As part of Lexington’s 250th anniversary celebration, the Herald-Leader recently highlighted Transylvania University’s historic role in helping the town earn the title “Athens of the West.”
A key moment for this flourishing of culture on the frontier was in 1780, when the Virginia Assembly chartered the Transylvania Seminary. “Named after the ‘Transylvania Colony,’ the school was the first college west of the Allegheny Mountains,” notes the Herald-Leader.
The school actually started in a trustee’s log cabin near Danville, and then the board accepted a gift of land in 1793 in what is now Gratz Park in exchange for moving to Lexington.
Transylvania was established with “University” as part of its name in 1799, opening the first law and medical schools in what was then considered the West. “In 1820, the first medical fraternity — Kappa Lambda of Hippocrates — was established by professor Samuel Brown,” according to the Herald-Leader. “Branches of the fraternity ultimately led to the founding of the American Medical Association.”
After fire destroyed the main building on campus in 1829, Transylvania moved across Third Street and the iconic Old Morrison was built.
Many of the school’s alumni went on to become distinguished public figures, including U.S. vice presidents and Supreme Court justices.
“Because of its prominence as an institution of learning, and its location in Lexington, the school helped the city gain its reputation as the ‘Athens of the West.'”
The Herald-Leader is spotlighting interesting facts about Lexington each day of this anniversary year.
Transylvania has been partnering with the city for the 250Lex celebration with events like April’s Entrepreneurial Showdown in the Campus Center. A month earlier, the school joined the 250LEX College Town Showcase with tours, sports events and cultural offerings.
Transylvania also participated in the 250Lex Basketball Week in January and the school’s chamber orchestra performed in the “Dawning of Music in Kentucky” concert.
Find out more of what Lexington has on tap for the 250th anniversary of its founding.
