Midway University history

Midway University originally opened as the Kentucky Female Orphan School on October 3, 1849, with one teacher and sixteen female students.

May is rest where it has swung since 1858 on Pinkerton Hall, and may it send out its glad tidings as long as our college exists.” Hence, the bell is now rung for any happy occasion.

Civil War – During John Hunt Morgan’s July 1862 First Kentucky Raid, his CSA cavalry stopped here and seized the telegraph to send false messages to confuse Union commanders in the area, one of the earliest uses of the telegraph for this purpose.

Weisenberger Mills – Only a few miles east of Midway is Weisenberger Mills, founded in 1865, and is the oldest continuously operated mill in Kentucky.

Buford, Guthrie Company and then A. Buford Distillery then became the Hinde, Drake, & Co. in 1868.

George Armstrong Custer visited these horse farms in November 1871 looking for horses for both his own breeding operation and for the army.

1875 – The Second Midway Distillery was on several Lots along the Lee Branch at North Winter Street, the J.N. Thomas & Co.

1879 – The Midway Distilling District then moved to the east side of Midway at the corner of Gratz and Dudley Streets.

The business section developed along Railroad Street, and by 1900 hotels, saloons, a large distillery, dry goods and grocery stores, many trades, churches and schools appeared.

1908 – Five aging warehouses, containing 47,500 bourbon barrels were destroyed by fire.

1912 – Reorganized as the Belle of Anderson Distillery with brands of Belle of Anderson, Glenarme, Woodford, Jessamine, and Arlington.

Starks Hall was built in 1925 and served as a major classroom building for the campus.

In 1958 the board of trustees passed a resolution that in part declared “. . . it has rung through the years just as clearly as on that first day.

The National Park Service placed Pinkerton Hall, the oldest building on campus, on the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1974.

Anne Hart Raymond Center for Mathematics, Science & Technology opened in the fall 2003 semester.

The Learning Resource Center was built in 2010, and serves as the main classroom building on campus.

In August 2011, Midway delayed the of launch of the new School of Pharmacy in the eastern Kentucky community of Paintsville.

Through the years the school evolved and became Pinkerton High School, Midway Junior College, Midway College and on July 1, 2015, Midway University.

In the Fall semester of 2016, Midway University admitted men to its day program for the first time.