North Greenville College
In 1992 North Greenville College added bachelor’s programs, and the first bachelor’s degree was awarded in 1993. With a 2001 enrollment of approximately twelve hundred students, the college continues to award bachelor’s degrees in a variety of fields and participates in intercollegiate athletics as a part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Its mission has consistently been “to provide a quality educational experience in the context of a genuine Christian commitment.”
North Greenville College traces its roots to the founding of North Greenville High School in 1892. A committee appointed by the North Greenville Baptist Association met that year and settled on a location in Tigerville, began building, and chose a principal. The initial assets were ten acres of land and $2,500. Classes began on January 16, 1893. In 1904 it was chartered as a state high school. It became a part of a system of Mountain Mission Schools supported by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1905 and remained in that relationship until 1929. In 1915 it was renamed North Greenville Baptist Academy.
College-level work was first offered at North Greenville Junior College in 1934. The first junior college degrees were awarded in spring 1936. As resources were shifted to the college, the work of the academy (high school) diminished. The last year in which work in all four levels of the academy was offered was 1940.
The college continued as an institution supported by the North Greenville Baptist Association until 1949, when control was transferred to the General Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. In the years following, enrollment increased and facilities expanded, leading to full accreditation in 1958.
In 1992 North Greenville College added bachelor’s programs, and the first bachelor’s degree was awarded in 1993. With a 2001 enrollment of approximately twelve hundred students, the college continues to award bachelor’s degrees in a variety of fields and participates in intercollegiate athletics as a part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Its mission has consistently been “to provide a quality educational experience in the context of a genuine Christian commitment.”
Flynn, Jean Martin. A History of North Greenville Junior College. Tigerville, S.C.: North Greenville Junior College, 1953.
Howard, Henry Jacob. From These Roots: The Story of North Greenville Junior College 1892–1967. Tigerville, S.C.: North Greenville Junior College, 1967.
Johnson, Charles D. Higher Education of Southern Baptists: An Institutional History 1826–1954. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 1955.
King, Joe M. A History of South Carolina Baptists. Columbia: General Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, 1964.
