Emory and Henry College - History

History

Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is named after John Emory, a Methodist bishop, and Patrick Henry, an American Patriot and Virginia’s first governor. The college was founded upon the union of faith and learning and the ideals of freedom and civic virtue by Creed Fulton, a Methodist minister, Colonel William Byars, Tobias Smyth, a Methodist farmer, and Alexander Findlay, a Methodist businessman.

The foundation for Wiley Hall was laid on September 30, 1836. The board of trustees then hired Charles Collins (1838–1852) as the institution's first president with classes beginning in the spring of 1838 with only 60 students enrolled.

The College closed its doors in April 1861 due to the Civil War and was commandeered by the Confederate States of America in 1862 operating as a hospital until 1865. During this time the campus saw battle during the Battle of Saltville. The hospital was the setting of Lieutenant Smith's murder on October 7, 1864 by Champ Ferguson. After the civil war ended, the College reopened.

During World War II, Emory & Henry College was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Today, the college comprises a student body population of around 1,000 and employs 75 full-time professors. Graduates of E&H have become scientific researchers, NASA engineers, writers, physicians, ministers, lawyers, educators and business people.

Read more about this topic:  Emory And Henry College

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.
    Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)

    [Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.
    Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)

    If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.
    Albert Camus (1913–1960)