Oakland College (Lorman, Mississippi)

For other places named Oakland College, see Oakland College.

Oakland College
Oakland Memorial Chapel
Active	1830–1871
Type	Four-year college
Affiliation	Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Endowment	US$100,000
President	Jeremiah Chamberlain Robert L. Stanton James Purviance William L. Breckenridge John Calvin
Location	Lorman, Mississippi, United States

Oakland College was a white-only Presbyterian four-year college from 1830 to 1871, near Lorman, Mississippi in the Antebellum South. After the American Civil War of 1861-1865, it was closed down and replaced with Alcorn State University, a black-only college in the same location. Some buildings and a cemetery still remain.

Location

The college was located in Jefferson County, Mississippi, seven miles away from what became known as the town of Lorman.^[1][2] It spanned 225 acres of land.^[1] It was located near Rodney and Port Gibson as well as forty miles away from Natchez, all historically significant towns in the Antebellum South with large plantations owned by members of the Southern aristocracy.^[1][3]

History

The college was founded in 1830 by the Presbyterian Church.^[2][4] They hired Reverend Jeremiah Chamberlain, a Presbyterian minister educated at Dickinson College and the Princeton Theological Seminary, as its first President.^[2][5] Chamberlain had served as the President of Centre College and Louisiana College.^[2][5] More recently, he had served as the pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Church in nearby Alcorn, Mississippi.^[6]

The college was endowed by planters such as Rush Nutt of the Laurel Hill Plantation, Smith Daniell of the Windsor Plantation, and Isaac Ross of the Prospect Hill Plantation as well as David Hunt.^[2][7][8] Moreover, John Ker donated US$25,000 for a Professorship in Theology.^[8] The land, spanning 250 acres, was donated another planter named Robert Cochran.^[9] The Oakland Memorial Chapel was built in 1838.^[10] (The wrought iron staircase was moved from the Windsor Plantation to the chapel in 1890.^[2][10]) It acted not only as a chapel, but also as a library, with additional space for classrooms and offices.^[2] The chapel became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.^[10] Over the years, more buildings were erected, such as a president's house, three professor's houses, and fifteen cottages which served as dormitories for students.^[2][8]

The first class took place on May 14, 1830 at the private residence of Mrs John E. Dromgoole, the wife of a slave trader.^[2] There were only three students present.^[2] Six months later, there were twenty-two students enrolled.^[2] Over the years, more than a thousand students were educated at the college.^[2] According to historian Mary Carol Miller, its alumni pool included "twenty-one ministers, thirty-nine attorneys, and nineteen physicians."^[2] John Chamberlain taught English and Mathematics.^[8] In 1837, Reverend Zebulon Butler became Professor of Theology.^[8] He was later replaced by Reverend S. Beach Jones.^[8]

The first student to graduate in 1833 was James M. Smiley; he went on to serve as Vice Chancellor of the state of Mississippi.^[2] Notable alumni include Henry Hughes, who invented the economic notion of 'warrantism.'^[11] Another notable alumni was James S. Johnston, later a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America and the founder of TMI — The Episcopal School of Texas, a private school in San Antonio, Texas.^[12] Moreover, Hiram B. Granbury, an attorney who served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, was also an alumni.^[13]

Tensions arose regarding the peculiar institution in the early 1850s. Indeed, President Chamberlain was a Unionist and an abolitionist.^[3] After he reprimanded a student for his support of secession one day in 1851, President Chamberlain was murdered by George Briscoe, a pro-slavery local planter.^[3][14] Nevertheless, the college stayed open until the American Civil War of 1861-1869, despite financial difficulties.^[2] The second President was Robert L. Stanton, from 1851 to 1854.^[8] The third President was James Purviance (1807-1871).^[8] In 1860, William L. Breckenridge (1803–1876) became the fourth President, up until the Civil War.^[8]

The college fell in abeyance during the war, however, as students and faculty either joined the Confederate States Army or were slain for their pro-Unionist views.^[2] The campus was used as a military camp and its infrastructure was badly damaged.^[2] Shortly after the war, Reverend John Calvin became the fifth President.^[8] However, he died shortly after being appointed, and the college fell in abeyance again.^[8]

Legacy

The cemetery in 2009.

In 1871, in the aftermath of the war, the campus was sold to the state of Mississippi for US$40,000.^[15][16] The campus was then renamed Alcorn State University in honor of James L. Alcorn, Governor of Mississippi.^[14][16] Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church established Chamberlain-Hunt Academy, a military private school in Port Gibson, Mississippi two years later, in 1879.^[12][15]

The cemetery, on the western end of the campus, is still there, alongside a historical marker.^[17] Burials include Jeremiah Chamberlain and his children, among others.^[2] On Chamberlain tombstone, one may read, "the beloved father of Oakland College."^[2]

Two reports about Oakland College from the faculty the trustees and the Presbyterian synod of Mississippi are preserved at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.^[4]

The curriculum is preserved at the Mississippi Department of Archives & History in Jackson, Mississippi.

References