1838-2021
Judson College
Marion, Alabama AL/AL
The Wikipedia entry on the noble history of Judson College gives a sweeping picture of this Alabama school for women.
Judson College was founded by members of Siloam Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama, in 1838, making it the fifth-oldest women’s college in the country and the longest-lived namesake of the Judson educational legacy. This proud institution closed her doors in 2021 after 183 years of service. Judson College was named for Ann Hasseltine Judson, the wife of Adoniram Judson, often considered the first female foreign missionary from the United States though she was never formally appointed as such. She served in Burma, now Myanmar.
Dr. Milo Parker Jewett was the first president of the fledgling school and the stately administration building still carries his name. He came to Alabama with the goal of establishing a school for young women that would provide them with the same quality of education that young men received at Harvard and Yale. Jewett later became president of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Judson College formally affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention in 1843 and received funding from them throughout its history.
The principal building of the campus is Jewett Hall, the third of this name. The first Jewett Hall, built in 1840, was destroyed by fire in 1888. The rebuilding of Jewett Hall was begun that same year but in 1947 the dome was hit by lightning and fire consumed the building again. Rebuilding efforts began almost immediately, and funds were raised by the sale of bricks from the rubble. The present Jewett Hall provides a stately and imposing entry to the campus.
Other notable buildings on campus include the A. Howard Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library which now houses the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame as well as 2 classrooms, the Alumnae Auditorium, and the Women’s Missionary Union residence hall. The Judson College Historic District places the campus on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Outstanding alumna include Margaret Lea Houston who was the First Lady in Texas when her husband, Sam Houston, served as president of the Republic of Texas. Emera Frances Griffin from the Class of 1860 became a women’s suffrage and temperance leader so widely known in Alabama that she was allowed to speak at the state’s Constitutional Convention of 1901, making her the first woman to address an Alabama legislative body. Janie Shores was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Alabama. Titilayo Adedokun, who was born to Nigerian immigrants, was named Miss Ohio in 1993 and second runner up in the Miss America pageant in 1994.
Battling the cultural prejudice of young adults uninterested in small towns and gender specific education, enrollment at Judson in 2019 had dropped to 268 students. In 2020 the college experienced severe financial challenges, declining enrollment and COVID-19. In December, the college’s president issued an urgent plea for $500,000 in donations to prevent the college from closing immediately. Although it had raised $1.3 million, enrollment dropped from 145 in the fall of 2020 to 80 for the fall of 2021. In May of 2021, the college’s board of trustees voted to close the college and begin Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The college closed its residence halls after the spring semester ended and suspended academic operations after the summer term ending July 31, 2021.
In 2022 the school’s archives were transferred to Samford University, a sister school, founded in Marion which relocated to Birmingham in 1887.[1]
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_College_(Alabama)