Heritage Column for March 24, 2005
By Fred Anderson
This year the University of Richmond celebrates its 175th anniversary.
The university evolved. University status came in 1920. Richmond College, as it was commonly known for many years, dates to 1840 and remains one of several schools which comprise the University of Richmond. T.C. Williams School of Law dates to 1870. Westhampton College for women was begun in 1914 when Richmond College relocated from downtown Richmond to the expansive acreage in the suburbs at the end of the streetcar line. Other schools in the university are the Robins School of Business, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the School of Continuing Studies. All of these were created in the 20th century.
In order to celebrate a 175th anniversary something must date to 1830! In 1832 the Virginia Baptist Seminary was created. It was the earliest attempt by Virginia Baptists to have a theological school of their very own within Virginia. Previously, Virginia Baptists sent their ministerial sons to Columbian College in the District of Columbia, a school championed by Virginia Baptists as early as 1821.
The Virginia Baptist Seminary was located on a farm near the present-day Bryan Park in Richmond's Northside. At the time, the area in Henrico County was considered in the country. The seminary moved closer to Richmond when an old mansion named Columbia was purchased in 1834.
Columbia still stands at the corner of Grace and Lombardy streets in Richmond's near West End, practically within view of the Stuart Monument. It was here that Baptist leadership decided in 1840 to evolve the seminary into a full-fledged liberal arts college.
The charter for Richmond College was granted on March 4, 1840. Generations of Baptist ministers and laity were trained at Richmond College, which was in existence long before the creation of Southern Seminary.
We still have not had an explanation of anything which dates UR to 1830! On June 8, 1830, at 5 a.m. “a numerous meeting of brethren” was held at Second Baptist Church, Richmond, during the annual meeting of the BGAV. The concern for the pre-dawn meeting was the need of education for Baptist clergy. The group decided that it was “probably unadvisable at the present time to attempt the establishment of a seminary of learning.”
Instead the group thought it best to place young ministerial students under the tutelage of “experienced ministering brethren whose education, libraries and opportunity to give instruction may enable them to render essential service to their younger brethren.” They also recommended the formation of the Virginia Baptist Education Society, which would be the conduit for these ministerial beneficiaries.
Edward Baptist, a brilliant minister who had written the constitution of the General Association, was approved as one of these tutors for the young ministers; and he began a school in October 1830 on an estate in Powhatan called Dunlora. The next year Eli Ball, another gifted minister, taught from his home in Henrico. These little academies were schools to train Baptist ministers in Virginia. For years, Richmond College would use the seminary date of 1832 or the college charter date of 1840. Charles Hill Ryland of Warsaw, remembers driving his father, Dr. Garnett Ryland, the eminent Baptist historian, and Dr. Frederic W. Boatwright, the long-time president of UR, out to rural Powhatan where a farmer showed the men the site of Dunlora.
The derelict house was in ruins, but Dr. Boatwright found a winning idea. He could claim Edward Baptist's school as the earliest antecedent to UR and push the founding date back to 1830, which would make the Baptist school as old as its nearby rival, the Methodist school, Randolph-Macon College.
And so this year the University of Richmond has been observing its 175th anniversary. A public open house has been scheduled for Saturday, April 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with many different activities. There are fun and serious events, lectures, music, films and exhibits. The Virginia Baptist Historical Society will open its doors to show an exhibit on the relationship between the Baptists and the University, an exhibit on the Bible and other interesting displays.
Another free opportunity to learn more about UR history is a lecture series entitled “A Legacy for Excellence,” which is sponsored by the School of Continuing Studies and which will be held in the Tyler Haynes Commons, Room 313, at 4:30 p.m. on three Sunday afternoons: April 10, April 17 and May 1.
The university is wedded to the date of 1830, however spurious a claim. In 1931-32 the university celebrated its centennial based upon the Virginia Baptist Seminary's founding date. Dr. Boatwright became so ecstatic that he even called the school the fulfillment of “the first educational project ever launched in America, the University of Henricus planned and organized in 1619 for the County of Henrico, before Harvard was founded or the Pilgrims had set foot on Plymouth Rock!”
Let's see-would that make this the University of Richmond's 385th anniversary?
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He can be reached at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.