Pfeiffer originated from a home school operated by
Emily Prudden in the late-19th century. The school, called the "Oberlin Home and School", first began on the outskirts of
Hudson, North Carolina, on Lick Mountain in
Caldwell County, North Carolina. University archivist Jonathan Hutchinson said in 2013, "Our accepted founding date is 1885," referring to the date Prudden's first school began, "but Emily probably started the school in about 1898." The school was called Oberlin, after
John Frederick Oberlin, a French priest noted for his social improvement in the Alsace Region of France. The school was later endowed by Mrs. Mary P. Mitchell, and the name was changed to the "Mitchell School". A fire destroyed the school in 1907 and it moved to the nearby town of
Lenoir, North Carolina. As that location proved inadequate, the school again relocated in 1910, this time to its current location in Misenheimer. The Mitchell School began awarding high school diplomas in 1913. In 1928, the school began offering junior college classes, called the "Mitchell Junior College", and was accredited as such in 1934. It was that year that the Pfeiffer family of
New York City gave generous financial gifts to the school for construction of new buildings. The following year, the school's name was thus changed to "Pfeiffer Junior College". During the 1950s the school began offering senior college courses, and the four-year "Pfeiffer College" was fully accredited in 1960 during the administration of Dr. J. Lem Stokes II, President. Pfeiffer opened a
satellite campus in Charlotte, approximately forty miles away, in 1977. The campus moved to a new location in 2017. In 1996, the college's trustees voted to re-organize to achieve university status, and the current name of "Pfeiffer University" was adopted. An outdoor drama entitled
The Legacy of Lick Mountain relates the story of the beginning of the school, and was presented in Hudson, N.C. in the summer of 2015.
Pfeiffer Junior College Historic District The "Pfeiffer Junior College Historic District" is a national
historic district encompassing 14 contributing buildings and 1 contributing structure on the campus of Pfeiffer University. They include
Georgian Revival-style brick academic buildings erected between 1923 and 1948. Notable buildings include the Administration Building (1923, remodeled in 1936), Rowe Hall (1935), Merner Hall (1935), Goode Hall (1935), "Practice Home" (1941-1942), Cline Hall (1935), President's House (1935), Jane Freeman Hall (1937), Henry Pfeiffer Chapel (1941-1942), Delight and Garfield Merner Center (1941-1942), Washington Hall (1941-1942), Mitchell Gymnasium (1948-1950), and the Campus Gates (1935). It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1999. == Organization ==