Rhodes College

Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Rhodes enrolls about 2,000 students, and its Collegiate Gothic campus sits on a 123-acre wooded site in Memphis' historic Midtown neighborhood. History The early origins of Rhodes can be traced to the mid-1830s and the establishment of the all-male Montgomery Academy on the outskirts of Clarksville, Tennessee. The city's flourishing tobacco market and profitable river port made Clarksville one of the fastest-growing cities in the then-western United States and quickly led to calls to turn the modest "log college" into a proper university. In 1848, the Tennessee General Assembly authorized the conveyance of the academy's property for the establishment of the Masonic University of Tennessee. In 1855, control of the university passed to the Presbyterian Church, and it was renamed Stewart College in honor of its president and benefactor, William M. Stewart. The college's early growth halted during the American Civil War, during which its buildings served as a headquarters for the Union Army throughout the federal occupation of Clarksville. The war was especially costly for the young institution, as the campus suffered extensive damage and looting. The sad condition of campus and the slow recovery of the Southern economy made getting the college back on its feet a slow and difficult process. However, renewed support from the Presbyterian Church gave the college new life, leading Stewart College to be renamed Southwestern Presbyterian University in 1879. In 1885, the college added an undergraduate School of Theology under the leadership of Dr. Joseph R. Wilson, father of President Woodrow Wilson, which operated until 1917.