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Ferrum College
Ferrum College is a private college in Ferrum, Virginia. The college was established in 1913 as the "Ferrum Training School" (also referred to as the "Ferrum Institute" by its board of trustees) for primary and secondary education to serve the mountain communities of rural Southwest Virginia.
The school was known as "Ferrum Junior College" between 1940 and 1976. It was founded by the United Methodist Church and gradually developed from primary to post-secondary education. Today, Ferrum enrolls around 800 undergraduate and graduate students and offers over 54 undergraduate majors and four graduate programs. Ferrum College's 700-acre (280 ha) campus is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Rocky Mount, Virginia, in Franklin County.
Its athletic teams, known as the Panthers, compete in Division III of the NCAA in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). Ferrum has 11 men's teams and 14 women's teams. The football team is commonly referred to as the "Black Hats".
The Ferrum College campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Charitable members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Virginia established the school—Ferrum Training School—in Ferrum, Virginia in 1913 to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged youth in the state's Blue Ridge Mountains region. The Virginia Conference Woman's Home Missionary Society (VCWHMS) under President Mrs. Lee Britt wished to serve and educate the rural population of southwestern Virginia. Already in 1909, President Britt informed Benjamin Beckham, presiding elder of the Danville district, that the VCWHMS had gathered $1,200 toward constructing a school somewhere in the district. In 1911, the village of Ferrum was selected as the location of the train depot on the Norfolk and Western Railway between Roanoke and Winston-Salem. In 1912, Beckham offered to help raise $25,000, and in 1913, the society formed a board of trustees and purchased 80 acres of land for the campus from local farmer George Goode, with another 50 acres donated by citizens of the village, allowing the board to officially establish Ferrum Training School.
Construction began in earnest in 1914 and Beckham moved his family to the site, opening the first section of John Wesley Hall to begin the first term of instruction in the fall of 1914. The small school grew with the support of the railway, which constructed a cinder road from the Ferrum Depot to Ferrum Training School. The board of trustees purchased an additional 96 acres in 1916, and Ferrum graduated their first diploma-earning student in 1917: Berta Thompson (1897–1975), who went on to become a public-school teacher.
After steady growth in its first decade, despite numerous crises involving sickness, financial difficulties, and luring faculty to rural Virginia, in 1926 Ferrum's trustees voted to recast the institution as a junior college. In 1928, the village of Ferrum opened a public elementary school. Between 1926 and 1935, Ferrum Training School transitioned into secondary education with the occasional postsecondary course in religious training. After 1935, Ferrum Training School under President James A. Chapman began seeking accreditation, the name of the institution in 1940 becoming "Ferrum Training School – Ferrum Junior College".
By 1940, half of the enrolled students were college level; the elementary division closed before the end of World War II. With the closing of the original training school's primary school, some thought that the mountain mission school had served its purpose. In a 1948 editorial for the Richmond Christian Advocate, its editor, George Reamey, recommended the school be closed. The resignation of the fourth president, Derby in 1948, came in part from similar concerns about the viability of the school in postwar Virginia. However, this crisis inspired a wide outpouring of support from alumni and a decision to make stronger appeals and more competitive salaries to entice faculty and staff to the college's rural location. At the same time, the school's name was shortened to just "Ferrum Junior College".
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Ferrum College
Ferrum College is a private college in Ferrum, Virginia. The college was established in 1913 as the "Ferrum Training School" (also referred to as the "Ferrum Institute" by its board of trustees) for primary and secondary education to serve the mountain communities of rural Southwest Virginia.
The school was known as "Ferrum Junior College" between 1940 and 1976. It was founded by the United Methodist Church and gradually developed from primary to post-secondary education. Today, Ferrum enrolls around 800 undergraduate and graduate students and offers over 54 undergraduate majors and four graduate programs. Ferrum College's 700-acre (280 ha) campus is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Rocky Mount, Virginia, in Franklin County.
Its athletic teams, known as the Panthers, compete in Division III of the NCAA in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). Ferrum has 11 men's teams and 14 women's teams. The football team is commonly referred to as the "Black Hats".
The Ferrum College campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Charitable members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Virginia established the school—Ferrum Training School—in Ferrum, Virginia in 1913 to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged youth in the state's Blue Ridge Mountains region. The Virginia Conference Woman's Home Missionary Society (VCWHMS) under President Mrs. Lee Britt wished to serve and educate the rural population of southwestern Virginia. Already in 1909, President Britt informed Benjamin Beckham, presiding elder of the Danville district, that the VCWHMS had gathered $1,200 toward constructing a school somewhere in the district. In 1911, the village of Ferrum was selected as the location of the train depot on the Norfolk and Western Railway between Roanoke and Winston-Salem. In 1912, Beckham offered to help raise $25,000, and in 1913, the society formed a board of trustees and purchased 80 acres of land for the campus from local farmer George Goode, with another 50 acres donated by citizens of the village, allowing the board to officially establish Ferrum Training School.
Construction began in earnest in 1914 and Beckham moved his family to the site, opening the first section of John Wesley Hall to begin the first term of instruction in the fall of 1914. The small school grew with the support of the railway, which constructed a cinder road from the Ferrum Depot to Ferrum Training School. The board of trustees purchased an additional 96 acres in 1916, and Ferrum graduated their first diploma-earning student in 1917: Berta Thompson (1897–1975), who went on to become a public-school teacher.
After steady growth in its first decade, despite numerous crises involving sickness, financial difficulties, and luring faculty to rural Virginia, in 1926 Ferrum's trustees voted to recast the institution as a junior college. In 1928, the village of Ferrum opened a public elementary school. Between 1926 and 1935, Ferrum Training School transitioned into secondary education with the occasional postsecondary course in religious training. After 1935, Ferrum Training School under President James A. Chapman began seeking accreditation, the name of the institution in 1940 becoming "Ferrum Training School – Ferrum Junior College".
By 1940, half of the enrolled students were college level; the elementary division closed before the end of World War II. With the closing of the original training school's primary school, some thought that the mountain mission school had served its purpose. In a 1948 editorial for the Richmond Christian Advocate, its editor, George Reamey, recommended the school be closed. The resignation of the fourth president, Derby in 1948, came in part from similar concerns about the viability of the school in postwar Virginia. However, this crisis inspired a wide outpouring of support from alumni and a decision to make stronger appeals and more competitive salaries to entice faculty and staff to the college's rural location. At the same time, the school's name was shortened to just "Ferrum Junior College".