Contents of this Article:

• Washington College — Page 1
• Greenville College — Page 2
• Tusculum College — Page 3
• Vaughn Memorial Academy, Swift Memorial Seminary, Rittenhouse Academy, Grassy Cove Academy, Beech Academy, Huntsville Academy — Page 4
• New Market Academy, Davies Academy, The Home Industrial School for Girls, The Jeroldstown Academy — Page 5

Tusculum College

The records of the Trustees of this institution for twenty-one years from the date of its charter, 1844, till 1865, have been lost. Hence we can record but little concerning that important period of its history.

Its origin was as follows: In 1818, the Rev. Samuel Doak, D.D., resigned the presidency of Washington College, and removed to Tusculum, in Greene county, where he opened a private school which he named Tusculum Academy. Here he taught for twelve years, and gave a good practical education to sixty or seventy pupils, many of who filled important positions in this and adjoining States. At his death, December 12, 1830, the Academy was suspended until 1835, when his son, the Rev. Samuel W. Doak, reopened it with an attendance of only four students. He was however so successful that the attendance rose to seventy in 1840. Subsequently competing schools reduced the attendance at Tusculum to about fifty students for some years. In 1842, a Board of Trustees of Tusculum Academy was incorporated with all the powers usually granted to colleges, and two years later (1844) the Legislature changed the name from Tusculum Academy to Tusculum College. From a catalogue issued in 1846, we learned that the aggregate attendance in the eleven years, 1835-46, had been 315; that seven of these had graduated, fifteen had entered the ministry, twenty-seven had become physicians, and eight, as lawyers, had been admitted to the bar.

The Faculty in 1846 were: Rev. Samuel W. Doak, President and Professor of Languages, Natural and Moral Sciences, and Belles-lettres; Rev. John W. K. Doak, Vice-President and Professor of Languages; Mr. Henry S. Stewart, Professor of Mathematics.

The catalogue of 1847 speaks of an effort to raise $6000 for a library and apparatus, one-sixth of which had been donated in the East; of a legacy of $1500 in bank stock bequested to the College, by Mr. William Graham, of Tazewell, Tenn., to aid pious and talented young men in studies preparatory to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church; of an enrollment of seventy-six students, and of three graduates.

The Faculty of 1855 consisted only of President Samuel W. Doak, and Mr. J. Shields, Professor of Mathematics. The catalogue for that year tells us that there were two literary societies, each having a small but well-selected library; that the College library was inferior to none in East Tennessee, and that the College edifice was large and well adapted to every purpose; also, that, of the students who had attended the College to that time, thirty-one had received diplomas, twenty-four were ministers of the gospel, twenty-nine members of the bar, sixty-three physicians, and many were teachers. The course of studies was marked by two peculiarities: 1. A student studied only one branch at a time, and took up another when the first was finished. 2. There were no regular college classes, and a student graduated at any time when he could stand an examination on the course of studies.

Immediately on the termination of the civil war, the Trustees commenced (July 6, 1865) the reorganization of the College, by electing the Rev. William Stephenson Doak, President, in the room of his father, the Rev. Samuel W. Doak; who had died in 1864; Samuel S. Doak, Vice-President, and the Rev. R. B. Godfrey, Professor of Mathematics.

The condition of the College and its property is thus described in the minutes of the Board: “The late war has left Tusculum College in a deplorable condition – its enclosures are broken down, its library much wasted and abused, and its chemical and philosophical apparatus broken and destroyed.”

In 1866, the efforts of the Trustees were mainly directed to appeals and agencies for obtaining funds, for restoring and repairing the property and to enable the impoverished institution to resume its educational work with some efficiency. Negotiations were entered into with the Old School Holston Presbytery and with the Trustees of Washington College, which resulted (September 29, 1866) in both institutions being placed under the care and control of said Presbytery. Under this arrangement, Washington, by a decision of the Presbytery, became a female institution and Tusculum continued a male institution. This temporary ecclesiastical control ceased with the reunion of the Old and New Schools, in 1869. The President-elect did not take his seat till September, 1866, and the other professorships having been vacated, Mr. Robert McCorkle, of Greeneville, Tenn., was elected Professor of Ancient Languages, June 14, 1867.

In 1868, negotiations between the Trustees of Tusculum College, and those of Greeneville College, located at Greeneville, resulted in a consolidation of the two institutions under the name of “The Greeneville and Tusculum College,” located at Tusculum.

The Treasurer’s report, dated December 2, 1868, shows $963 collected by the Rev. William B. Rankin, in Philadelphia and New York, and the whole receipts $1824.89; expenditures, $2204.09.

The next year the building and grounds of the late Greeneville College, badly injured by the war, were sold to Mr. A. F. Naff for $700, and the remnants of its library was transferred to Tusculum.

The act of consolidation led to the election of a new Faculty as follows: Rev. W. S. Doak, D. D., President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science; Samuel S. Doak, A. M., Vice-President and Professor of Mathematics; Mr. Robert McCorkle, Professor of Languages; Dr. S. P. Crawford, Professor of Natural and Physical Science.

In 1870, Prof. McCorkle was transferred to a professorship of Geology, and the Rev. Paul Feemster was elected to the Chair of Languages.

The plan of endowment by the sale of scholarships was adopted in 1871, which, after much effort during several years, resulted in considerable advantage financially, but in no endowment.

Certain difficulties in relation to efficient government having risen, the President, on his request, was relieved of this responsibility, and the duty was devolved upon the Vice-President.

In 1872, the Board of Trustees placed the entire management of the institution, including filling vacancies in the professorships, the carrying out of the scholarship plan, and all other matters of finance and government, “except what they cannot lay aside in the charter,” in the hands of a Board of Directors consisting of Messrs. P. S. Feemster, S. S. Doak, M. S. Doak, and others, for the term of ten years, on condition that said Board of Directors would, in that time, turn over to the Board of Trustees at least twenty thousand dollars, in new buildings, improvements,, apparatus, moneys, bonds and othr securities in the way of endowment, etc.

Since 1865, considerable progress had been made in the improvement of buildings and grounds, in the erection of cottages or cabins for lodging and boarding; also in the purchase of apparatus and in additions to the library. The increased attendance of students had been on the whole encouraging. But there had been a hard and constant struggle with difficulties arising chiefly from the resources being always wholly inadequate to any proper support of the College.

The arrangement with the Board of Directors lasted but seven years. During their administration, the meetings of the Board of Trustees were few, and their doings chiefly confined to examining and graduating a few students, and a rather liberal bestowment of honorary titles.

On May 16, 1879, Mr. M. S. Doak, “the only member present of what had once been known as the Board of Directors,” claimed that they had complied fully with their contract and requested a settlement with the Board of Trustees. At their next meeting, the Trustees, having heard a report of a committee appointed to examine the transactions, papers, etc., of the Directors, “that after a brief examination they find the matters apparently satisfactory,” made settlement and resumed the full exercise of all their functions in the management of the College. They also agreed to continue the faculty as it was left to them by the directors, viz.:

Rev. W. S. Doak, President; W. A. Kite, Professor of Mathematics and Physical Science; J.G. McFerrin, Professor of Latin; and L. C. Haynes, Assistant in Ancient Languages. They also elected the Rev. Jere Moore, Professor of Greek (Mr. Moore did not accept); and J. K. P. Sayler, Principal of the Preparatory Department.

The years 1879-83 record some ineffectual efforts to obtain $10,000 for a new college building, but a very encouraging advance in the usefulness of the College, as indicated by the largely increased matriculation, and also by the number of graduates. In 1882, all the professorships were vacated and new professors were elected the ensuing year. There had been an encouraging increase in the number of graduates.

On the 7th of May, 1883, the Faculty was reorganized. President W. S. Doak, D. D., having died May 23, 1882, the Rev. Jere Moore was elected President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science; the Rev. A. M. Doak, Professor of Ancient Languages; L. C. Haynes, Professor of Mathematics.

On Friday, April 25, 1884, a plan for obtaining funds for erecting a new college building having been suggested, President Moore, with James H. Robinson and Rev. S. A. Coile, were appointed a committee to confer with the Rev. Dr. Willis G. Craig, of McCormick Seminary, on that subject.

In May, 1884, the President reported that ninety-four students had been in attendance during the year. The Faculty was now reinforced by the election of the Rev. S. A. Coile, as Professor of Greek.

Several propositions were made to the Trustees of Washington College, by which one of the institutions should become a male college and the other a female college, or the one an academy and the other a college, but these propositions were rejected. The object of these negotiations was to remove difficulties in the way of obtaining funds, and in the way of a more successful prosecution of educational work, from two competing colleges in the same field, doing the same work.

On the 21st of November, 1884, Mrs. Nettie F. McCormick, executrix, and Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, Jr., executor of the estate of Cyrus H. McCormick, deceased, offered to donate $7000 for the erection of a new building for Greeneville and Tusculum College, on the conditions: That the Trustees should raise an additional $4000; that the President and at least two professors, when the Faculty numbers three or more, shall be members of the Presbyterian Church; the President and at least two-thirds of the members of the Board of Trustees shall always be members of said Church; and on violation of nay one of these conditions, the $7000 shall be returned to the Board of Aid of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

This liberal offer must be regarded as creating a new era in the history of Greeneville and Tusculum College. The Board having thankfully accepted the offer, immediately put forth such efforts that the $4000 was soon secured on reliable subscription, a building committee appointed, and the new building put under contract, and completed at an expense of about $13,000. Of this amount, the McCormick estate furnished $8100: the remainder was collected in the home field. the new edifice is a model of its kind, furnishing the most convenient and comfortable internal arrangements for all the purposes of a complete college building, and occupying a site remarkable for its combination of grand and beautiful scenery.

For the year 1887-88, the President reported an attendance of one hundred and fifteen students. The total income was $1759, of which $490 was from the Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies. In 1888-89, one hundred and forty-four students were in attendance.

On the 1st of January, 1888, a primary department was successfully established with aid from the Women’s Executive Committee, and Miss Hattie Armitage was appointed teacher.

The following Faculty was elected May 7, 1887: The Rev. Jere Moore, D. D., President, Professor of Mental and Moral Science; Rev. S. A. Coile, Professor of Latin; L. C. Haynes, Professor of Mathematics and Physical Science; T. S. Rankin, Professor of Natural Science and English Literature; Edward Lindeman, Professor of Music and German; Rev. W. C. Clemens, Professor of Greek.