Proposed First University In English America

Henrico County · dedicated 1996 · Four Mile Creek Park trailhead, in donut

A "University and College" was authorized by the Virginia Company charter of 1618 at Henrico Town but never opened. Some 10,000 acres on the James River upstream from the town were to provide agricultural income for the school. The college's mission was to Christianize Indian children and train them in "true Religion moral virtue and Civility." The Anglo-Powhatan War that began in 1622, the revocation of the Virginia Company's charter in 1624, and the lack of royal support for the project delayed the plans for Virginia's first college until 1693 when the College of William and Mary was established.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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