The W may not claim it, but this year marks the 175th anniversary of the school. Its early beginnings are evidenced by Calloway Hall, which turns 162 years old this year.
MUW opened as the Industrial Institute and College in 1885. However, it was not a totally new school as it evolved out of the Columbus Female Institute, which commenced classes on Oct. 4, 1847. Then in 1884, at the conclusion of its spring semester, the school with its buildings and grounds was transferred to the state of Mississippi and reopened in 1885 as The Industrial Institute and College, a state “girls’ college.”
Although The W has not officially claimed back to the Columbus Female Institute, a case could be made for doing so. Auburn University in Alabama claims its beginnings go back to East Alabama Male College, a Methodist school established in 1856. That is a precedent that the W could follow with the older Columbus Female Institute, which with its buildings and grounds was donated to the state to become the II&C.
The late Sam Kaye, Carolyn Kaye and I spent many an afternoon pondering on whether the W might claim it is older than Ole Miss, which claims to be the oldest state university in Mississippi. The Columbus Female Institute commenced classes one year before Ole Miss did in 1848.
Interestingly, Alcorn State University is the state university situated on the oldest college campus. Oakland College, a Presbyterian college for whites, opened in 1830 but closed during the Civil War and never regained its college status. Its campus was sold to the State of Mississippi and reopened in 1871 as America’s first Black Land Grant College. Oakland College’s 1838 chapel has survived and still serves as the chapel on the Alcorn Campus.
The Columbus Female Institute was established under the initiative of Col. A.A. Kincannon on May 15, 1847, and its constitution approved a week later.
It has been said that The Columbus Female Institute was not a real college. The school actually had both a preparatory department and a collegiate department. A look at the curriculum put in place by the school’s board of trustees shows that belief doesn’t hold. Their minutes reflect the following courses of study were required for students in the collegiate area: “reading, analysis, penmanship, analytical orthography, arithmetic, geography, history, English grammar, composition, Latin, Greek, botany, algebra, rhetoric, geometry, trigonometry, muorology, zoology, natural philosophy, intellectual philosophy, moral philosophy, evidence of Christianity, logic, chemistry, physiology, bookkeeping and English literature.”
That was at the time a college and not a preparatory curriculum.
The interest by the trustees in making the school a state women’s college was not a sudden venture and parallels the push for better women’s educational opportunities in Mississippi. In 1856 Sallie Reneau began a drive to improve women’s education and began working toward the establishment of a state female college. She was not successful but laid the groundwork for future efforts. Annie Peyton assumed a leading role in the cause and after years of struggle, finally got a positive response from the legislature.
On June 17, 1872, trustees of the Columbus Female Institute met with Chancellor Lyon of the University of Mississippi and decided to offer its campus as the female division of the State University. However, the legislature failed to act on the offer. Mindful of its role, the Female Institute in 1878 rejected a suggestion to offer its campus to the proposed A&M College (Mississippi State University).
On March 12, 1884, the efforts begun years before by Sallie Reneau and continued by Annie Peyton paid off as the state legislature established the Industrial Institute and College for the education of girls “in the arts and sciences.” The trustees of the Columbus Female Institute took an active role in the legislative efforts. The legislature had begun considering a bill establishing a state female college in February of 1884 and on Feb. 15, the trustees began taking the steps necessary to enable the campus to be donated to the state.
The trustees’ plan called for the stockholders of the school to sell to persons who would then donate the school and campus to the state.
On March 15, a committee was sent to Jackson by the trustees with authority to do what was needed to secure Columbus as the location of the state female college. On June 19, 1884, after the trustees had published notice of a public sale, James Sykes, Charles Locke and James Bell bought The Columbus Female Institute. They paid $100 for the school property so that it and the grounds comprising 22 acres could then be legally donated to the state.
The Columbus offer was accepted, and the school and grounds were given to the state. The state then added a clock tower to the belfry on “Old Main” (now Callaway Hall) and built the Orr Building next door. In addition, Moore Hall where Whitfield Hall is now located, and the other buildings of the former Columbus Female Institute were reused. In October 1885 The Industrial Institute and College opened its first session at what the year before had been The Columbus Female Institute.
The establishment of a state female college made national news and was the subject of an illustrated article in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of New York on July 4, 1885. The paper reported that the grounds and buildings acquired for the college “… will be one of, if not the most capacious and imposing buildings for the purpose in the country.” The account concluded by saying; “In this Institute and College, Mississippi has set an example which we hope to see followed by other states, until our girls everywhere can gain such an education as will fit them for the practical and profitable employments of life.”
Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for help and the use of the late Sam Kaye’s notes on the Columbus Female Institute.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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