Here’s what happened.
Adiel Sherwood and other Baptist ministers in Georgia endeavored to establish a preparatory school for boys. The effort gained momentum from two founding endowments. One was a bequest from Josiah Penfield, a Savannah, Georgia business executive. The other gift was from Jesse Mercer, a prominent minister who also agreed to lead the school’s board of trustees.
The Mercer Institute opened in Penfield, Georgia on January 14,1833 with 39 students and Billington McCarthy Sanders as its first president. The school received a university charter in 1837. Today, Mercer University is a major coeducational institution of higher learning.
Here’s why it mattered then.
Mercer’s history includes several distinctive events. It was the only academic institution in Georgia to remain open during the U.S. Civil War. In 1866, it became the only university to award an honorary degree to former Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
In 1892, the first college football game in Georgia pitted Mercer against the University of Georgia; the “Baptist Bears” lost. That following fall, Mercer won Georgia Tech’s first ever football game. In 1963, Mercer Trustees voted to admit qualified students without regard to race. It became one of the few private colleges in the South to integrate before being required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Here’s why it matters now.
In 1871 Mercer moved its main campus to Macon, Georgia. Its presence in Atlanta began in 1959, when it absorbed the Southern School of Pharmacy. The Atlanta campus expanded in 1972, when Mercer merged with Atlanta Baptist College. Mercer opened a campus in Savannah in 2008.
Thus, as is noted, “From its humble beginnings in Penfield, Mercer today is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has 7,600 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah; three regional academic centers around the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program.”
Here’s the latest update . . .
Mercer annually receives high rankings from The Princeton Review and from U.S. News & World Report in their comprehensive listings of the country’s best universities.
Mercer’s broad offerings of community service programs (including the First-Year Seminar Experiential Program, Mercer on Mission, and AmeriCorps) serve as international models for collegiate student service learning initiatives.
. . . And here’s an interesting fact!
The landmark statue of Jesse Mercer on the Macon campus has an exact copy on the Atlanta campus. Erecting duplicates of statues is a common practice worldwide. One of the USA’s best examples is an equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, the nation’s 7th president. Its three duplicates are in Nashville, Tennessee (State Capitol); New Orleans, Louisiana (Jackson Square); and Washington, DC (The White House).
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