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Photo Gallery: Locust Grove Institute
Marker
text:
Born in 1894 of a community mass meeting called for the
purpose by B.J.W. Graham, Pastor of the Locust Grove Baptist Church, Locust
Grove Institute was started as a coeducational school by the citizens of
Locust Grove who gave the land and an initial $2,000, which was matched by
the Flint River Baptist Association. It opened November 1, 1894 with 13
pupils, with Y.E. Bargeron as Principal. Claude Gray, native of Butts
County, one of the great educators of his day, was President from 1897 to
1928.
Supported largely by the Flint River Baptist Association assisted by other
Associations under a representative Board of Trustees, it was taken over by
the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1917. Under Mr. and Mrs. Gray and an able
faculty, this short-lived institution rose to a leading position in Southern
education and was among the first to be accredited by the Southern
Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges. Discontinued in 1929 because
of diminishing patronage and support resulting from the large expansion of
public education, Locust Grove Institute lives in the minds, hearts, and
accomplishments of hundreds of graduates.
075-8 Georgia Historical Commission 1958 |