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"Field Missionaries" of the American Missionary Association (AMA)-- first to meet with small bands of escaping slaves, bringing them schooling, clothes and the Gospel start a primary school for freedmen three miles west of the old Midway Church. |
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| Nov 1870 |
During Reconstruction (under military rule), William A. Golding, a colored member of the Georgia Legislature and a member and selectman in the Midway Congregational Church, writes to AMA to request a teacher for the school. That teacher was preferably to be southern born and colored, a young man of good moral character and a preacher if possible.
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| Jan 1871 |
Eliza Ann Ward, an abolitionist from Monson, Massachusetts, is sent by the AMA. She opens a school in "Golding's Grove" with an enrollment of 39, (22 male and 17 female) with an average daily attendance of 28. Miss Ward leaves Liberty County for good in August, 1872. |
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| Spring 1874 |
Floyd Snelson, a former slave who ministered in teaching at the AMA's Andersonville, Georgia, school did further study at Atlanta University and was one of the 1st seminary graduates of that institution. He was hired to come to Liberty County to promote Congregationalism and foster a school. |
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| June 1874 |
Mr. Snelson arrives in Liberty County. |
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| Late 1874 |
Emily Jackson is employed as a teacher. Use of the Midway Church for church services on a part-time basis was granted by the AMA.. Peabody Foundation's funding requirement of a minimum average enrollment of 85 students and two teachers was met by the academy. |
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| 1875 |
Two teachers, Seaborn Snelson and George B. Snowden, added to the staff. November 1875 - Board of Trustees elected. School charter established. Silas Daniels hired to replace Mr. Snowden. Despite many problems, large and irregular attendance, poor facilities, lack of adequate funding, the Liberty County school didn't give up. AMA authorized congregation to build a new church. Land donated by William Golding chosen as site. Construction of new school begins. |
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| March 1877 |
Construction completed with Floyd Snelson as pastor.
School survives political unrest between William Golding and Floyd Snelson. AMA sides with Snelson. |
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| September 1877 |
Snelson is sent to Africa to perform missionary work despite having made great strides a strong educational function, increased attendance, additional teaching staff, acquisition of funds from Peabody Foundation, guarantee of Golding's Grove's existence in the education/missionary field.AMA sends Joseph E. Smith to replace Floyd Snelson as head of the school and pastor of the church. |
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| September 1878 |
John McIntosh, an African American from Knox Institute in Athens, Georgia, joins staff. |
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| November 1878 |
Ms Ophelia Law of Savannah's Beach Institute replaces S. Snelson. Floyd Snelson returns from Africa and regains control of the church. Smith, however, retains control of the school. |
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| 1879 |
A new school building was completed with two or more large rooms, nicely appointed and properly sealed from the weather. New building was named Dorchester Academy. This school was enlarged to provide secondary education. Students began to pay small portions of the cost of their education, more with provisions than money. |
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| 1881 |
Rose Kinney of Oberlin, Ohio, replaces Joseph Smith as head of the school. |
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| 1883 |
Twenty-eight students licensed and sent out to teach. These students had received all or part of their training at Dorchester Academy. |
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| 1884 |
Elizabeth Plimpton, Walpole, Massachusetts, becomes principal. |
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| 1886 |
| Tuition rate: |
| Grades |
Non-boarders |
Boarders |
| Below ninth grade |
40 cents |
70 cents |
| Ninth thru twelfth |
75 cents |
$7.35 |
All boarders were required to work one hour at school. |
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| 1890 |
A new principal, Payson E. Little from Columbia, Connecticut, is appointed, a new principal's home and two dormitories, one for boys, and one for girls were built. |
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| 1891 |
H. W. Marsh of Easton, Pennsylvania, chosen principal of the school. |
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| 1892 |
Over 367 students reported in attendance and Fred W. Foster from Capstone, Maine, became principal. |
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| 1896 |
The first graduates of the Academy spring forth. |
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| 1896 O 1897 |
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 The 30 acre campus now encompass school buildings, teachers home, principal's home, girls boarding hall, boy's dormitory, dining hall, kitchen, pantry, laundry and industrial building.
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| 1901 |
Fire destroys the teachers home, girls hall, dining room, kitchen, laundry room and other small buildings. |
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| 1903 |
With enrollment above 450, Dorchester Academy celebrated its 13th anniversary. The event brought people from throughout Georgia, North and South Carolina. |
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| 1907 |
The sewing shop was considered "one of the best features of the school" and many other items, i.e., bookshelves, tables, washstands, were made in the carpenter shop. |
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| 1919 |
Northern subsidies, along with the school's domestic science department provide the non-boarding students with $.02 daily hot lunches. |
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| 1920 |
The Academy hosted the first annual conference of Liberty County Negro Farm Bureau. The AMA appointed the first all black staff to head the Academy. Samuel Usher was the first African principal since Reconstruction. |
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| 1921 |
A statewide mass farmers meeting was held at the Academy and in 1923 it was the site of a conference hosted by the Georgia State College of Agriculture, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. |
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| 1925 |
The first and only female principal, Elizabeth B. Moore, began her six-year tenure at the Academy. Educated at Fisk University and Columbia University, Ms Moore had done "missionary service" for the AMA. Academy wins 1st place at Liberty County Fair. |
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| 1926 |
Academy wins 1st place at Liberty County Fair and State Fair. Basketball teams organized. |
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| 1927 |
Daily fifteen minutes physical education period added to curriculum. Football teams organized. Academy wins 1st place at Liberty County Fair.
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| 1930 |
Sewage system and bathroom facilities installed. |
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| 1932 |
Ms Moore dies. |
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| 1934 |
A new brick boy's dormitory replaces the one destroyed by fire. It is named in honor of Miss Elizabeth Moore, the first African American woman principal. She had guided the school during six year of expansion and improvement until her death in 1932.
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| 1938 |
Dorchester Federal Credit Union is organized.
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| 1940 |
Liberty County provides a consolidated high school for African American students. Dorchester Academy is closed as an education institution. |
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| 1940 - 1947 |
The National Youth Administration is housed at the Academy. All wood framed buildings on the campus were demolished.
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| 1948 |
The Dorchester Improvement Association Inc. is formed. A fulltime director is hired to manage the Center's continuing resources for the community. A farmers' co- operative and the credit union were opened to the entire community. The remaining structure, the Elizabeth Moore Boy's Dormitory is adapted and expanded as a full-fledged community center under the auspices of the AMA and Dorchester Improvement Association.
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| 1954 |
Joint church center relationship re-established with hiring of a pastor-center director, Percel Anston. |
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| 1960 |
Academy is site of Citizenship Education workshops during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Initial staff included Andrew Young, administrator, Dorothy Coton, consultant and Septima Clark, Supervisor of teacher education. Workshops included intensive training sessions in adult education to black community leaders who, in turn, worked with potential black voters in their home communities to develop in them a functional literacy, civic awareness, and a knowledge of non-violent direct social action. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was directly and heavily involved with this project at the Center. Dr. King and other leaders held retreats at Dorchester Center. It was at the Dorchester Center that plans for the Birmingham Movement were developed and refined.
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| 1968 |
Liberty Board of Education intergrated the schools at the behest of African- American people meeting at the Center.
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| 1970 |
A swimming pool was built through the combined efforts of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and the local community: a pavilion was constructed; plans for the Midway Nursing home were initiated. The first annual conference of the Day at Old Dorchester was held.
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| 1997 |
A Major fund-raising campaign is launched in support of restoration and programs. |
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