Lucy Cobb Institute
Lucy Cobb Institute | |
---|---|
Location | |
200 Block, North Milledge Avenue Thomas R.R. Cobb | |
Closed | 1931 |
Lucy Cobb Institute Campus | |
Octagon Mode, Regency | |
NRHP reference No. | 72000377 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 16, 1972 |
The Lucy Cobb Institute was a
The campus of the Lucy Cobb Institute was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972. Today, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government of the University of Georgia is housed in the former Lucy Cobb Institute.
History
Background
In 1854, a piece called "The Education of Our Girls" ran in a local paper, the Athens Watchman.
School opens
The trustees purchased eight acres of land on what is now known as Milledge Avenue.[11] When the school opened on January 10, 1859, its first principal was R. M. Wright.[8][11] (It was in April of this same year the Watkinsville Road acquired its present name of Milledge Avenue.)[12] The school was later headed by Madame Sosnowski (who organized the Home School after leaving the Lucy Cobb Institute).[8]
Mildred Lewis Rutherford, or "Miss Millie", a graduate herself of Lucy Cobb Institute,[13] took over leadership of the school in 1880. The Georgia Writers' Project, in a 1940 publication on the state published in the American Guide Series, characterized her thusly:
'Miss Millie,' always a champion of southern traditions, was a woman of powerful personality, commanding presence, and fearlessly outspoken opinions; she was known widely for the speeches she delivered in hoop skirts.[10]
Seney-Stovall Chapel
It was Miss Millie who decided the girls needed a chapel and had them write seeking funding for one. In 1881, Nellie Stovall wrote "a beautiful and girlish letter"[14] to George I. Seney, who responded with the funding for the $10,000 structure, an octagonal red brick building called the Seney-Stovall Chapel.[4][6] It was designed by a local architect William Winstead Thomas.[15]
When Miss Millie stepped down from the role of principal in 1895, she was replaced at the school's helm by her sister, Mrs. M.A. Lipscomb.[8] Rutherford and Lipscomb were nieces of T.R.R. Cobb.[14]
In 1986, R.E.M. recorded two songs in the chapel for the documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out.
The end
Although the institute "became a well-known girls' preparatory school",[2] "praised throughout the South for its emphasis on gentle manners and old-fashioned accomplishments",[10] it "did not survive the depression",[2] and closed its doors in 1931.[6] At that point, the University of Georgia took over its campus, and used the main building as a women's dormitory and eventually storage.[2]
A restoration effort to save the complex was completed in 1997 with the renovation of Seney-Stovall Chapel.[16] The former Lucy Cobb Institute became the home of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.[6][16]
Notable alumnae
- Sarah Johnson Cocke
- Julia Flisch
- Moina Michael
- Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day
- Mildred Lewis Rutherford
- Fay Webb-Gardner
- Josephine Wilkins
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 0-8203-1081-6. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ Adams, Herbert Baxter (1889). "Miscalleneous Institutions". Education in Georgia. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 110–12.
- ^ a b Jones, Charles Edgeworth (1889). Herbert Baxter Adams (ed.). Education in Georgia. Contributions to American educational history. Vol. 5. pp. 110–112.
- ^ Georgia (1860). "Act to incorporate the Lucy Cobb Institute for the education of ladies in the town of Athens". Acts Passed by the General Assembly of Georgia. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Seney-Stovall Chapel History". Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-87797-048-3.
- ^ OCLC 1333051. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-3900-9.
- ^ ISBN 9781603540100. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-86554-858-7. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ISBN 0-8203-0341-0.
- ISBN 0-89308-412-3.
- ^ Blandin, Isabella Margaret Elizabeth (1909). History of Higher Education of Women in the South Prior to 1860. New York and Washington: The Neale Publishing Company. pp. 149–152. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
seney-stovall chapel.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-1356-6.
- ^ ISBN 9780820321981. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
External links
- "Lucy Cobb Institute" in New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Lucy Cobb Institute historical marker