Grenada College

Main building, Grenada College

Grenada College was a college for women, founded by Baptists, in Grenada, Mississippi in 1851.

The college was founded in 1851 as the Yalobusha Female Institute. Its first president was Dr. W. S. Webb, who served until 1857.^[1] At first classes were held in the Union Hotel in Grenada,^[2] and also in the College Inn at 123 S. College Street.^[3] The college subsequently raised enough money for a building,^[2] which was completed by 1858.^[4]

The college closed during the American Civil War^[5] and its buildings were used for hospitals.^[6]

When it reopened, the college was known as the Emma Mercer Institute, and then Grenada Female College.^[5] Control of the college passed to the Methodist church in 1882,^[7] which renamed it Grenada College in 1884.^[8]

As of 1915, the college granted both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters degrees, and had 13 faculty members.^[9]

In 1936, financial troubles led the church to close the school and transfer its assets to Millsaps College.^[5] The buildings were finally destroyed in the 1980s.^[2]

Notable faculty and alumnae

• George Robert Hightower
• Blanche Colton Williams — author, head of the English department at Grenada College, and later head of the English department at Hunter College.^[10]

References

1. Jesse L. Boyd (1930). A popular history of the Baptists in Mississippi. Printed by the Baptist press. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
2. Mary Carol Miller (2002). Lost Landmarks of Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 22–4. ISBN 978-1-57806-475-5. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
3. Helen Kerr Kempe (31 August 1999). The Pelican Guide to Old Homes of Mississippi: Columbus and the North. Pelican Publishing. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-88289-135-4. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
4. Zachary Taylor Leavell; Thomas Jefferson Bailey (1904). A complete history of Mississippi Baptists: from the earliest times. Mississippi Baptist Publishing Co. p. 1272. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
5. J. C. Hathorn. A History of Grenada County. David Jensen. p. 55. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
6. Edward Mayes (1899). History of education in Mississippi. Govt. Print. Off. p. 99. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
7. Federal Writers' Project. Mississippi: A Guide to the Magnolia State. US History Publishers. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-60354-023-0. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
8. Dunbar Rowland (1907). Mississippi: comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 806. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
9. A Cyclopedia of Education. Macmillan. 1915. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-4400-6151-6. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
10. Elizabeth Anne Payne (17 November 2003). Mississippi Women: Their Histories, Their Lives. University of Georgia Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8203-2502-6. Retrieved 24 July 2012.