Scarritt College (founded in 1878 at Neosho, Missouri) began as the Neosho Male and Female Seminary. In 1887 it was reconstituted as the Scarritt Collegiate Institute.

History

Opening its doors on September 2, 1878, the school's first home was inside the

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, in Neosho. D. M. Conway was its first president. Outgrowing the church, in October 1878 the school purchased a local house and moved into it. In 1880, under the leadership of G. H. Williamson, the seminary was incorporated, taking the name Neosho Collegiate Institute. Led by W. C. Montgomery, and having again outgrown its new home, the school built a new facility at the same location. In the spring of 1887, after several years of financial difficulties, the Neosho Collegiate Institute was forced to close. After a donation by Dr. Nathan Spencer Scarritt of

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, the school reopened the following spring under the name Scarritt Collegiate Institute, in honor of its benefactor. After several years of success and growth, starting in 1900 several setbacks led to a steady decline in enrollment. In 1902,

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

took the helm, becoming the youngest college president in the nation. He would go on to found Southwestern Collegiate Institute, later

John Brown University John Brown University (JBU) is a Private university, private, interdenominational, Christianity, Christian university in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Founded in 1919, JBU enrolls 2,343 students from 33 states and 45 countries in its traditional und ...

Siloam Springs, Arkansas Siloam Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The city shares a border on the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line with the city of West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma, which is within the Cherokee Nation territory. The town was founded i ...

. Again in 1903, due to mounting debt, Scarritt closed its doors. The school operated as Scarritt College, a business school, for a short time before the doors in Neosho were closed permanently in 1907. In 1908 it merged with another college and moved to Morrisville, in 1909 merged with Ebenezer College from

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and later became Scarritt-Morrisville College which again merged with Central College to become known as

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Fayette, Missouri Fayette is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 2,803 at the 2020 census. History Fayette was laid out in 1823. The ...

Notes of interest

The Neosho School District purchased the property, and in 1916 the empty buildings were razed to make way for a new public high school for the city of Neosho. Scarritt Collegiate Institute was attended by cowboy philosopher and humorist

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

for a single semester in the late 1890s before his transfer to Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri.

Notable alumni

* E. LeBron Fairbanks, college and seminary president * Sue Thrasher, activist, writer and educator Educational institutions established in 1878 Defunct private universities and colleges in Missouri Buildings and structures in Newton County, Missouri 1878 establishments in Missouri {{Missouri-university-stub