Samford University Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===19th century=== In 1841, Samford University was founded as Howard College in [[Marion, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Heritage of Perry County |last=Harris |first=W. Stuart |year=1991 |publisher=Perry County Historical and Preservation Society |location=Marion, Alabama |pages=70β92}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Some Early Alabama Churches |last=Wilson |first=Mabel Ponder |year=1973 |publisher=Alabama Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |location=Marion, Alabama |isbn=978-0-88428-029-3 |pages=134β144}}</ref> It was named for the eighteenth-century English philanthropist [[John Howard (prison reformer)|John Howard]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flynt |first=Sean A. |date=February 1, 2016 |title=Samford to Dedicate Statue to John Howard Feb. 13 |url=https://www.samford.edu/news/2016/02/Samford-to-Dedicate-Statue-to-John-Howard-Feb-13 |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=Samford University |language=en}}</ref> Some of the land was donated by Reverend [[James H. DeVotie]], who served on the Samford Board of Trustees for fifteen years and as its president for two years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://samford.plannedgiving.org/samford/giving/2.html|title=DeVotie Legacy Society - Samford|website=samford.plannedgiving.org}}</ref><ref>Mitchell Bennett Garrett, William R. Snell, Janet Snell, ''Sixty Years of Howard College, 1842-1902'', Howard College, 1927, p. 19 [https://books.google.com/books?id=fUtOAAAAMAAJ&q=%22James+H.+DeVotie%22]</ref> The first financial gift, $4,000, was given by [[Julia Tarrant Barron]] and both she and her son also gave land to establish the college.<ref>{{cite book|last=Flynt|first=Wayne|title=Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm41b65DOEMC&pg=PA58|year=1998|publisher=University of Alabama Press|location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama|isbn=978-0-8173-0927-5|pages=58β59}}</ref> The university also honors the Reverend [[Milo Parker Jewett|Milo P. Jewett]] and Edwin D. King as founders. The university was established after the [[Alabama Baptist State Convention]] decided to build a school for men in [[Perry County, Alabama]]. The college's first nine students began studies in January 1842 with a traditional curriculum of language, literature and sciences.<ref name="eofa">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1590|title=Samford University|date=July 7, 2008|access-date=December 31, 2014|archive-date=November 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105135945/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1590|url-status=dead}}</ref> In those early years, the graduation addresses of several distinguished speakers were published, including those by [[Thomas G. Keen]] of Mobile, [[Joseph Walters Taylor]], [[Noah K. Davis]] and [[Samuel Sterling Sherman]].<ref name="SS">{{Cite web|url=http://blurblawg.typepad.com/files/howard-college-southern-scholar.pdf|title=Alfred L. Brophy, "The Southern Scholar: Howard College Before the Civil War", ''Cumberland Law Review'' 46 (2015): 289-309.|accessdate=7 August 2023}}</ref> In October 1854, a fire destroyed all of the college's property, including its only building.<ref name=eofa/><ref name="goarmy">{{cite web |url=http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/schools/marion-military-institute/history.html|title=Marion Military Institute|access-date=December 31, 2014}}</ref> While the college recovered from the fire, the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] began.<ref name=eofa/> Howard College was converted to a military hospital by the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] government in 1863.<ref name=goarmy/> During this time, the college's remaining faculty offered basic instruction to soldiers recovering at the hospital.<ref name=eofa/> For a short period after the war, federal troops occupied the college and sheltered freed slaves on its campus. In 1865, the college reopened. [[Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry]], an attorney, former US Congressman and Confederate military officer, served as president from 1865 to 1868. He was committed to the cause of broader education, and supported expansion of normal school training. In 1887, Howard College's board of trustees accepted real estate and funding from the city of [[Birmingham, Alabama]], and moved the institution there. Faculty who remained in Marion formed [[Marion Military Institute]] (MMI) on the old campus.<ref name="samford.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.samford.edu/history/davis.html |title=President Harwell Goodwin Davis, History of Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama |access-date=2009-04-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610183533/http://www4.samford.edu/history/davis.html |archive-date=2010-06-10}}</ref> MMI continues to operate in Marion. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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