Now, the Washington College Academy School for Arts & Crafts offers a variety of classes in metalsmithing, glass, clay, fiber, and mixed media. The academy also hosts a General Educational Development (GED) program to assist area residents in meeting the high school-level academic skills necessary for GED certification. The academy also offers baseball and softball facilities. The academy is also home to Washington county's most recent addition to the Northeast Tennessee Quilt Trail. Depicting a hand painted quilt square designed by artist Sharon Stone, "A Light in the Wilderness" is based on the original vision of Samuel Doak.[2]
The first college established in Tennessee, Washington College was originally chartered as Martin Academy, when the state was still part of North Carolina. It was rechartered by the failed State of Franklin in 1785, and again by the Southwest Territory in 1795, when its name was changed to Washington College. The school prospered throughout the first half of the 19th century under the leadership of Doak and his grandson, Archibald Alexander Doak, and many of its graduates went on to become influential figures in regional politics. Ebenezer Baird was the college's president from 1850 until 1852.
Occupying Union and Confederate armies left its campus in ruins after the Civil War, but the college reorganized and gradually expanded during the 1870s and 1880s. The school had transitioned to a junior college by the early 20th century, and abandoned its college curriculum to focus on secondary education in the 1920s.[3]
Most of the extant buildings on the academy's campus were constructed between 1842 and 1973. Nearly a dozen of these buildings, along with the adjacent Salem Presbyterian Church, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Washington College Historic District.[3]
History
Samuel Doak, described by historian J. G. M. Ramsey as the "apostle of learning and religion in the west,"[3] arrived in the upper Tennessee Valley in 1777 as a Presbyterian circuit rider, and moved to what is now rural western Washington County shortly afterward. In 1780, he established the Salem Church congregation and an associated school, both of which met in a log building located on a lot roughy adjacent to what is now Harris Hall. In 1783, the North Carolina Assembly (modern Tennessee was still part of North Carolina at the time) chartered the school as "Martin Academy," named for North Carolina Governor Alexander Martin. Two years later, the school received a charter from the legislature of the "State of Franklin"—an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by North Carolina's trans-mountain settlers to form a new state. In 1795, the Southwest Territory, a federal territory that consisted of what is now Tennessee, rechartered the school as "Washington College."[3] The legislation chartering the school was introduced by John Sevier, then a member of the territorial council, and its early trustees included several influential figures in early Tennessee history, among them Sevier, Doak, John Tipton, William Cocke, William C. C. Claiborne, Archibald Roane, John Rhea, and Gideon Blackburn.[4]
Samuel Doak was succeeded as president of Washington College by his son, John W. Doak (1818–1820), and later by his grandson, Archibald Alexander Doak (1840–1850, 1853–1856). The school taught grade school, preparatory, and college-level courses, and began awarding Doctor of Divinity degrees in 1817. Girls likely attended the school's lower grades during its early years. The school experienced a period of prosperity in the 1840s, when the iconic red brick Harris Hall was completed,[3] but financial struggles eventually forced Archibald Doak's resignation in 1856.[5] The school's preparatory department became coeducational that same year.[3]
1893 ad for Washington College
During the Civil War, the school was forced to close, and its campus was occupied at times by both Confederate and Union troops. The first floor of Harris Hall was used as a stable, whereas the top floors were used for barracks. The library was destroyed, and the campus was largely left in ruins. Two local women, Eva and Addy Telford, used the campus as a school for women in the years following the war. In 1868, the school was reorganized as Washington Female Academy with William B. Rankin as president, but it was unable to obtain a charter. It afterward returned to its coeducational status, and in subsequent years repaired and expanded its campus.[3]
By the 1880s, Washington College was again prospering under the presidency of J.W.C. Willoughby, reporting an enrollment of 148 in 1884. It began awarding Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, and Bachelor of Instruction degrees during this period. The YMCA and YWCA established organizations on campus, and a school newspaper, the Progressive Educator (later known as the Pioneer Educator) was launched in 1886. The 32-year presidency of James T. Cooter, which began in 1891, saw the school transition to a junior college. An industrial department was established, and a 135-acre (55ha) farm was purchased in 1900. The school was one of the first in the area to obtain a telephone connection and electricity.[3]
In 1908, the Presbyterian Church attempted to merge Washington College with nearby Tusculum College. Under the merger, Washington College would have become the new school's preparatory department. Washington's trustees sued to block the merger, and the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in their favor, but the school's post-secondary department never fully recovered, and its collegiate curriculum was discontinued in 1923.[3]
Washington College was forced to close during World War I, and afterward began seeking public funding. It started offering agricultural education in 1919 in order to obtain federal Smith-Hughes Act funds, and shortly afterward began teaching public school students as part of an agreement with Washington County. The school continued to receive substantial donations from benefactors such as Mary Copley Thaw and Mary Boyce Temple during the 1920s, but funding began to dry up during the Great Depression, forcing layoffs and salary cuts, and a reduction in work-study students.[3]
During the years following World War II, the school experienced a resurgence under the presidency of Henry Jablonski. Several new buildings were constructed in the late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, some of which were made possible by a large gift from the Harris family in 1966. With the completion of David Crockett High School in nearby Jonesborough in 1971, Washington College discontinued its public school program, and returned to its role as a private preparatory school for grades 7 through 12. The school severed its ties with the Presbyterian Church in 1972, and phased out its agricultural program in the late 1970s. Washington College Academy was open as a private boarding and day school from 1993 to 2000. The school closed again in late 2000 and has reopened again in the last few years as a local arts school. Today Washington College continues to offer quality education through a series of special programs offered to the community. It is becoming known as a center for the arts with diverse artistic talents.[6] The school still operates a High School equivalency program (HiSet) and offers classes on Art, History, and Music for adults.[7]
Notable alumni
This section includes both college and high school alumni.
Greeneville is a town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, and it is the second oldest town in Tennessee. It is the only town with this spelling in the United States, although there are numerous U.S. towns named Greenville. The town was the capital of the short-lived State of Franklin in the 18th-century history of East Tennessee.
Abingdon is a town in Washington County, Virginia, United States, 133 miles (214 km) southwest of Roanoke. The population was 8,376 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Washington County. The town encompasses several historically significant sites and features a fine arts and crafts scene centered on the galleries and museums along Main Street.
The State of Franklin was an unrecognized proposed state located in present-day East Tennessee, in the United States. Franklin was created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered by North Carolina as a cession to Congress to help pay off debts related to the American War for Independence. It was founded with the intent of becoming the 14th state of the new United States.
Erskine College is a private Christian college in Due West, South Carolina, United States. It is an undergraduate liberal arts college and a graduate theological seminary. The college was founded in 1839 by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Its sports teams compete in NCAA Division II as a member of Conference Carolinas.
Robert Looney Caruthers was an American judge, politician, and professor. He helped establish Cumberland University in 1842, serving as the first president of its board of trustees, and was a cofounder of the Cumberland School of Law, one of the oldest law schools in the South. He served as a Tennessee state attorney general in the late 1820s and early 1830s, and was a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court in the 1850s and early 1860s. He also served one term in the United States House of Representatives (1841–1843). In 1863, he was elected Governor of Tennessee by the state's Confederates, but never took office.
Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1875, Peabody had a long history as an independent institution before merging with Vanderbilt University in 1979. The school is located on the Peabody Campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The academic and administrative buildings surround the Peabody Esplanade and are southeast of Vanderbilt's main campus.
Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college or university in the United States.
Vermont Academy (VA) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory, boarding and day school in Saxtons River, Vermont, serving students from ninth through twelfth grade, as well as postgraduates. Founded in 1876, the campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Vermont Academy Campus Historic District in 2015.
New Bethel Presbyterian Church is the oldest Presbyterian congregation in Tennessee, according to church historian Maynard Pittendreigh, who authored a book about the congregation. It is located in the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee, in the tiny hamlet of Piney Flats.
University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a literary arts college, and a boys preparatory school. Educational institutions in operation today that can trace their roots to the University of Nashville include Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-male preparatory school; the Vanderbilt University Medical School; Peabody College at Vanderbilt University; and the University School of Nashville, a co-educational preparatory school.
West Nottingham Academy is an independent co-ed school serves both boarding and day students in grades 9-12. It was founded in 1744 by the Presbyterian preacher Samuel Finley, who later became President of The College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University. The 124-acre (0.50 km2), tree-lined campus is in Colora, Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay, an hour south of Philadelphia and 45 minutes north of Baltimore.
Samuel Doak (1749–1830) was an American Presbyterian clergyman, Calvinist educator, and a former slave owner in the early movement in the United States for the abolition of slavery.
Cumberland College in Princeton, Kentucky, was founded in 1826 and operated until 1861. It was the first college affiliated with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1842, the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination withdrew its support from Cumberland College in favor of Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. In doing so, the denomination intended to simply relocate the school from Princeton to Lebanon, but Cumberland College remained open without denominational support until the Civil War.
Limestone is an unincorporated community on the western border of Washington County and the eastern border of Greene County in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its zip code is 37681. Limestone is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the "Tri-Cities" region.
Tennessee Military Institute (TMI) was a military academy in Sweetwater, Tennessee.
James Gettys McGready Ramsey was an American historian, physician, planter, slave owner, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book, The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, a seminal work documenting the state's frontier and early statehood periods. Ramsey was also a major advocate for development in East Tennessee, leading efforts to bring railroad access to the region, and helping to organize the region's first medical society.
Samuel Czar Carrick was an American Presbyterian minister who was the first president of Blount College, the educational institution to which the University of Tennessee traces its origin.
Hezekiah Balch, D.D. (1741–1810) was a Presbyterian minister and the founder of Greeneville College in 1794. After the Civil War, Greeneville College merged with what is now Tusculum University.
Chappell Hill Female College was a private college in Chappell Hill, a rural community in Washington County, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1850 as part of the coeducational school Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute. First chartered by the Texas Legislature in 1852 as a non-denominational preparatory school, the charter was amended to affiliate the school with the Methodist Church in 1854, and was rechartered as a women's college after the male department was spun off as Soule University in 1856. It was closed in 1912 and the building became a public school until a replacement was built in 1927 that preserves the college's bell. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
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