Old College
On February 1, 1806, the University of Georgia’s first acting president, Josiah Meigs, reported in the Augusta Chronicle that construction of the university’s new building has finished. He reports on the accommodations of the new building: its dimensions, the amount of fireplaces, the number of classrooms and bedrooms, the cellar, and the positioning of the building to keep it cool during the summer. Meigs then goes on to claim that there is no college building in the entire United States with better accommodations for the students than this one. On the north wall of the building, a plaque was placed that reads: “The Site of this Building was chosen on the VIth day of July 1801 in the XXVIth year of the Independence of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA by GEORGE WALTON, ABRAHAM BALDWIN, JOHN MILLEDGE, JOHN TWIGGS, and HUGH LAWSON, a Committee of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia and for the benefit of the Institution the adjacent land was on that day given by JOHN MILLEDGE.” This plaque is one of the few remaining parts of the Old Campus building that stems back to the creation of the building. The building was named the Franklin College after Benjamin Franklin, but it was rarely ever referred to by that name. Meigs considered the building one of his biggest accomplishments during his tenure as president stating, “At my first arrival it was a new wilderness - it is now a beautiful village containing one of the most valuable Collegiate buildings in the United States."
In the early 1800’s, Athens was relatively close to Cherokee Indian territory. During the War of 1812, locals feared attacks by the Cherokee. Under the leadership of a professor, armed University of Georgia faculty and students turned Old College into a fort and safe haven for locals against Cherokee raids.
With the incorporation of “New Campus” in 1824, the original collegiate building was officially dubbed “Old College” and the first round of much needed repairs and improvements to the structure’s integrity were made. Due to its age and the decrease of students who went off to fight in the American Civil War, by 1900, Old College was nothing more than an abandoned building with broken windows and crumbling walls. The university, with ambitious plans for the new century, planned to demolish the building, but thanks to a rally of alumni to save the building, Old College was restored and reincorporated as a part of campus.
When the United States entered World War II, a majority of the campus was given to the U.S. Navy as a base for pre-flight school for training pilots. Old Campus, one of the many buildings turned over, was renamed “Ranger” and had much of its interior taken out and changed to what it is today. After the war, Old College no longer served as a dormitory, but became the central administrative building for the university. In 2006, the last major renovation of Old College took place and changed the building to what it is today.