Morristown College
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Former names
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Morristown Seminary; Morristown Seminary & Normal Institute; Morristown Normal Academy; Morristown Normal College; Morristown Normal and Industrial College; Knoxville College-Morristown Campus |
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| Motto | Fides, Scientia |
| Active | 1881–1994 |
| Affiliation | Methodist Episcopal |
| Location | Morristown, Tennessee, United States |
| Colours | Red and Black |
| Mascot | Red Knights |
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Morristown College Historic District
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Former signage in front of campus.
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| Location | 417 N. James St., Morristown, Tennessee, United States |
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| Area | 30 acres (12 ha) |
| Built | 1892 |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Queen Anne, Late Victorian |
| NRHP Reference # | 83003036 |
| Added to NRHP | September 15, 1983 |
Morristown College was an African American higher education institution located in Morristown, the seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee. It was founded in 1881 by the national Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The school was renamed Knoxville College-Morristown Campus in 1989 and closed in 1994. Prior to the civil rights movement, the college held the distinction of being one of only two institutions in East Tennessee for African Americans, the other being Knoxville College, founded in 1875.
The 52-acre (210,000 m2) campus was perched on a hill in the middle of Morristown and surrounded by five distinct neighborhoods. Seven of the college's nine buildings were on the National Register of Historic Places. After operations ceased, most of the college buildings fell into disrepair, succumbing to vandalism and neglect. Minus a few structures, the campus was demolished to make way for a city park.
By the fall of 1868, the freedman of Jefferson County’s Morristown district established a small grammar school, attracting students from the community and other areas of the state and the South. Little is known about the early years of this school, though the building it housed was a modest church provided by the Presbyterians of Orange, New Jersey. Led by Mrs. Hanford, an Ithaca, New York native, the school was used to teach freedmen and free persons of color to spell, read, and learn arithmetic along with the obligatory learning of Christian values. A few blocks away was the Reagan High School for Boys, where a college preparatory course was taught by Rev. Wilson. Built as a meeting house in 1830 by a Baptist congregation, it had served as a slave mart, held secession discussions, and housed a hospital for Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.
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