The role of Georgia Baptists' forgotten high schools

The letters LGI are boldly displayed on the cupola of the city of Locust Grove municipal building. A marker nearby explains the building once housed the Locust Grove Institute (1894-1929). It was one of more than 40 private Baptist high schools scattered across Georgia and one of hundreds across the South. Some of the high schools existed a few years, others like Brewton Parker College and Mars Hill University in North Carolina became junior colleges and universities and are living legacies of the high schools.

For several generations these high schools served a vital role. They filled the educational gap between country “field schools” and colleges following the Civil War. Prior to 1900, there were few high schools in Georgia. County “field schools” only provided an education to the 7^th or 8^th grade. At that time that was an adequate education for most people to function in American society. Furthermore, county governments were not prepared to fund high schools.

Before the Civil War college freshmen were 14, or the typical age of one finishing “field schools.” Following the war, as advances in research and education were taking place at the college level, there was a growing educational gap between elementary schools and colleges. Because of this large numbers of students began failing and dropping out of college This was not because they were not bright, but because they were inadequately prepared.

 Across the nation, and especially in rural areas like the south, groups began establishing private “preparatory” or “high schools.” Many of these schools were established by Baptist associations or individual congregations frequently with the patronage of one or more wealthy individuals. These schools prepared students to continue their education on the college level.

Some of the high schools were supported by the Home Mission Board of the SBC under a program called “Mountain Missions.” This effort targeted the poor across the southern Appalachian region. In Georgia, HMB Mountain Mission support was provided to the Morganton Institute, Morganton (1900-1925), the Hiwassee High School, Hiawassee (1886-1930), and the Bleckley Memorial Institute, Clayton (1913-1924). In several other states Mountain Mission schools went on to become colleges, including, Mars Hill College, N.C.

One of Georgia’s high schools, the Mary P. Willingham School, Blue Ridge (1916-1931) was founded and supported by the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union of Georgia. The school grounds also served as the first GBC State Assembly until the depression forced the closure of both.

Furthermore, several African American Baptist high schools in Georgia received support from the Northern Baptist Convention Home Mission Society.

Typically, students came from the surrounding region. Most students boarded in dormitories or local homes. The schools, except for the Willingham School, were co-educational in a day when Georgia’s colleges were not.

Typical curriculum included math, literature, homemaking, physical education, music, Bible, and history. The schools offered courses through the 11^th grade. In the first decade of the 20^th century, to create uniform standards for the high schools the “Mercer System” was developed by the GBC Education Commission. Graduates from those schools were accepted at Shorter College, Tift College, and Mercer University as sophomores. This began the transition for some of the schools to become junior colleges.

Both direct and indirect support came from the GBC, including full tuition scholarships for ministerial students provided by the Ministers Education Fund. By the end of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries some schools began receiving direct funding from the GBC. This included debt relief and capital improvement funding during the GBC “Half-Million Campaign” (1916-1919) and the “75 Million Campaign” (1919-1924). A few schools came under direct GBC ownership in the second and third decades of the 20^th century.

One contentious issue which developed during the years these schools existed were Baptist high schools accepting local government funding. This crossed the line of the separation of Church and State. Local communities realized the value of high school educations to provide opportunities for their students. It was not in their best interests for these schools to fail and at times they provided funding.

The schools provided a training ground for schoolteachers and future college professors. Notable teachers included Mona Michaels who is remembered as the Poppy Lady from WWI and cousins Fernando McConnell and George Truitt, who taught at the Hiwassee Academy. McConnell later became a leading Georgia Baptist pastor and George Truitt moved to Texas where he eventually became pastor of FBC Dallas and a leading SBC Statesman. Eugene Talmadge who would become one of Georgia’s governors was also a teacher at one of the schools. 

Notable graduates included Arthur Jackson (first administrator of the Georgia Baptist Foundation), Samuel Lowe (early head of the SBC Radio and TV Commission), A.J. Ritchie (founder of Rabun Gap School), Paul M. Cousins (President of Shorter) . . . other graduates became educators, ministers, foreign missionaries, lawyers, state legislators, physicians and leaders in business and agriculture.

The last school to offer high school courses was Norman Institute, Norman Park (1900-1954) which closed its high school in 1954. It had become a Junior College in 1928 and continued in that capacity until it closed in 1971.

The downfalls of the high schools included over optimistic building programs creating unmanageable debts and the problem of uninsured buildings burning placing major burdens on schools unprepared to respond to the crisis and rebuild. Uninsured Gibson-Mercer Academy, Bowman, Georgia (1892-1923) was heavily damaged by a tornado, the debt created by repairs was unmanageable and the campus was sold at auction. Some schools borrowed money for operations cost anticipating coverage from tuition and outside gifts. When income did not materialize often due to crop failures in Georgia’s agriculturally based economy the schools failed.

The ultimate downfall of the schools began in the early 20^th century when Georgia counties began establishing (tuition free) high schools. Improvements in roads and the introduction of school busses removed the need for dormitories and lowered the operating cost of high schools. Some of the Baptist school facilities were sold to county school systems including one of the oldest, Hephzibah High School (1861-1903) in Richmond Co. The Perry-Rainey Institute, Auburn (1893-1915) campus in Barrow County was sold to the Christian denomination to become a short-lived college.

A few of the structures remain as tangible reminders of these schools including the Locust Grove City offices and buildings at Norman Park which served as a GBC assembly. The campus of Brewton Parker University has buildings dating to the high school era. Although most of the tangible reminders are gone and as the last high school graduates continue to pass away so does the memory of many of Georgia’s Baptist high schools.

Their legacy lives on in the work those they trained left behind. A legacy that Georgia Baptists build upon today. The importance of these schools in developing future leaders, not just for church service but all aspects of society cannot be overstated. These schools provided the opportunity for promising students to continue their education.

There was a need, the educational doors were closing on young people. Georgia Baptists saw the need and rallied to meet that need for more than two generations. Today through Baptist colleges, and the Baptist Collegiate Ministries on college campuses, Georgia Baptists continue to provide direction and prepare future leaders for life and service.

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Some of Georgia Baptist High Schools

Hearn Academy, Cave Spring1839-1924
Mt. Vernon Institute, Riddleville 1852-1890
Washington Institute, Linton ca 1858-1886
Hephzibah HS, Hephzibah 1861-1903
Rutledge HS, Rutledge 1862-1893
Harmony HS, Rudden (Putnam Co.) ca 1869-1890’s
Crawford HS, Dalton 1872-1881
Penfield HS, Penfield ca.1872-1897
Joseph E. Brown Institute, Dalton 1873-1890
Glenville Baptist Institute, Glenville ca. 1870-1890’s
Kirkwood HS, Atlanta ca. 1870’s
Excelsior Academy, Bullock Co. ca. 1875-1892
Mercer HS, Penfield 1871- 1893
Mercer University HS, Macon 1883-1900
Hiwassee Academy, Hiwassee 1886-1930
Providence HS, Providence ca 1888-1897
Hollingsworth HS, Hollingsworth 1890-1901
Daniell HS, Vidalia ca, 1891-1900
Ryals HS, Sugar Valley 1891-1898
Gibson-Mercer Academy, Bowman 1892-1923
Freddie Shipp College, Cordele 1893
Perry-Rainey Institute, Auburn 1893-1915
Hightower Institute, Cumming1893-1908
Bethel Institute, Cuthbert 1893-1905
Locust Grove Institute, Locust Grove 1894-1929
Lyerly HS, Lyerly 1894-1897
Cochran College, Cochran, GA 1885-
Houston HS, Arabi 1896
Cyrene Institute, Bainbridge ca 1900-1915
Morganton Institute, Morganton 1900-1925
Tugalo Institute, Carnesville ca 1900-1902
Norman Institute, Norman Park 1900-1954
Cherokee Baptist HS, Adairsville 1901-1918
Ebenezer HS, Dudley ca. 1901-1914
Chattahoochee HS, Clermont 1902-1926
Brewton Parker (Union Inst.), Mount Vernon 1904
Draketown Inst., Draketown 1905-1918
Oakland Academy, Milltown 1906-1915
Blairsville Collegiate Inst., Blairsville 1907-1929
Piedmont Institute, Waycross 1909-1928
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Charles Jones is a  Southern Baptist historian, retired pastor, and newspaper columnist.