Campus Celebrates Completion of Thomas Meredith Memorial Marker

The Meredith campus community recently celebrated the completion of Timeless, the Thomas Meredith memorial marker.

Founded on February 27, 1891, Baptist Female University (the original name of Meredith College) opened on September 27, 1899. The ceremony held on September 27, 2017, honored the opening of the College and the memory of Thomas Meredith.

“Without the tireless work of Thomas Meredith, Meredith College would not exist as it does today,” said President Jo Allen. “Today, we also acknowledge our own roles in creating the College anew each year, to remain relevant to each new generation of students, and to remain a source of pride for alumnae.”

The marker site, located near Johnson Hall, holds the time capsule created in honor of Meredith College’s 125th anniversary. The time capsule was created by the anniversary steering committee with support from the Student Government Association. It contains artifacts from campus life in 2015-16, including a student planner, The Meredith Herald, and a video featuring the College community’s wishes for Meredith’s future.

The history of Meredith College is often traced back to the 1835 and 1838 North Carolina Baptist State Convention. In 1835, the convention created a committee to look at creating a female seminary. Thomas Meredith (1795-1850), was a member of this committee. In 1838, Meredith wrote a report on this potential female institute. From these early conventions until his death Thomas Meredith advocated for the future women’s college that is now known as Meredith College in his honor.