Oglethorpe University

Oglethorpe University, private, coeducational institution in Atlanta, Georgia. Oglethorpe was established as a training institute for Presbyterian ministers in 1835 in Midway, Georgia. The school was named for James Oglethorpe, a British statesman who helped found the colony of Georgia in 1733. The school closed in 1862 due to the Civil War (1861-1865) and operated intermittently after the war. Oglethorpe University moved to Atlanta in 1870, but it closed again in 1872.

In 1913 the school was reestablished in Atlanta as a nondenominational institution by Thornwell Jacobs, grandson of a professor at the first Oglethorpe University. In the early 1920s Oglethorpe received a sizable land donation from publisher William Randolph Hearst. During the early 1930s, the school started one of the first college radio stations.

Oglethorpe confers bachelor’s degrees in the arts and sciences, business, and education. The university also offers master’s degrees in education and business administration. The 48-hectare (118-acre) campus is 16 km (10 mi) from downtown Atlanta. Many of the buildings are modeled after the Gothic buildings of Corpus Christi College, part of the University of Oxford in England, where James Oglethorpe was educated in the early 18th century. Oglethorpe University is home to the Georgia Shakespeare Festival.