Historical Background of Peabody College
Reprinted from Crabb, Alfred Leland. The Historical Background of Peabody College. Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1941.
Preface
James
Robertson's heroic group arrived at "The Bluffs" late in 1779. John
Donelson's flotilla ended its epic journey early in April, 1780. It was then
that the permanent settlement of Nashville was begun. In December, 1785, Davidson
Academy, so called though its curriculum was largely collegiate, was chartered.
No other of the nation's major settlements established an institution of learning
at so young an age. By a direct route the college moved along shifting its campus
or its name as conditions seemed to demand. Finally, it reached its Hillsboro
campus, whereon it seems to have found its permanent home as George Peabody
College for Teachers. Its descent is direct, its lineage clear. In point of
charter it is the nation's fifteenth college. Distinguished people have been
its patrons. Eight of its trustees have been presidents of the country, four
have been Supreme Court justices, five have been United States senators, and
so on. Its alumni, too, have achieved great honor and some fame. Three became
generals, three United States senators, five have been in the cabinet, twenty-two
have served in the lower house of Congress, fifty have been chosen college and
university presidents. It has produced its share of scholars and writers. Thirty
thousand of its alumni have taught in the nation's schools.
This line of colleges, then, is a century and a half old. It is older than the Constitution, a decade older than Tennessee. It was a going concern when Andrew Jackson first rode through the Cumberland wilderness. Lafayette visited it, so did President Monroe, so did President Van Buren. Its alumni have been scalped by marauding Indians and have met death on the battlefields of six wars.
Five years ago we celebrated our Sesquicentennial and now we are well begun on the second half of our second century. We have pride in this maturity. This age, we believe, has not dimmed our vision, nor made stale our ideals. Proper pride in ancestry demands no dilution in the quality of posterity.
A. L. CRABB
October 15, 1941
Introduction | Great-Great-Grandmother of Peabody College | Great-Grandmother of Peabody College | Grandmother of Peabody College | Mother of Peabody College | George Peabody College for Teachers