West Virginia Schools of Higher Learning

Following is a list of academies established in what is now West Virginia previous to the Civil War:

1. The Academy of Shepherdstown, at Shepherdstown, in Jefferson County incorporated in 1784.

2. The Randolph Academy, at Clarksburg, in Harrison County, incorporated December 11, 1797.

3. The Charles Town Academy, at Charles Town, in Jefferson County, incorporated December 25, 1797.

4. The Brooke Academy, at Wellsburg, in Brooke County, incorporated January 10, 1797.

5. The Mount Carmel School, at West Union, in Preston County (then Monongalia), established in 1801.

6. The Lewisburg Academy, at Lewisburg, in Greenbrier County, incorporated in 1812.

7. The Shepherdstown Academy, at Shepherdstown, in Jefferson County, incorporated January 3, 1814.

8. The Romney Academy, at Romney, in Hampshire County, incorporated February 11, 1814.

9. The Lancastrian Academy, at Wheeling, in Ohio County, incorporated October 10, 1814.

10. The Monongalia Academy, at Morgantown, in Monongalia County, incorporated November 29, 1814.

11. The Mercer Academy, in Charleston, Kanawha County, incorporated November 29, 1818.

12. The Union Academy, at Union, in Monroe County, incorporated January 27, 1820.

13. The Martinsburg Academy, at Martinsburg, in Berkeley County, incorporated January 28, 1822.

14. The Romney Classical Institute, at Romney, in Hampshire County, established in 1824.

15. The Tyler Academy, at Middlebourne, in Tyler County, incorporated January 20, 1827.

16. The Wheeling Academy, at Wheeling, in Ohio County, incorporated February 21, 1827.

17. The Romney Academy, at Romney, in Hampshire County, incorporated March 25, 1829.

18. The Morgantown Female Seminary, at Morgantown, in Monongalia County, incorporated March 23, 1831.

19. The Seymour Academy, at Moorefield, in Hardy County, incorporated February 10, 1832.

20. The Bolivar Academy, at Bolivar, in Jefferson County, incorporated February 10, 1832.

21. The Red Sulphur Seminary, at Red Sulphur Springs, in Monroe County, opened April 15, 1832.

22. The Charles Town Female Academy, at Charles Town, in Jefferson County, incorporated March 15, 1836.

23. The Brickhead and Wells Academy, at Sistersville, in Tyler County, incorporated January 18, 1837.

24. The West Liberty Academy, at West Liberty, in Ohio County, incorporated March 20, 1837.

25. The Marshall Academy, at Guyandotte (now Huntington), Cabell County, incorporated March 13, 1838.

26. The Western Virginia Education Society, at Pruntytown, in Taylor County (then Harrison), incorporated March 28, 1838.

27. The Parkersburg Academy Association, at Parkersburg, in Wood County, incorporated April 5, 1838.

28. The Morgantown Female Academy, at Morgantown, in Monongalia County, incorporated January 30, 1839.

29. The Cove Academy, at Holliday's Cove, in Hancock County (then Brooke), incorporated April 6, 1839.

30. The Bethany College, at Bethany, in Brooke County, incorporated in the autumn of 1840.

31. The Preston .Academy, at Kingwood, in Preston County, incorporated January 2, 1841.

32. The Huntersville Academy, at Huntersville, in Pocahontas County, incorporated January 18, 1842.

33. The Asbury Academy, at Parkersburg, in Wood County, incorporated February 8, 1842.

34. The Little Levels .Academy, at Hillsboro in Pocahontas County, incorporated February 14, 1842.

35. The Rector College, at Pruntytown in Taylor County, incorporated February 14, 1842.

36. The Greenbank Academy, at Greenbank, in Pocahontas County, incorporated March 26, 1842.

37. The Northwestern Academy, at Clarksburg, in Harrison County, incorporated March 26, 1842.

38. The Brandon Academy, at Brandonville, in Preston County, incorporated March 17, 1843.

39. The Weston Academy, at Weston, in Lewis County, incorporated January 18, 1844.

40. The Potomac Seminary, at Romney, in Hampshire County, incorporated December 12, 1846.

41. The Male and Female Academy, at Buckhannon, in Upshur County (then Lewis), incorporated February 1, 1847.

42. The Lewis County Seminary, at Weston, in Lewis County, incorporated March 20, 1847.

43. The Marshall Academy, at Moundsville, in Marshall County, incorporated March 19, 1847.

44. The Wheeling Female Seminary, at Wheeling, in Ohio County, incorporated January 24, 1848.

45. The Buffalo Academy, at Buffalo, in Putnam County, incorporated March 16, 1849.

46. The Academy of the Visitation, at Wheeling, in Ohio County, incorporated March 14, 1850.

47. The Jane Lew Academy, at Jane Lew, in Lewis County, incorporated March 16, 1850.

48. The Wellsburg Female Academy, at Wellsburg, in Brooke County, incorporated March 17, 1851.

49. The Meade Collegiate Institute, at or near Parkersburg, incorporated March 21, 1851.

50. The South Branch Academicals Institute, at Moorefield, in Hardy County, incorporated March 31, 1851.

51. The Fairmont Academy, at Fairmont, in Marion County, incorporated February 17, 1852.

52. The Wheeling Female Seminary, at Wheeling, in Ohio County, incorporated January 10, 1853.

53. The West Union Academy, at West Union, in Doddridge County, incorporated April 16, 1852.

54. The Morgan Academy, at Berkeley Springs, in Morgan County, incorporated January 10, 1853.

55. The Logan Institute, at Logan Court House, in Logan County, incorporated February 21, 1853.

56. The Ashton Academy, at Mercer's Bottom, in Mason County, incorporated January 7, 1856.

57. The Point Pleasant Academy, at Point Pleasant, in Mason County, incorporated February 26, 1856.

58. The Polytechnic College, at Aracoma, in Logan County, incorporated February 28, 1856.

59. The Fairmont Male and Female Seminary, at Fairmont, in Marion County, incorporated March 12, 1856.

60. The Harpers Ferry Female Institute, at Harpers Ferry, in Jefferson County, incorporated March 18, 1856.

61. The Woodburn Female Seminary, at Morgantown, in Monongalia County, incorporated January 4, 1858.

62. The Lewisburg Female Institute, at Lewisburg, in Greenbrier County, incorporated April 7, 1858.

63. The Levelton Male and Female College, at Hillsboro, in Pocahontas County, incorporated February 27, 1860.

64. The Union College, at Union, in Monroe County, incorporated March 28, 1860.

65. The Parkersburg Classical and Scientific Institute, at Parkersburg, in Wood County, incorporated March 18, 1861.

The initial step to the inauguration of the free school system within the present limits of West Virginia was taken November 27th, 1861, when Hon. John Hall, of Mason County, president of the first State Constitutional Convention, sitting at Wheeling, named a committee on education consisting of Gordon Battelle, of Ohio County ; William E. Stevenson, of Wood County; Robert Hager, of Boone County; Thomas Trainer, of Marshall County ; James W. Parsons, of Tucker County; William Walker, of Wyoming County, and George Sheetz, of Hampshire County. The first named was made chairman of the committee. He was a Methodist minister and had been principal of the old Northwestern Academy at Clarksburg for twelve years. William E. Stevenson, another of the committee, was afterward Governor of West Virginia.

West Virginia AHGP

Source: Myers' History of West Virginia, Volume II, by S. Meyers, 1915.