Mississippi Industrial College was a historically black collegeinHolly Springs, Mississippi. It was founded in 1905 by the Mississippi Conference of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. After desegregation of community colleges in the mid-20th century, it had trouble competing and eventually closed in 1982. The campus was listed as a historic site on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and was acquired by Rust College in 2008.
Intended to train students for agriculture and trades, the school was located on a 120-acre (49 ha) campus. The Mississippi Conference of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church founded it in 1905.[1] In January 1906 the first academic session began. Two hundred students were enrolled by May 1906. By 1908 the school had 450 students.[2]
By 1912 the college was running an extension program to allow students who didn't have time to attend its regular programs to benefit from the education it provided. According to the Times-Picayune, then president D. C. Potts told a meeting of the Mississippi Colored Methodist Conference in reference to this that "an institution [MIC] for which the people were sacrificing ought to be able to help more than the few students who attended its session."[3]
After the desegregation of Mississippi community colleges, many students chose to go to other schools. In addition, student expectations were changing.[4] In 1982 the campus closed.[1]
In November 1999 the Mississippi Industrial College Alumni Association, Inc. (MICAAI) was organized in order to preserve the campus and buildings, which had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The University of Mississippi said "the campus now lies in disrepair."[5] In 2008 Rust College acquired the defunct institution's campus.[6]
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