Romney Classical Institute
| Romney Classical Institute | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
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East Main Street (Northwestern Turnpike) Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia), Hampshire County United States |
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| Coordinates | 39°20′26″N 78°45′07″W / 39.340575°N 78.752048°W |
| Information | |
| Established | 12 December 1846 |
| Closed | Shuttered during the American Civil War (1861–65); Closed after 1866 |
| Oversight | Romney Literary Society |
| Principal |
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| Faculty |
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| Campus | present-day West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind |
| Campus size | 15 acres (0.061 km2) |
Romney Classical Institute was a 19th-century coeducational collegiate preparatory school in Romney, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), which was in operation between 1846 and some time after 1866. Prior to its establishment, Romney was served by Romney Academy. By 1831, the academy had outgrown its facilities, and the Romney Literary Society set about raising the necessary funds for the construction of a new educational building. The Virginia General Assembly permitted the society to raise funds through a lottery. By 1845 construction of the building had commenced and was completed in 1846. On December 12, 1846, the Virginia General Assembly formally established the Romney Classical Institute, and empowered the Romney Literary Society with its operation.
From 1846 to 1849, the institute was operated under the direction of Presbyterian Reverend William Henry Foote, who had been a teacher and principal at Romney Academy. In 1849, when the Romney Literary Society established a new operating code for the institute and a new system of bylaws, Foote took offense and in 1850 founded a rival school, which was known as the Potomac Seminary. Professor E. J. Meany succeeded Foote, followed by John Jeremiah Jacob who served as the school's principal from 1851 to 1853. Jacob later served as West Virginia's first Democratic governor. Reverend Joseph Nelson later served as the school's principal until the American Civil War, and shortly after hostilities ended.
The institute and the society experienced a hiatus during the course of the war. The school held sessions under Reverend Nelson, and subsequently William C. Clayton in 1866. Clayton later served in the West Virginia Senate. The Romney Literary Society was revived in 1869, and following the passage of a bill which established the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in March 1870, the society offered the institute's building and grounds to the state of West Virginia for the new school. The institute's property was transferred to the state and the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind opened for its first term on September 29, 1870. Following the schools' subsequent expansions, the institute's former building became the center portion of the administration building of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind, in which capacity it serves at the present day. In addition to Jacob and Clayton, Robert White, Attorney General of West Virginia, was also an alumnus of the institute.
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