Author and historian K.R. Kellison writes, “Furman Academy and Institute started in Edgefield, S.C….. p. 157 SCHM Vol. 110, #3-4, 2009
City Directories and History: The State Convention of the Baptist Denomination in South Carolina on December 20, 1825, received a charter for the establishment of an academical and
theological seminary for the education of youth. It was opened in Edgefield on January 15, 1827. Due to financial difficulties, it was moved in 1828 to High Hills of the Santee (now Stateburg). But again, swamped in debt, the institution threatened to close.
Rev. Jonathan Davis of Fairfield County was made chairman of the board of trustees and set about to move the institution to Fairfield. A tract of 557 acres was purchased and on the first Monday in February, 1837, Furman Institution was opened. The site was located three and a half miles south and west of the town of Winnsboro. A frame building, 120 feet long by 30 feet wide, was erected. This housed the students, classrooms, and library. On May 1 of the first year this building burned with all its contents and took the life of one of the academy students. The school was operated on the manual labor plan, each student doing two and a half hours of work in the fields each day.
Between May of 1837 and January of 1838 the two buildings which still stand were erected. The larger building was three stories high although it was never fully completed. It was used for classes and the chapel. The students lived in small barracks buildings 18 feet by 16 feet by 9 feet. There were at least a dozen of these. The other building which stands was constructed as a faculty residence. The Fairfield years were unsettled and unhappy years for Furman. In spite of this, the theology department grew to be the strongest Baptist theological school in the South during the tense forties. The classical department was closed for a while, but was reopened. The manual labor department failed from the start.
Soon after the final closing of the manual labor department in 1841 discussion began again over moving the institution. The open country was fine for a manual labor school, but it was no place to train preachers. As soon as South Carolina Baptists raised the necessary funds, Furman was moved to Greenville, SC. This was done in February, 1851. With plans for addition of law and medicine departments, the school was re-chartered as Furman University. [Our Heritage Book]
“Furman University, now of Greenville, began as The Furman Academy and Theological Institution, opening in 1827 at Edgefield. Moves shortly thereafter were to High Hills of Santee, then to Winnsboro, and finally to Greenville. In 1850 it was chartered as Furman University, named for Dr. Richard Furman. He was born in New York, grew up in Charleston, and became a leader among Baptists in the South, in 1814 elected president of the first general meeting of Baptists in America.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
Click on the More Information > link found below the picture column for additional data or pictures. (Two articles)
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