Location: NC 115 (North Main Street) in Davidson
County: Mecklenburg
Original Date Cast: 1937
On March 12, 1835, the Concord Presbytery adopted Robert Hall Morrison’s resolution to establish a “Manual Labour School” dedicated to the education of young men preparing for the ministry. Morrison would later become the institution’s first president. William Lee Davidson, son of the Revolutionary War General of the same name, sold the presbytery 469 acres of land on which to locate the school and remained an important benefactor. The land was strategically located near a public road in a rural area that was near four substantial towns—Charlotte, Concord, Statesville, and Salisbury. In August, the founders announced that the school would be called Davidson College in tribute to General Davidson, who was killed at the battle of Cowan’s Ford, near what is now the town of Huntersville.
South Carolina’s Bethel Presbytery and the Fayetteville Presbytery joined the Concord Presbytery in supporting the college in its early years, along with others later in the 19th century. In the early days, congregations in the communities surrounding the college contributed to the construction of the campus, including forcing enslaved individuals to help clear the land, haul debris, build fences, and make and haul bricks.
Students also contributed to the labor force at the college. As part of the manual labor contract, they were required to work three hours per day. Although this arrangement was designed to assist students with limited resources, the college shifted to a classical curriculum in 1841. The college struggled financially until Maxwell Chambers left a gift in his will, probated in 1856, making Davidson the most generously endowed school south of Princeton. Chambers, who did not attend Davidson, was a money lender in Salisbury whose wealth largely was built off the institution of slavery.
Future President of the United States Woodrow Wilson, who had lived for a time in Wilmington, studied at the school in the 1873-74 academic year.
Davidson College admitted only white men for most of its history. The first Black student, from what was then the Republic of the Congo, was admitted in 1962. The first Black American students enrolled in 1964.
During the Civil War, then-college President John Kirkpatrick’s five daughters attended Davidson to boost enrollment. After that, the daughters of faculty and some local women were permitted to take classes but could not earn degrees. Davidson did not become coeducational until 1972 with the admission of a group of upper-class transfer students.
Since its founding, the ties that bind the college to its Presbyterian heritage, including the historic understanding of the Christian faith called The Reformed Tradition, have remained strong.
The Presbytery’s resolution for the founding of Davidson College called for an “education that may be accessible to all classes of the community.” The college has taken steps over the past 60 years to expand its reach to fully reflect its mission to prepare students to lead and serve. In 2007, Davidson became the first national liberal arts college to remove loans from financial aid packages.
The primary purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. Prominent alums include, among others, Patricia Cornwell, bestselling author; Stephen Curry, NBA Most Valuable Player; Anthony Foxx, U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Obama; Tom Marshburn, astronaut; and Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
The college’s Commission on Race and Slavery, instituted in 2017, and Davidson’s deep examination of Chambers in 2023 led to a commitment and initiatives to advance Davidson’s work on understanding its history regarding slavery and to expand its commitment to education and reconciliation efforts in the present and future. One such effort is research and educational programming of the Beaver Dam Plantation site, two miles southeast of the campus. The site, once the home of descendants of General Davidson and where enslaved individuals labored, is where the agreement was signed for the sale of the acreage that became the campus.
Davidson’s mascot is the Wildcat. The motto of Davidson College is Alenda Lux Ubi Orta Libertas, which translates to "Let Learning Be Cherished Where Liberty Has Arisen."
References:
William S. Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006)—entry by James I. Martin Sr.
Mary D. Beaty, A History of Davidson College (1988)
Cornelia Rebekah Shaw, Davidson College (1923)
Davidson Encyclopedia, Davidson College Archives: http://library.davidson.edu/archives/ency/index.asp