Bowdon College, established as Bowdon Collegiate Institution in 1856, was a college in Bowdon, Georgia and Georgia's first co-educational institution. It joined the state university system and was renamed Bowden State Normal and Industrial College.[1] After being removed from the state system in 1933, the college closed in 1936.
Bowdon Collegiate Institute was founded as a private institution in 1856 by Charles McDaniel and John Richardson. Starting in a two room log house in rural Bowdon, Georgia, the school was chartered the following year becoming Georgia's fifth chartered high-learning institution and first co-educational institution. With donated land, a new building was completed in 1859.[2][3]
During the Civil War the school closed for a short time as most students and McDaniel joined the Confederate army. Of its 144 students, 128 and McDaniel died in the war.[4] After the war in 1866, the George legislature passed a bill providing free tuition at institutions including Bowden for maimed or indigent former soldiers under 30.[5]
In 1919, due to economic and financial issues, the state legislature passed a bill to place the school under University of Georgia's trustees and renamed it Bowden State Normal and Industrial College.[6][7] The school remained part of the state system until 1933 when it was returned to private status as part of a consolidation effort during The Great Depression. It became a junior college but closed in 1936.[8][2]