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LaGrange College History
This etching shows the Stanley Building which was the original classroom building of LaGrange Female College. It was located on Broad Street, one of the main streets in LaGrange, and is no longer in existence. LaGrange Female Academy was incorporated by an act of the Georgia Legislature on December 26, 1831, though it had been in operation earlier. The school prospered with the support of prominent local trustees and under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Stanley and Major John Park. In 1846, brothers Joseph and Hugh Montgomery purchased the Academy, then located on Broad Street, and converted it to a degree-granting college named LaGrange Female Institute and later LaGrange Female College in 1851. Joseph Montgomery built College Home, later renamed Smith Hall, for himself and to accommodate female boarders attending the school. In 1851 the Auditorium was built, but was completely destroyed in 1860 and caused great damage to College Home. The Montgomery brothers sold the College to the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church South in 1856 for the sum of $40,000. Local people, mostly Methodists, contributed half of the purchase money. The College operated throughout the Civil War. During Reconstruction, it was kept open in conjunction with another local school, Southern Female College, whose campus later burned. LaGrange College officially became coeducational in 1953, and the first African-American student graduated in 1967.
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Click here to read more LaGrange College history from the book Since 1831: LaGrange College, commemorating the college's 175th year.
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