page_title: History of the University of North Georgia
section_title: North Georgia Agricultural College (1871-1929)
hierarchical_section_title: History of the University of North Georgia / North Georgia Agricultural College (1871-1929)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Price Memorial Hall Building is the oldest building at any of the University of North Georgia's campuses. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 72000387
context_page_description: The University of North Georgia was first established at the site of its current campus in Dahlonega, Georgia in 1873 as North Georgia Agricultural College. In 2013 North Georgia College & State University was consolidated with Gainesville State College to form the University of North Georgia.
context_section_description: From 1851-1861 (the last ten years of its use) the Dahlonega Gold Mint was minting more gold from California than from Georgia. Consequently, following the Civil War the Treasury Department felt it would be impractical to resume minting operations at the Dahlonega Mint.  A few years after the war a former Confederate soldier and President of the Lumpkin County Board of Education by the name of William Pierce Price devised a plan to employ the land script of the Morrill Act to transform the old mint building into a college.  In the early stages of this transformation the school was identified as an academy, rather than a university- implying that it was originally intended to serve as a feeder school for the Georgia College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (predecessor of the University of Georgia). However, in 1876 the Superior Court of Lumpkin County gave the school the ability to grant bachelor's and master's degrees.
  The college began formally enrolling students in January 1873. In its first year, the school enrolled 98 males and 79 females, making it the first college in the state to offer co-educational enrollment. Shortly thereafter in 1878, it became the first co-ed college in the state to graduate a female student. The school's first president was David W. Lewis. Lewis was fervently devoted to the development of the institution. Upon his arrival he donated his personal library to the school. In addition to serving as the school's president, he also served as one of the two professors at the school- teaching Greek and English literature. For about the first thirty years of North Georgia Agricultural College's history it was mostly an agricultural college in name alone. It was only in 1902 that the college established its first and only agricultural chair. In essence NGAC was a liberal arts college, focusing more on courses such as law, Latin, Greek, English literature, theoretical mathematics, natural sciences, history, and philosophy. In addition to its liberal arts curriculum the college also made military training compulsory- as was stipulated by the Morrill Land Act to all land-grant colleges. This requirement marked the beginning of the University of North Georgia's enduring military identity. This military program's cadet corps eventually became involved in the newly established Reserve Officers' Training Corps(ROTC) in 1916.
  In the early years of the twentieth century the school's isolated and underdeveloped mountainous location precluded its growth.  Even when Lumpkin County did receive its first railroad in the 1910s there was still no direct rail to Dahlonega. Price's death in 1911 added to the school's struggle, as he was by far its most prominent supporter.  In that same year a fire consumed Bostwick Hall as well as a large portion of the school's library.  Consequently, the destruction of these facilities hindered NGAC's ability to accommodate and house all of the applicants that sought enrollment at the school. The hardships faced by NGAC were further compounded during the 1920s by a series of ineffectual and unpopular school presidents. In the final years of his presidency Gustavus R. Glenn found disfavor with the trustees. Many of them felt that his competency had been compromised by the complacency that he had developed during the service of his lengthy presidency (1904-1922: the longest presidency in NGAC history up to that point). Glenn resigned before the trustees ever attempted to remove him. He was replaced by the more ambitious Marion DuBose who served as president for a mere three years. DuBose was criticized for trying to implement to much change to the college too quickly.  Efforts of his such as working to disband the preparatory department, and eliminating the BS and AB degrees in agriculture were seen by much of the faculty and students as too progressive and needlessly ardent. Eighty-four students, roughly half of the student population, signed a petition expressing their dissatisfaction with DuBose's performance, however it did nothing to affect his presidency. In 1925 pressure fro
caption: Built in 1879 at the former site of the Dahlonega Mint, the Price Memorial Hall Building is the oldest surviving building on UNG's campus.
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