Jefferson College (Mississippi)
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| Established: | 1802 |
| Location: | Washington, Mississippi, USA |
Jefferson College was a college in Washington, Mississippi. It was the first educational institution in Mississippi, being chartered in 1802.
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[edit] History
Jefferson College, incorporated by an act of the first General Assembly of the Mississippi Territory in 1802, was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States and president of the American Philosophical Society. Territorial governor William C. C. Claiborne served as president of the college's first Board of Trustees.
After years of initial financial difficulties, Jefferson College finally opened its doors on January 7, 1811 as a preparatory school. It had fifteen students. Funds from private citizens, Congress and the Legislature led the way to new prosperity, and by 1817 Jefferson College had become a full-fledged college.
A ten-year-old Jefferson Davis attended in 1818.
A new building, the East Wing, designed by prominent Natchez architect Levi Weeks, was complete in 1819.
The college purchased the Methodist church building in 1830. This church building had housed the 1817 Mississippi statehood convention. The college renovated the church building in 1832.
In 1839, the college completed construction of a new West Wing.
1964 saw the closing of Jefferson College.
[edit] Intellectual and Cultural Influence
As the most impressive educational institution of the region, Jefferson College quickly became a center of the intellectual community. William Dunbar, the territory's most active man of science, was a member of the first board of directors; later board members included Benjamin Wailes and John Wesley Monette. Several associations dedicated to learning met in the college rooms; around 1837, the Jefferson College and Washington Lyceum was formed, the first such group allied with Jefferson College. Standing committees were organized on belles-lettres and mental science, moral philosophy and theology, constitutional law and political economy, natural history, mathematics and physical science, antiquities and history, and anatomy and physiology. The Lyceum published an important literary journal and also undertook investigations of local Indian mounds.
[edit] Civil War
In 1863, the outbreak of the Civil War forced the closing of Jefferson College. It reopened in 1866, again as a prep school. From that time until 1964, when its doors closed forever, Jefferson College remained a prep school. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the school had become known as Jefferson Military College.
[edit] Jefferson College Today
Historic Jefferson College was restored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in phases completed in 1977 and 1984.
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The restoration was funded in part by the Friends of Jefferson College, a non-profit corporation. Popular annual events include the Copper Magnolia Festival in the fall, a Civil War re-enactment, vintage baseball games, and the Children's Victorian Christmas.
Portrayed as West Point Academy in the North and the South television series, Historic Jefferson College has been a popular film location for Horse Soldiers, Mistress of Paradise, and two versions of Huckleberry Finn.
The Jefferson Military College Foundation, composed of former students, faculty, and friends of the school, supports Historic Jefferson College through donations of land, artifacts, and funds for program development.
Visitors are invited to tour several buildings, one of which includes a visitor reception area, staff offices, and a small display of photographs, history, and artifacts. Others include the restored West Wing, the kitchen buildings, and Prospere Hall where interpretive exhibitions, a gift shop, and rest rooms are located. A nature trail, T.J. Foster Nature Trail, winds though the woods, and passes Ellicott Springs, the place of encampment of Andrew Ellicott who, in 1797, surveyed the 31st parallel to determine the dividing line between the territories of the United States and Spain.
