Here’s what happened.
Emory University, one of the bright gems in the Atlanta area’s crown of outstanding institutions of higher learning, is celebrating its 175th Anniversary. The anniversary convocation was held on December 7 as part of an ongoing series of observances. More activities are planned this weekend.
Emory began on December 10, 1836, when the Georgia General Assembly granted the Georgia Methodist Conference a charter to establish a seminary. Bishop John Emory inspired and facilitated the founding of not only that college but also Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia.
Here’s why it mattered then.
Emory’s original campus was in Oxford, Georgia. The town was founded to host a college, and named after the great British university. Emory struggled financially during its early years like many USA colleges. And like many colleges in the USA South, the Civil War affected it profoundly. After being used as a Confederate hospital, Emory reopened in 1866 with barely any students, an exhausted endowment, and most of the campus in ruins.
One of the first steps toward financial stability was taken with the help of George I. Seney, a New York banker who donated huge sums of money over his lifetime to rebuild and expand Emory’s endowment as well as its campus.
Here’s why it matters now.
Later steps would lead to the building of a world-class university and the dawn of its modern era. In 1914 Emory began moving to Atlanta, benefiting from $1 million and 72 acres of land donated by Asa Griggs Candler, the Coca-Cola magnate. Connections between Emory and the Candler family continued to strengthen. Bishop Warren Akin Candler deeply influenced his brother’s benevolence. Moreover, while serving as Emory’s president and its first chancellor, he helped to found the university’s hospital and schools of medicine, law, and theology (which bears his name).
Emory and Coca-Cola share deep ties. Undergraduate scholarships, endowed professorships, research programs, a business school, and several campus buildings are named to honor the generosity of the Woodruff and Goizueta family foundations. Emory also owns Coke stock worth billions of dollars.
Here’s the latest update . . .
Today Emory University proudly showcases 11 graduate and undergraduate schools (including Oxford College), nearly 30,000 students, and a broad spectrum of prestigious academic rankings and honors.
An eagle adorns Emory’s athletic and brand items, but Dooley is the university’s unofficial mascot. According to campus legend, the origins of this skeleton sporting a top hat could be found (literally) in one of the old campus science laboratories.
. . . And here’s an interesting fact!
Emory’s connections to Georgia’s two leading public universities are fascinating. In addition to common founding membership in the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE), the institutions often collaborate on groundbreaking scientific research. Athens, Georgia was established as a college town, just as Oxford was. A stronger link exists via Georgia Tech’s 4th president, Marion Luther Brittain, Sr. Brittain was an Emory college alumnus who also earned doctorate degrees from Emory and UGA.
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