Historical Sketch
The incorporation of a Methodist College in Georgia was authorized in 1836 by
the State Conference, then in session at Columbus, Ga., and trustees were immediately
appointed to select a suitable place for the Institution. Fourteen hundred acres of land,
forty miles from Atlanta, were purchased, laid off into streets and lots and selected for
the location. Two buildings were erected on this vast area of land and the enterprise
was launched.
The little town was given the classic name of Oxford, at the suggestion of Dr. Igna¬
tius A. Few, in honor of the great English University. The name Emory was given to
the College as a tribute to the memory of Bishop John Emory, who was accidentally
killed a few years prior to the opening of the Institution.
In 1S3S the doors were thrown open for students and, four years later, witnessed the
graduation of her first class, consisting of three men. The College then had only two or
three buildings and the little town a population of seventy-five inhabitants. During
the years that have gone by, sixteen hundred young men have gone out from their Alma
Mater to bless the world, filling the various walks of life. Eleven magnificent buildings
adorn the campus, and the little town of Oxford has grown to a population of more than
eight hundred.
Emory's growth for the past seventy-four years has been excelled by no Institution
in the State. With a curriculum second to none and a Faculty composed of the very
highest type of educators she is setting a pace that will be hard to surpass.
When we remember that such men as Bishop A. G. Haygood, Dr. C. E. Dowman,
Bishop W. A. Candler and our own beloved President Dr. James E. Dickey have stood
at the helm of the institution, the greater part of the rapid progress which he has made
is explained in the untiring efforts of these Christian gentlemen.
The $500,000 endowment fund has been completed under the present administra¬
tion of Dr. James E. Dickey, and we can see that the time is not far distant when a theo¬
logical department will be added, the Faculty increased, the enrollment doubled, and
Emory the leading Methodist Institution in the South. May every Emory man feel
that he has a part in bringing these things to pass.
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