College. In 1916 the U.S. Department of War named Gordon College a junior military unit. In 1928, Gordon added the first two years of college to its program. In 1933 the state of Georgia offered the former Georgia Industrial College campus to Gordon College. The high school and junior college departments moved to the new campus, while the elementary school moved into the former high school building. Gordon College was known as Gordon Military College from the mid-1930s until 1972.
In the 1950s, ownership of the school passed to the city of Barnesville, which consolidated its government-funded public schools for Whites in Grades 8-12, while continuing to bus Colored students to racially segregated Lamar County schools. City girls were enrolled as regular students. City boys were permitted to opt out of military participation, but almost all were organized into a corps of cadets under military discipline. Military cadets from other places were permitted to enroll by paying tuition; many attracted by low tuition rates came from Latin America, including Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican migration to New York.
Gordan State had severe financial problems in the 1960s; in 1970 the trustees approached the state about making the college part of the university system. The secondary school was separated and the cadet corps disbanded, and on July 2, 1972, Gordon Military College officially became part of the University System of Georgia as Gordon Junior College, an associate-level college. In 1986 "junior" was dropped from the school's name as Gordon began to offer some undergraduate courses.
In 2006, Gordon State was designated a four-year state college, and currently offers six bachelor's degree programs.
On August 8, 2012, the Board of Regents approved the change of the name of Gordon College to Gordon State College. The action follows the Board's approval in 2006 of a change in status for the two-year college in Barnesville to allow it to offer limited baccalaureate programs within the University System's state college sector. The name change is effective immediately.
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