The story
Oglethorpe University was chartered in 1835 in Midway (now known as Hardwick), Georgia just south of Milledgeville, then the state capital. The school was built and, at that time, governed by the Presbyterian Church, making it one of the South's earliest denominational institutions. The American Civil War led to the school's closing in 1862.
The college followed the relocation of the capital to Atlanta. In 1870, it began holding classes at the present site of Atlanta City Hall. Plagued by financial difficulties, the school closed its doors for a second time in 1872.
Oglethorpe College was re-chartered as a non-denominational institution in 1913 by Thornwell Jacobs, whose grandfather Ferdinand Jacobs had served on the faculty of Old Oglethorpe. In 1915, the cornerstone to the new campus was laid at its present location on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven. The cornerstone-laying ceremony took place at North Avenue Presbyterian Church. Jacobs would serve as president for nearly 30 years.
In the early 1940s Oglethorpe University had a medical school. Under the direction of John Bernard, the university was given several elephants for research that were discovered to have been poisoned at a Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus event nearby. After the students finished dissecting the animals they were buried under what is known today as the Philip Weltner Library.
In 1936, William Randolph Hearst gifted 400 acres (160 ha) to the university, and in 1948 he made a donation of $100,000; the university administration building was subsequently named in honor of Hearst's mother, Phoebe Hearst.
Oglethorpe University became Oglethorpe College in 1965, and reclaimed the designation "university" in 1972. Oglethorpe's campus buildings were built in a Gothic revival architecture style. This area of the 100-acre (40 ha) campus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
From Wikipedia’s article on Oglethorpe University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5