Berea College Founding Dates: Home

List of Important Berea College Founding Dates

• In the fall of 1855, Fee becomes one of three local school board members in the Southern Madison County school district, and begins to tend to a small, one-room school close to his newly constructed home on the Berea ridge.
• Fee first discusses the idea of a college with George Candee, some time between 30 October and 9 November 1855.
• Fee writes a letter to S. S. Jocelyn regarding the idea of a college on 9 November 1855.
• In April 1858, J. A. R. Rogers and Elizabeth E. Rogers arrive and reinvigorate the small, struggling district school.
• On 7 September 1858, the first meeting of the Berea College Board of Trustees convenes in John G. Fee’s study, in order to begin drafting a college constitution and by-laws.
• On 8 April 1859, the local school district votes (23 to 7) to allow the school to operate as "anti-caste"; 3 previous board members resign.
• The first Constitution, Articles, and By-Laws are finalized between 15-18 July 1859, then signed and adopted on 18 July 1859. By fall, it is discovered that the document can not be officially filed, as many of the signers/trustees are not yet legally considered Kentucky residents.
• Beginning in late 1859, the Berea exile begins; Bereans are run out of town by subsequent mobs. Bereans do not begin to return until 1865.
• The American Civil War takes place, 1861-1865.
• The first meeting of the Berea College Board of Trustees, Prudential Committee following the exile is held on 24 April 1865; members regroup and make plans to reopen the school. Serious consideration of an integrated, anti-caste school commences; several pre-exile trustees again brake ties. Over the next year, revisions to the original documents are made, new trustees recruited.
• Classes are held in Berea, under the local school district, during the fall 1865. Primary education classes are still held separately for whites and blacks.
• The first classes held under the Berea Literary Institute start on 2 January 1866.
• The Berea Literary Institute integrates on 6 March 1866.
• Per State law, the corporate entity of “Berea College” receives its official Charter on 5 April 1866, with the formal filing of the second, revised Constitution and By-Laws at the court house in Richmond, Kentucky.
• On 7 July 1869, Edward Henry Fairchild is inaugurated at Berea College's first president.
• The first actual college class is held on 1 September 1869.