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By 1860, Western Virginia had only one institution of higher learning, Bethany College, founded by Alexander Campbell and chartered in 1840. West Liberty was technically older but would not become a college until after the Civil War. Baptist-affiliated Rector College had opened in 1839 but was destroyed by fire in 1855. Weston College, chartered in 1858, was sold at public auction in 1859. Allegheny College at Blue Sulphur Springs opened in 1860 but suspended operation later that year, and its buildings were burned by Union troops in 1864. Marshall College was established from Marshall Academy in 1858 but achieved true collegiate status only after its reorganization in 1867. Most of West Virginia's current college and universities emerged after the statehood and the Civil War.
West Liberty University started in 1837 as a private academy in Ohio County, north of Wheeling. The first class met in 1838, and a big brick building was built in 1857. Boys studied subjects like Greek and Latin, while girls learned literature and...
Bethany College is a small, private college in Bethany (Brooke County). It was founded in 1840 by Alexander Campbell, a religious leader and educator. It is the oldest four-year college in West Virginia and offers degrees in the liberal arts.The c...
Greenbrier College for Women, located in Lewisburg, began as Lewisburg Academy in 1812, led by Dr. John McElhenney. It closed during the Civil War, then reopened in 1875 as Lewisburg Female Institute. Over time, it was renamed Lewisburg Seminary a...
Storer College was founded in 1867 in Harpers Ferry to educate formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. It was started by the Freewill Baptist Church with support from the Freedmen’s Bureau and a donation from John Storer of Maine. It welcome...
Marshall University began in 1837 as a small school in a log church in present-day Huntington, named after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. It became Marshall Academy in 1838 and later Marshall College. After the Civil War, it reopened i...
West Virginia University (WVU) was founded in 1867 in Morgantown as a land-grant school to focus on agriculture and engineering, with additional subjects, as well. It started with just 124 students. In 1868, the name was changed from the Agricultu...
Fairmont State University is located on a 90-acre campus near downtown Fairmont. It started in 1865 as West Virginia’s first private teacher-training school and became a state school in 1868. The first building opened in 1869, and the first studen...
Glenville State University, located in Glenville (Gilmer County), was founded in 1872 as a teacher-training school. It now also focuses on business, music, human services, and natural resources.The school started in a small donated building and he...
Concord University started in 1872 after the town of Concord (now Athens) lost the Mercer County seat to Princeton and asked for a state school as compensation. Classes began in 1875 with 70 students, who were called to school by a cow’s horn beca...
Shepherd University is a public school in Shepherdstown (Jefferson County) founded in 1871. It began in a building once used as a courthouse (pictured) and was first called Shepherd College. In 1872, it became one of six state schools created to t...
Salem University, located in Salem (Harrison County) was founded in 1888 with support from the Seventh Day Baptist Church. It started as Salem Academy and then became Salem College in 1890, offering both high school and college classes.The school ...
University of Charleston is a private institution located across the Kanawha River from West Virginia’s state capitol. It offers associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees.It started in 1888 as Barboursville Seminary, connected to the Methodist C...
West Virginia Wesleyan College, located in Buckhannon (Upshur County), opened in 1890 as a Methodist school called the West Virginia Conference Seminary. It became West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1906 and still remains closely connected to the U...
West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public institution just west of Charleston that offers bachelor’s, master’s, and its first doctoral degree, as of 2024. It was founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, one of the few Black ...
Bluefield State University began in 1895 as Bluefield Colored Institute, created to serve the growing Black population working in coal and railroad jobs in southern West Virginia. The school opened in 1897 in Bluefield with 40 students and was led...
West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech) was founded in 1895 in Montgomery (Fayette County) to prepare students for college. Over time, it changed names and purposes, becoming a four-year college in 1931 and focusing on engineer...
Potomac State College of West Virginia University, located in Keyser, was founded in 1901 as a branch of WVU. It started as a preparatory school and became a junior college in 1921, offering two-year degrees.The school moved to its current campus ...
Davis & Elkins College, located in Elkins, was founded in 1904 with help from former U.S. Senators Henry Gassaway Davis and Stephen B. Elkins. It started with just one building and a small faculty, later expanding to a large, scenic campus, in...
The Mason College of Music and Fine Arts was started in 1906 in Charleston by Dr. William "Sandy" Mason, a talented violinist. He had studied music in the U.S. and Europe before returning home to start a music school.In 1936, the school became Mas...
Alderson Broaddus University, which closed in 2023, had a long and changing history. It started in 1871 in Virginia as a small Baptist school for girls and later moved to Philippi, becoming Broaddus College. A separate school, Alderson Academy, be...
Mountain State University, first called Beckley College, was started in 1933 in Beckley. It changed names over the years, becoming the College of West Virginia in 1991 and then Mountain State University in 2001. The school grew to offer many colle...
Appalachian Bible College started in 1950 as Appalachian Bible Institute, founded by two pastors, Rev. Robert Guelich and Rev. Lester Pipkin, to train students in Bible and church ministries. The first classes were held in Pettus (Boone County) wi...
Wheeling University is a small Catholic college in Wheeling. It was founded in 1955 as Wheeling College by Bishop John Swint and the Jesuits. The school changed names several times, becoming Wheeling Jesuit University in 1996 and finally Wheeling ...
Ohio Valley University was a small private college located between Parkersburg and Vienna. It was founded in 1960 by members of the Church of Christ and became a university in 2005. The school started in temporary buildings and later grew to a lar...
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg was chartered in 1972 to train doctors for rural West Virginia. It was started in old buildings from a military school by doctors who wanted more primary care doctors in the state, part...
WVU Parkersburg is a public community college that opened in 1961 to give local students better access to higher education. It started in an old school building and moved to its current campus in 1969 after voters approved a new facility.It became...
Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College was founded in 1971 by combining branch campuses of Marshall University in Logan and Williamson. It has operated under its current name since 1995. The college serves several counties in sou...
West Virginia Northern Community and Technical College is a public two-year college created in 1972. It started by combining branches of West Liberty State College (now University) in Weirton and Wheeling and added a campus in New Martinsville in ...
Pierpont Community & Technical College was originally part of Fairmont State University, which started it in 1974. In 2003, it earned its own accreditation and, in 2008, became independent. It was renamed after Francis H. Pierpont, known as th...
Blue Ridge Community and Technical College started in 1974 as a two-year nursing program at Shepherd State College (now Shepherd University) in Shepherdstown. At first, classes were held in the basement of a dorm, then moved to the Blue Ridge Outl...
Mountwest Community & Technical College started in 1975 as part of Marshall University and was first called Marshall Community College. In 1991, its name was changed to reflect its focus on job training and technical programs.In 2003, it becam...
Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College, known as Eastern, was founded in 1999 and is one of the youngest public colleges in the state. Located in Moorefield, it serves six counties in the Potomac Highlands and Eastern Panhandle.Ea...
New River Community & Technical College is one of West Virginia’s newest colleges, created in 2003 to take over the community college components of Bluefield State and Glenville State universities. It became fully accredited on its own in 2005...
BridgeValley Community & Technical College was created in 2014 when two nearby community colleges— Bridgemont and Kanawha Valley— merged. Both schools became independent in 2009 but were later combined by the state to save money and avoid repe...