19th century Gordon State College was founded in 1852 as the Male and Female Seminary, a private school for
higher education of boys and girls. Though church-sponsored, it was not a
seminary in the usual sense. During the
American Civil War, boys were organized into a
corps of cadets. Girls continued to attend but were never included in military programs. In 1872, the school was renamed Gordon Institute to honor Georgia native, governor and former
Confederate general
John B. Gordon, and its scope was extended to the elementary grades. In 1890, J.C. Woodward, who later founded
Georgia Military Academy, was hired to start a military program.
20th century In 1907, the name changed to Gordon College. In 1916 the
U.S. Department of War named Gordon College a
junior military unit. In 1928, Gordon added the
first two years of college to its program. In 1933 the state offered the former Georgia Industrial College campus to Gordon College. The high school and junior college departments moved to the new campus, while the elementary school moved into the former high school building. In the 1950s, ownership of the school passed to the city of Barnesville, which consolidated its
government-funded public schools for
Whites in
grades 8–12, while continuing to bus Black students to
racially segregated
Lamar County schools. City girls were enrolled as regular students. City boys were permitted to opt out of military participation, but almost all were organized into a corps of cadets under military discipline.
Military cadets from other places were permitted to enroll by paying
tuition; attracted by low tuition rates, many cadets came from
Latin America. Gordon State experienced financial problems in the 1960s, and in 1970 the trustees approached the state about making the college part of the university system. The secondary school was separated and the cadet corps disbanded, and on July 2, 1972, Gordon Military College officially became part of the USG as Gordon Junior College, an
associate-level college. In 1986, "junior" was dropped from the school's name.
21st century In 2006, the school was designated a four-year state college to offer
baccalaureate programs within the USG's state college sector. On August 8, 2012, the Board of Regents approved the change of the name of Gordon College to Gordon State College. ==Academics==