Hendrix College history

In 1881 it was renamed Central Collegiate Institute when secondary and collegiate departments were added.

In 1884, three conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South purchased the school.

Henderson State University had its beginnings on November 6, 1889, when Arkadelphia civic leaders and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held a town meeting at the church to discuss establishment of a Methodist college for Arkadelphia and south Arkansas.

The institution was founded on March 24, 1890, and was incorporated as Arkadelphia Methodist College.

By 1900 Hendrix was cited by the United States Office of Education as having higher standards for admission and graduation than any other institution of higher learning in Arkansas.

The name was changed to Henderson College in 1904 to honor Charles Christopher Henderson, a trustee and prominent local businessman.

In 1908 the school was accredited as a “Class A” college by the Methodist Church, and two years later it received the first of several substantial financial gifts from the General Education Board of New York (the Rockefeller Foundation).

In 1911, the name was amended to Henderson-Brown College to honor Walter William Brown, who was also a trustee.

National academic recognition was achieved with membership in the North Central Association of Colleges in 1924, the first year Arkansas institutions were eligible for membership.

During the period 1929-33, Hendrix was merged with Henderson-Brown College of Arkadelphia and Galloway Woman’s College of Searcy.

The financially troubled Galloway Woman's College in Searcy, Arkansas was absorbed by Hendrix in 1933 during the Great Depression.

When Hendrix celebrated its semi-centennial in 1934, it had firmly established its role as a small, co-educational, undergraduate, residential, liberal arts, church-related institution.

The number of full-time faculty has also grown from 81 to 109 since 2002.