This cache is part of a series of North Alabama Civil War Trail. The North Alabama Bientennial Passport is available from http://www.northalabama.org/. The tour will take you around north Alabama to visit 20 historic sites. It will not be necessary to pay an admission charge to find any of the caches although some may charge admission to tour their facility. A paper punch will be in the cache and should be used to punch the appropriate spot on the passport. If you choose to find the cache before all caches and the passport are available just punch a piece of paper with the cache name and date found, this will be accepted for your coin. 200 trackable geocoins are available to the first 200 cachers to complete the series. Several locations in North Alabama will have the coins and their location is on the passport page of the above link.
In the early 1820’s, LaGrange was established on the crest of a mountain near Leighton, AL. Initially there were about 400 inhabitants. In the late 1820s, the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church solicited proposals for a site and subscription of $10,000. On December 4, 1828, the Methodist Church accepted the LaGrange proposition. Later that month, the Mississippi Conference joined in the efforts to establish a college. Representatives from the two conferences met at LaGrange on January 10, 1829, and selected a site for the college. On January 11, 1830, “LaGrange College” opened with an enrollment of 70 students, becoming the first state chartered college in Alabama. Rev. Robert Paine was the first president (1830-1846).
The enrollment peaked at 139 in 1845. Dr. Richard H. Rivers became president in 1854, when the college faced serious financial problems. In response to an offer of better support, Rivers moved the college to Florence, Alabama in January 1855. Over 150 graduates received degrees during its 25-year history. The establishment of LaGrange College in 1830 should be considered the birth of collegiate education in Alabama. The move to Florence was controversial, some students and faculty remained at the former campus, and the Florence institution was denied permission to use the name of LaGrange College. It was chartered as Florence Wesleyan University on February 14, 1856, and is known today as the University of North Alabama.