The Jefferson Seminary was one of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

's first schools and is considered to be the direct ancestor of the

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. The school was chartered by the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in the ...

in 1798, with the sale of 6,000 acres (24 km²) of land in rural southern Kentucky used to pay for initial construction. Eight prominent citizens of the fledgling village of Louisville (then the second largest city on the

Falls of the Ohio River The Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area is a national, bi-state area on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky in the United States, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Federal status was awarded in 1981. The f ...

) met together on April 3, 1798 to seek donations for the school and to arrange for its board of trustees and faculty. "No religious connotation was implied by the term seminary."Google Books preview
/ref> The process of establishing the school was slow, with a school house finally being built at the present day intersection of 8th Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard sometime between 1813 and 1816. Its first principal was Edward Mann Butler, one of Kentucky's most prominent educators and a man who later became the state's most trusted

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. The school offered both

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and

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level courses in

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geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

, French,

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geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

, and

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. T ...

. It had an average of 45 to 50 students, who paid $20 for a six-month term. Despite the school's early success, pressure from newly established public schools would force its closure in 1829. Criticism from what became ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...

'' also aided the closing, with its editor, Shadrach Penn, Jr., who editorialized that the school "was elitist and didn't give Louisville's school children a practical education."

Notes

References

* {{cite encyclopedia , encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Louisville , edition=1 , year=2001 , article=Jefferson Seminary Defunct schools in Louisville, Kentucky University of Louisville Educational institutions established in 1798 1798 establishments in Kentucky Educational institutions disestablished in 1829 1829 disestablishments in Kentucky

See also

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References