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John M. McDaniel. From Liberty Hall Academy: The Early History of the Institutions Which Evolved into Washington and Lee.
Washington and Lee University’s claim to a 1749 date of origin is long-standing and well-known, but it rests primarily on oral tradition linking the school developed by Presbyterian minister Robert Alexander to Liberty Hall.
The education at Alexander’s school was probably elementary in nature, one in which students were prepared in the skills necessary to enter college; generally confined to the study of ancient languages, with secondary emphasis placed on higher mathematics, sciences, and Bible studies. Historians have placed the location of the school near Larkin Spring, twenty miles north of Lexington. (MAP)The Mount Pleasant Location (MAP)
Not until Augusta Academy at Mount Pleasant was established is there a line of descent that leads clearly and without interruption to Liberty Hall Academy.
Located near the present town of Fairfield, the Mount Pleasant School was first referred to in 1773, when a graduate of Princeton, the Reverend Mr. John Brown, mentioned the elementary educational program of his students there.
In 1774, the Presbytery of Hanover decided to
support the Mount Pleasant School for the purpose of training ministers
who were desperately needed in the area. That year, William Graham, a graduate
of Princeton, was named Rector of the school, and he immediately began
to model the institution after his alma mater. Graham elevated the status
of the school to that of an "academy," thereby establishing it as a center
for higher education. With funds raised by the school’s trustees, Graham
expanded the curriculum and developed a laboratory which rivaled those
possessed by most colleges of the day.
The Timber Ridge Location
(MAP)
In 1776, Graham’s school was moved five miles
southwest from Mount Pleasant to Timber Ridge. In May of the same year,
the name of the school was changed to Liberty Hall in response to the patriotic
fervor then sweeping the Colonies. With a capable faculty, prominent trustees,
an impressive library, scientific apparatus, and an established campus,
the success of Liberty Hall Academy would seem to have been assured. The
school flourished for two years, but the inflation and decreased enrollment
caused by the Revolutionary War created financial problems that forced
Graham to suspend the operation of the school and relocate once again.
Arrival at Mulberry Hill
(MAP)
Graham took his students to his new farm at Mulberry
Hill, just west of the town of Lexington. The farm became a haven for the
few students who lived and studied with him during the difficult years
between 1779 and 1782.
The first clear evidence of development at Liberty
Hall dates to 1782. That year, a small frame school building was constructed
on land donated by Graham and two of his neighbors. The regeneration of
Liberty Hall Academy had begun.