История Миссисипского университета для женщин: здание Коллеи для женщин 1847 года может сделать вуз старше Оли Миссисипи

Lately there have been several comments in newspapers and posts on Facebook about Mississippi University for Women and two of the older buildings on The W’s campus, Callaway Hall and the Puckett House. Few people realize it, but this year marks the 179th anniversary of a college in Columbus at that location on College Street. MUW’s early beginnings are evidenced by Callaway Hall, which turned 165 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 had opened in 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 women’s 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 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. That heritage could make The W a year older than Ole Miss. The Columbus Female Institute was established under the initiative of Col. A.A. Kincannon on May 15, 1847. The institute 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 the courses of study required for students in the collegiate area were comparable to other southern colleges of the day. An example of the collegiate faculty is Thomas Brownrigg Bailey, who was a professor of Latin at the Female Institute during the late 1850s and 1860s. He became professor of ancient languages at Mississippi A&M College (now Mississippi State University) when it opened. The interest by the trustees in making the Columbus Female Institute a state women’s college was not a sudden venture and parallels the push for better women’s educational opportunities in Mississippi. In 1872, trustees of the 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. On March 12, 1884, the efforts to promote women’s education, started years earlier by Sallie Reneau and continued by Annie Peyton, paid off when the state legislature established the Industrial Institute and College. The trustees of the Female Institute had already begun taking the steps necessary to enable the college and campus to be donated to the state. A quirk in its charter provided the school could be sold but not given away. The trustees’ plan called for the stockholders of the school to sell the school to persons who would then donate the school and campus to the state. In March 1884, a committee was sent to Jackson by the trustees with authority to do what was needed to secure Columbus as the location of the new state female college. On June 19, 1884, 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. Callaway Hall is the most recognizable building on the campus and is an architectural masterpiece. It was designed by James Lull, a Philadelphia trained architect, who moved to Columbus in the mid-1830s and is responsible for many of the town’s most noteworthy buildings. On April 27, 1860, a Female Institute student released a paper balloon containing a candle to illuminate it and replicate a hot air balloon. The balloon drifted skyward but then dropped on the roof of the school’s boarding house, catching it on fire. The building burned and was left in ruins. Lull was hired to design and build the new boarding house (dormitory). Work on the building commenced in 1861. Its construction was suspended during the Civil War, and the unfinished structure was turned into Newsom Hospital, a Confederate military hospital. It had a 190-bed capacity but after the battle of Shiloh was filled with 287 patients. Dr. Shattuck, who taught math at the Female Institute, had studied medicine and remained one of the surgeons at the hospital. Though the building had been in use since 1862, It was finally completed in 1867. After the Female Institute was taken over by the state in 1884, the Gothic Revival “Old Main” building with a battlement crowned tower was remodeled into a “High Victorian” Gothic Style, and the front tower was changed into a clock tower. In 1885 electric lights were installed in Callaway. Ken P’Pool, who I consider the foremost authority on historic architecture in Mississippi, has called the Puckett House at MUW one of the finest examples of a brick Queen Anne style house to survive in Mississippi. It is a transitional style from the Traditional Queen Anne to the Free Classical Queen Anne. The house was constructed on College Street in 1902 by W.N. Puckett as his family residence. Puckett and W.S. Lindamood founded the Columbus Brick Company in 1890. The house is a brick 2 ½-story Queen Anne style home. When the house was built it was located where Whitfield Hall now sits, but it was moved to its current location when the construction of Whitfield began in 1927. Mississippi’s establishment of a state female college made national news and was the subject of an illustrated article in the popular Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of New York on July 4, 1885. The college was the Industrial Institute and College, which is now MUW. 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.” According to a recent article in Time Magazine the W was the highest rated University in Mississippi. The example Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper reported the II&C set in 1885 continues today. 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 local historian. Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected]. Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. 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