Editing Spencer, Tennessee (section)

=== Burritt College History ===
The idea for a school in Spencer was first proposed by Nathan Trogdon, a brick mason who had built the second Van Buren County Courthouse in the town. By the late 1840s, a 12-member board of trustees had been formed with Charles Gillentine as president. In 1848, the [[Tennessee General Assembly]] passed a law chartering the institution, which was named in honor of activist [[Elihu Burritt]]. Funds for the school were raised from among the residents of [[White County, Tennessee|White]], [[Warren County, Tennessee|Warren]], and [[Van Buren County, Tennessee|Van Buren]] counties. When classes began on February 26, 1849, the college had an enrollment of 73 students and employed three teachers.

The first president of the college, Isaac Newton Jones, was a graduate of [[Irving College]] in nearby [[McMinnville, Tennessee|McMinnville]]. He established the college's curriculum, but left after only one year. His successor, William Davis Carnes, played a critical role in shaping the college's policies, most notably introducing coeducation in 1850 and instituting a strict moral and religious code. The policy allowing coeducation met staunch opposition at first, but Carnes defended it, stating, "It is God's law that the young of the opposite sexes should exert a healthful influence in the formation of each other's characters, and no place is better suited to this purpose than the classroom and lecture room." To alleviate fears, Carnes modified the school's code to bar all communication between the sexes outside classrooms or other supervised events.

Carnes' moral code barred swearing, gambling, smoking and drinking. He struggled to curtail drinking, however, in spite of introducing increasingly stringent measures, including the expulsion of anyone caught in possession of alcoholic beverages. He finally turned to local law enforcement, pleading with them to hunt down [[Moonshine|moonshiners]] operating in the Spencer area, and destroy their stills. In an apparent act of retaliation, the president's house and the girls' dormitory were burned in 1857. Disgusted, Carnes resigned to become president at East Tennessee University (the modern [[University of Tennessee]]). He was succeeded by John Powell, who had been president of the Central Female Institute in McMinnville.

The college closed at the outset of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in 1861 as many of its male students left to fight in the Confederate army. The college's relative isolation protected it during the first half of the war, though it was eventually occupied by Union troops. With the help of Carnes, who had returned to the area to escape the horrors of the war, the school briefly reopened in 1864. It was forced to close by the Union Army, however, due to concerns over Confederate guerrilla activity in the area. The Union Army occupants used the main hall as a barracks, and dormitories were converted into stables. The campus grounds were trampled and damaged, and the buildings were left in a state of ruin. At the end of the war, the college's trustees sold part of its campus to raise funds for repairs. With Carnes' help, the school managed to reopen shortly after the close of the war. Martin White, a Burritt graduate remembered by students for having walked the entire distance from his home in North Carolina to Spencer to enroll at the school, was hired as president. Carnes was rehired as president in 1872.

During the 1870s, Thomas Wesley Brents, a physician who had recently relocated to Spencer, offered his assistance to Burritt, and began raising money for the college. With his help, the campus more than doubled in size, and a new administration building was constructed. However, Brents demanded he be made president. This angered Carnes, who resigned in 1878, allowing Brents to take over. During his four-year tenure, Brents increased the college's enrollment and overhauled its curriculum. By the time he had resigned in 1882, however, enrollment had started to decline. In subsequent years, the school struggled financially, and was finally forced to close in 1889. The Board of Trustees considered selling the college's campus, but ultimately decided to reopen the school.

In hopes of reviving the college, the Board hired a Burritt graduate, William Newton Billingsley, as president. Billingsley stabilized the college's finances, and managed to increase enrollment to over two hundred students by the end of the decade. In 1897, the college reported an annual income of $25,000, 164 students, 10 teachers, and three thousand books. The early 1900s were among the most prosperous in the school's history, as enrollment never dipped below 200 during this period.

On March 5, 1906, the college's main building was destroyed by fire. At a meeting the following day, the college's administrators and students agreed to finish the year and make plans to rebuild. Classes were held at the campus church and in private residences until the end of the term. The college was closed for several months while a new building was constructed. In spite of fundraising struggles, the new building was completed in 1907.

Burritt again suffered with enrollment issues following the departure of Billingsley in 1911, due in part to the opening of two state [[Normal school|normal schools]] in the region: [[Middle Tennessee State University|Middle Tennessee State]] in [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee|Murfreesboro]] and Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (modern [[Tennessee Technological University|Tennessee Tech]]) in [[Cookeville, Tennessee|Cookeville]]. The Board struggled to find a permanent president until the hiring of Henry Eugene Scott in 1918. During the 1920s, Scott overhauled the curriculum to bring it more in line with that of a typical preparatory school and junior college, offering courses in agriculture, typing, bookkeeping, and teacher training, as well as high school courses. By the 1930s, Burritt had become dependent on the Van Buren County school board for much of its funding. When the school board decided to build a county high school in 1936, Burritt was no longer able to compete for students. It finally closed in 1939.