Oldest public university in each SEC state = SEC

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1876 - Texas A&M University

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How can this be? We were assured by sip trolls that 1883 came before 1876.

wait... South Carolina was a colony too

what were you doing USC?

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1820 - University of Alabama

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Nope. The oldest public university in Alabama is Athens State. Bama started in 1832. The 1820 date is pretty misleading, as it was technically 'established' but didn't open for another 12 years.

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1860 - Louisiana State University (also read 1853, someone with more knowledge clarify for me)

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1853 was when the state passed legislation saying they would create the university. 1860 is when the school opened. You have it correct

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Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy was the former name of the current university now known as Louisiana State University (LSU).

The original legislation creating the Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana (l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane) was passed by the Louisiana General Assembly in 1853. This was to be a state institution of higher education.

In November 1859, the institution's main building was completed near Pineville, Louisiana. The original location of the Old LSU Site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The institution's first superintendent was Major[1] William Tecumseh Sherman

On January 2, 1860, the college opened with five professors and 19 cadets. In March 1860, the school's name was changed to Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy (le Lycee Scientifique et Militaire de l'Etat de la Louisiane)..

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Sorry Dawgs

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It says it's the oldest public according to ua.edu

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Yeah, well, Bama is full of shite on this one. Athens State opened as a women's college in 1822.



I grew up about two blocks away and that's where my folks got married.

Fun fact: A Union occupying force was in Athens (actually known as the Rape of Athens), led by a Russian national named Ivan Turchaninov. The force fricked up a good bit of town, and were about to burn down the building you see up here, but the college's president had forged a letter from Abraham Lincoln ordering the preservation of Founder's Hall.

UK's date is no accident. It was, for a time, a part of what is now known as Transylvania University (Transylvania being at one time the name of the area and almost a colony), which was founded in 1780. When war came and some of Transylvania's graduate studies buildings were burned (namely the medical college), the Ag school was spun off to become a land grant university known as UK today.

There was an "Arkansas College" located in Fayetteville prior to the Civil War, from which the main drag "College Avenue" took its name. It was founded in 1850.

The Confederates burned Fayetteville to the ground, though, so we had to start over.

This is a lithograph of the campus, which was roughly where the current county courthouse sits. The University of Arkansas is about 1/2 mile directly west of this site.

(ETA: the building on the far far left of this picture is still standing)



Here's the remaining building, known as Headquarters House:

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UGA is oldest.

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Yeah I know. UGA loves to make sure we all know that fact.

I did some further reading, and it looks like College of Charleston transitioned to city responsibility in 1837. It became state supported in 1970.

Regardless, CofC is old.

Interdasting

William and Mary is the 2nd oldest college in country. it was private much of its existence but now public.