Laurel Seminary
London, Laurel County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Laurel Seminary. In 1826, the legislature granted land to Laurel and some other counties for educational purposes. Land sold; Seminary opened, 1858. Used for hospital in Civil War. Gov. W. S. Taylor called special session of legislature here, 1900. Common school, 1870-84; private school, 1884-93; common school, 1893-1906; then public school. Original building replaced, 1954. Dedicated September 10, 1964.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Laurel Seminary grew from an 1826 act of the Kentucky legislature that set aside land to fund education in Laurel and other counties. The land was eventually sold and the seminary opened in 1858, only to be pressed into service as a hospital during the Civil War. In 1900 Governor W. S. Taylor even convened a special session of the legislature here, and the institution carried on as a common, private, and public school into the twentieth century.
Why it matters
The seminary's long life traces the slow, often improvised growth of public education on the Kentucky frontier and the ways a rural school could be swept up in the era's great events.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Battle of London
London, KY
On August 17, 1862, Confederate Colonel John S. Scott led 500 cavalry against roughly 200 Union soldiers and 98 convalescents under Colonel L. C. Houk at London. The lopsided fight cost the Union thirteen killed, seventeen wounded, and over a hundred captured along with forty wagons, while Scott lost only a handful of men. Driven back to George W. Morgan's main force at Cumberland Gap, Houk's defeat helped sever Union supply lines and set the stage for Morgan's long retreat to Ohio.
Sue Bennett College
London, KY
Opened in 1897 and named for a Madison County promoter, the Sue Bennett Memorial School was founded by local people and the Methodist church to educate the children of the Kentucky mountains. It taught all grades and evolved through a commercial department, a normal school, and by 1922 a junior college. Over a full century it educated more than 11,000 students before closing in 1997.
Bragg's Retreat to Tennessee
Laurel County, KY
After the bloody Battle of Perryville in October 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg gathered his forces and began withdrawing southward, ending the Confederacy's bid to hold Kentucky. Union General Don Carlos Buell pursued as far as this point in Laurel County before deciding further pursuit was not worthwhile. Bragg's army continued on, passing through the Cumberland Gap in late October.
Union College
Barbourville, KY
Incorporated in October 1879 in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky, Union College conferred its first degrees in 1893. Several of its buildings — Centennial Hall, Speed Hall, and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Gymnasium — have since been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The college became a lasting center of learning for the Appalachian region.