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VOLUMZ ONE.
NO. TWENTY-SIX.
MA R Y SHA RP COLLEGE:
By Mrs. J. F. Miller. Si T '*
HIS once famous institution of learn
ing, located at Winchester, Franklin
county, Tennessee, was the outgrowth
of a long-felt need, and desire on the
part of wealthy and ambitious parents
to give their daughters advantages of
a higher education than the schools of
that date afforded. Female colleges
T
were few, and too many parents seemed
content with the limited education of their daugh
ters, received from Northern teachers employed to
teach in the homes of wealthy families. Public
spirited citizens from several Middle Tennessee
counties met at Murfreesboro, in
1849, to discuss the location of a
female college. Among them was
A. S. Colyor, a rising young law
yer from Winchester, who made
a strong speech in favor of his
home town; the others realizing
his good judgment, offered no op
position. Rev. J. R. Graves, at
that time, editor of the Tennessee
Baptist, published at Nashville,
Tenn., was present, and recom
mended his brother, Z. C. Graves,
a prominent educator of Vermont,
as a suitable president for the
future college, whereupon Mr.
Coylor wrote a letter that induced
him to give up a flourishing school
in his New Hampshire home, and
come South. But on reaching
Winchester with his small family,
he was very much disappointed
to find a field but little improved.
A fall term had been advertised
to open, and there was no school
building, although a beautiful
site, consisting of two acres, had
been purchased and deeded to
the Baptist Association. Ad
joining this was a large brick res
idence, which was converted into
what was afterward known as the “College Board
ing House,” and the school opened in the basement
of a large Methodist church near by. Those dispos
ed to ridicule the enterprise called it “The Desti
tute,” but the zeal and fitness of Dr. Graves for
the work whereunto he had been called, triumphed,
as the sequel will show. The first and most liberal
donation to the building fund was made by Mrs.
Mary Sharp, of Franklin county, hence the name.
After teaching two years under great disadvantages,
Prof. Graves was delighted to move into his new
building. Considering the times, it was an impos
ing structure, built of brick, presenting a front
of 140x80 feet depth of main building, three stories
high, with wings afterward added. Mary Sharp
College was, in its inception, a new departure, its
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Mary Sharp College, Winchester, Tennessee. —A Relic of the Old South.
ATLANTA, GA., AUGUST 16, 1906.
purpose being to demonstrate the problem as to
whether or not the female mind was capable of
scientific research, and development, equal to that
of the male mind. When Caroline Herschel prov
ed the equal of her brothers in mathematics, she
was considered a feminine prodigy, but Dr. Graves,
by personal instruction and experience, demonstrat
ed the fact that such minds among women were
not altogether exceptional. It was said that when
the Mary Sharp Junior Classes in mathematics
were seen to develop formulas for plane or spheric
al trigonometry, or calculate an eclipse with ease,
the most skeptical beholder was convinced that
girls had been mentally underrated. The curricu
lum of this noted school was the same as that of
male colleges, plus music. In the study hall Dr.
Graves possessed a wonderful power over his pupils
in directing the mental forces that mean so much
during school life. It was said of him that he not
only made thinkers of his girls, but he inspired
them with a love for their work. A fine feature of
the school was its economy; the girls wearing shep
herd’s plaid calico as their everyday uniform, white
muslin for Sunday in summer, and black alpaca in
winter, the latter dress always enlivened by the
class color. At the fall of Fort Donelson, one
of the Confederacy’s first Waterloos, February,
1862. Mary Sharp College had reached the zenith
of her glory. Several hundred girls from eleven
different states, were being fitted for future use
fulness in this noted college. The Confederate de
feat caused a panic throughout the South, and anx
ious parents called their daughters home; and the
College Campus soon became the camping ground
of the Northern invader. The fine old pianos were
split into kindling wood, and a valuable library
strewn over the highways for miles around. The
vandalism was heartrending to Dr. G laves, who, by
this time, had become intensely Southern in senti
ment. With the exception of a little local patron
age, the school was virtually s speeded about three
years, but in 1565 it resumed work with renewed
ented wife bowed to the weight of years, the vitality
of the college waned with them. Then, too, after
a lapse of half a century, other schools of similar
advantages had become numerous, and Mary Sharp,
as a female college, was relegated to the past. The
proj as deeded to the Baptist Association
with 7m- v understanding that it should always be
used for educational purposes. So the trustees
leased it to the public school officials of Franklin
county, and today several hundied boys and girls
from six to eighteen years of age are giving life
and ?heer to the old college walls, and campus dur
ing the ten months’ public school term. In writing
a brief history of this once famous female college,
something must be told of the man who made it
famous. Zuinglius Calvin Graves was born at Chea-
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
FIVE CENTS A COPY.
interest. Mary Shaip College
stood the test of time, and ac
quiicd a reputation equal to, it’
not above, any institution of learn
ing in the South. Its thorough
training and liberal patronage
created great demand for its al
umnae (and even undergraduates)
for teachers. The study of the
classics fifty years ago was held
in high esteem by those who were
capable of appreciating their val
ue. Os the 4,500 girls who went
to Mary Sharp College, 310 re
ceived the A. B. degree, and nine
reached A. M. Many distin
guished women of the South, in
fact, of the entire country, at
tribute their positions in life to
the valuable training received in
this noted institution. Some of
its first pupils are grandmothers,
yea, more, great grandmothers,
whose liearts are thrilled at the
mention of Mary Sharp. Its
first graduate, Miss Nannie Mere
dith, now Mrs. Wily Embry, is
slut alive, and living at Winches
ter. But to all things earthly,
there comes a close, and as the
grand old president and his tai-