Montpelier Female Institute
First known as the Montpelier Institute and later as the Montpelier Collegiate Institute, the Montpelier Female Institute was a school founded by Episcopal Bishop Stephen Elliott at Montpelier Springs, Monroe County, Georgia in 1841, and is notable as one of the earliest in the state to admit girls. After changing hands several times, it finally closed in 1878.
It is commemorated by a Georgia Historical Marker on Georgia State Route 74, at.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Foundation
The Rt. Rev. Stephen Elliott, the then newly-appointed first Bishop of Georgia, decided to establish a school there and in 1840 obtained a charter from the Georgia State Legislature. In 1841 he spent four days at Montpelier Springs working on organizing schools and an adjacent church. He recorded that ''On the fourth Sunday after Easter, 1841, I confirmed in the temporary Chapel of the Springs, seventeen persons, thirteen of whom were slaves. After Morning Service a Church was organized, under the title of St Luke’s Church, Montpelier Springs, Monroe Co., Ga, by the election of Wardens and a Vestry.''The Montpelier Institute
Initially Elliott planned for both boys’ and girls’ schools on an 800-acre campus, supported by a working farm staffed by enslaved persons whose work would pay the bulk of the costs of the school. By the spring of 1842, he could say, Our Schools have flourished at the Springs beyond our most sanguine expectation. That December, he reported that when he went back to Montpelier Springs to inspect the schools and make arrangements for the winter term, I found everything in the very best condition, full of promise to the Church and to the State. The girls were taught in Lamar Hall, named for G B Lamar of Savannah, who had given a 500-acre tract for the institute. The boys were a mile distant in Chase Hall, named for Bishop Philander Chase, who was then Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. By 1846, Bishop Elliott was living on the grounds of the school. By that time, more than 80 students were enrolled in the two schools.However, rapid expansion of the school including the completion of more buildings created debt. The Institute was never funded by the Diocese and Elliott had used his own personal property as a guarantee. In 1850, the school debts had mounted to a degree that Bishop Elliott was obliged to sell all of his land and his considerable holdings in enslaved persons. The school was sold at a sheriff’s sale for $13,000 to make up the rest of the indebtedness. The institute was bought by Joseph Story Fay and continued as a school under its Board of Trustees, but Elliott continued to administer the school remotely from Savannah until 1854. This first incarnation of the school closed in 1855.
At this point, Professor Carlisle Martin bought the land and organized a school for young men. This was in operation until 1861, and was relatively successful. After the start of the Civil War, however, numbers dropped and the buildings were used as the depot for military supplies shipped from Savannah and Augusta.