North Carolina |
Yadkin College
Yadkin College was founded in 1856 by the Methodist Protestant Church. The school was located in Davidson County, on land donated by Henry W. Walser. Initially, and sporadically throughout its existence, Yadkin was a preparatory school. The first president was George W. Hege. 
Yadkin College Logo. To see more Yadkin College ephemera preserved at the North Carolina Collection, click on the picture. Yadkin reached collegiate status briefly in 1861, but the Civil War forced the school to close. It reopened again in 1865 as a preparatory school. H.T. Phillips and F.T. Walser reorganized Yadkin as a secondary school in 1867 and it remained as such until the early 1870s. In the 1870s and 1880s the school blossomed. Shadrach Simpson became president in 1873 and his charisma and energy transformed the school again into a collegiate institution. Yadkin College began admitting women, and a new three-story building was erected. Simpson left Yadkin in favor of a West Maryland College professorship in 1883, and the school began a slow decline. It was downgraded to a junior college. The Rev. A. R. Morgan took over the school as a high school, which was later run by George W. Holmes. Under a new legislative charter, Holmes resumed Yadkin’s function as a college, and it became known as the Yadkin Collegiate Institute. William T. Totten, an 1883 graduate, became its last director at the turn of the century. He managed to enroll more than 100 students, but economic pressures eventually forced the school to close. Yadkin ceased to operate as a school in 1924. Source for image on this page: Image from Yadkin College Commencement program, 25 May 1876, in the Yadkin College Ephemera Collection, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. VC378.9 M67 Yadkin. Works Consulted: Battle, Kemp Plummer. “Old or Extinct Schools of North Carolina, Supplemental.” Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina, for the Scholastic Years 1898-’99 and 1899-1900. Raleigh, N.C.: Edwards & Broughton, 1900. 624-625 pp. Hill, Michael, ed. Guide to North Carolina Highway Historical Markers. Raleigh, N.C.: Division of Archives and History, 2001. 74 p. McCaslin, Richard B. “Yadkin College.” In Encyclopedia of North Carolina, ed. by William S. Powell. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. 1238 p. For further information: Items available in the North Carolina State Archives Roster of Officers of the Militia of North Carolina, in the North Carolina State Archives. Call number: AG 129. School Records (Yadkin College), 1888, in the North Carolina State Archives Miscellaneous County Records. Call number: C.R. 033.928.6. Items available in the North Carolina Collection Michael, Olin Bain. Yadkin College, 1856-1924: A Historic Sketch. Salisbury, N.C.: Rowan Print. Co., 1939. Call number: C378 Y12E. Catalogue of Yadkin College, North Carolina. Franklin, VA: Printed at Harrell's Cheap Book & Job Office, 1877/1878. Call number: VCp378 Y12H. Fick, Virginia G. Country College on the Yadkin: A Historical Narrative. Winston-Salem,
N.C.: Hunter Pub. Co., 1984. Call number: C378 Y12E1. |
