[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 137 (Monday, September 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1897-E1898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                LOUISBURG COLLEGE: A LEGACY OF 220 YEARS

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                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 17, 2007

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the legacy of 
a North Carolina institution. Louisburg College, the oldest two-year 
church affiliated, co-educational college in the nation, has filled a 
niche in North Carolina's system of higher education. As the only 
residential junior college in the state, the institution provides an 
excellent introduction to the collegiate life for college freshmen and 
sophomores. Louisburg College offers a premier beginning to successful 
academic and professional achievement. For 220 years the college has 
impacted lives and fulfilled its mission: Louisburg College is 
committed to offering a supportive community that nurtures young men 
and women intellectually, culturally, socially, physically, and 
spiritually.
  Louisburg College had its beginning in the period that witnessed the 
emergence of America as an independent nation, the birth of the 
Methodist Church in America, and the establishment of Franklin County, 
North Carolina, and the town of Louisburg. Having evolved from three 
earlier institutions, Franklin Male Academy, Louisburg Female Academy, 
and Louisburg Female College. The roots of Louis burg College trace 
back to the early years of the town of Louisburg, the county seat of 
Franklin County. Founded in 1779, during the American Revolution, the 
county was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin and the town in honor of 
King Louis XVI of France.
  Franklin Male Academy opened on January 1, 1805, under the direction 
of Yale graduate Matthew Dickinson. Franklin Male Academy prospered in 
its early years and soon had an enrollment of ninety students. The 
second stage in the evolution of Louisburg College began on December 
27, 1814, when the state legislature ratified an act chartering the 
Louisburg Female Academy. By August 1815, Louisburg Female Academy was 
operating under the guidance of Harriet Partridge. The third stage of 
the evolution of Louisburg College began in January 1855, when the 
state

[[Page E1898]]

legislature authorized the transfer of property by the trustees of 
Louisburg Female Academy to the directors of Louisburg Female College 
Company.
  By August 1857, Louisburg College opened under the management of 
Professor James P. Nelson. The female college continued to operate 
during the Civil War under presidents C.C. Andrews (1860-1861) and 
James Southgate, Jr. (1862-1865) After the war, about 500 Union 
soldiers camped in the college and male academy groves during May and 
June of 1865. After the college opened and closed several times the 
1870s and 1880s, S.D. Bagley became president in 1889. Matthew S. 
Davis, who had previously served twenty-five years as principal of the 
Male Academy, became president of the Female College in 1896 and held 
the office until his death in 1906. He was succeeded by his daughter, 
Mary Davis Allen, who was President until 1917.
  At the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of significant 
changes took place. The institution became known as Louisburg College, 
and the college became officially linked to the Methodist Church. 
Washington Duke had acquired ownership of the college property in the 
1890s. After his death, his son Benjamin N. Duke presented the property 
to the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Church. The Reverend 
Armour David Wilcox, former minister of the Louisburg Methodist Church, 
served as president of the college from 1931 to 1937. Louisburg College 
became co-educational in 1931, and student enrollment immediately 
increased. By the end of World War II, institutional debts had been 
paid and in 1952, Louisburg College was accredited by the Southern 
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
  During the 1986-87 school year, Louisburg college held a Bicentennial 
Celebration in recognition of its unique two-hundred-year heritage. The 
first college flag was designed and displayed during the celebration, 
and the first published history of the college, Louisburg College 
Echoes, was issued in 1988. Dr. C. Edward Brown, Jr. served as interim 
president in 1992, and Dr. Ronald I. May was president of Louisburg 
College from January 1993 through May 1998. Dr. Brown again assumed the 
interim presidency in June 1998. Dr. Rosemary Gillett-Karam become the 
twenty-fourth president of Louisburg College in December of 1998. Dr. 
Reginald Ponder assumed the presidency in 2002.
  Louisburg College has contributed significantly to the growth and 
development of NC and the enrichment of countless of its citizens. I 
urge the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in commending this 
outstanding institution.

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