City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Education

Telephone: (404) 261-1441

Address: 4484 Peachtree Rd.

Description: Named for the founder of Georgia, James Edward Oglethorpe, Oglethorpe University was founded in 1835 by Georgia Presbyterians to train ministers. It was originally located near Milledgeville, at that time the capital of Georgia. During the Civil War the university’s students became soldiers, its buildings became barracks and hospitals, and its endowment became worthless Confederate bonds. The college closed in 1862 and tried unsuccessfully to reorganize in Atlanta during Reconstruction. Oglethorpe University was rechartered in 1913; two years later the cornerstone was laid for the present 118-acre campus, whose layout and Gothic Revival architecture were inspired by Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England, the honorary alma mater of James Oglethorpe. The university’s more than 1,500 students hail from 34 states and 36 nations; 50 percent are from Georgia. The student-faculty ratio is 13 to 1; 95 percent of faculty members hold terminal degrees. Internships are available in all of the school’s 28 undergraduate and 3 graduate academic majors. The International Time Capsule Society is headquartered at Oglethorpe, and there, behind a great steel door, lies the “Crypt of Civilization.” This time capsule was considered the finest ever developed when it was sealed in 1940. Its contents include a machine to teach English, a quart of Budweiser, a coffeemaker, and a Lionel train.