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Athens
Old College
Tennessee Wesleyan College,
204 E. College Street, Athens
Directions: I-75 to Exit 49. Follow TN 30-E approximately 4 miles. Turn right on E. College.
This three-story brick building, built in the mid-1850s, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Originally constructed as a women’s college, the school closed its doors during the Civil War, although it was subsequently used as a military hospital. In 1867, it reopened as East Tennessee Wesleyan College under the control of the pro- Union Methodist Episcopal Church. The school’s reopening signified part of Athens’ recovery during the Reconstruction era. In 1875, administrators renamed the school Grant Memorial College, in honor of the recently deceased President and Union war hero U.S. Grant. The college took the name of Tennessee Wesleyan in 1925.
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