Jefferson College, chartered in 1802 and opened in 1811, was the first institution of higher learning in Mississippi. It was also was the first to receive a charter for any purpose by the Mississippi Territorial Legislature. It began as a preparatory school until 1817 when it became a full college. Jefferson Davis attended in 1818. In 1830 the school purchased the church that held the 1817 Mississippi statehood convention.¹

It continued as a college until being forced to close in 1863 due to the Civil War. It reopened in 1866 again as a preparatory school. It remain as such until it finally closed its doors in 1964 due to declining enrollment.²

Jefferson College is also near Ellicott Springs where Andrew Ellicott camped in 1797 while surveying the 31st parallel to mark the border between the United States and Spanish territories.³

1. http://mdah.state.ms.us/hprop/hjc.html [↩]
2. http://mdah.state.ms.us/hprop/jmcf.html [↩]
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_College_(Washington,_Mississippi [↩]