Leland College

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Leland College | nrhp_type = | image = Bulletin (1913) (14577691480).jpg | caption = Chamberlain Hall | location = Off Groom Road, about {{convert|0.83|mi|km}} west of Baker, U.S. | nearest_city = Baker, Louisiana, U.S. | coordinates = {{coord|30.59269|-91.18136|format=dms|display=inline,title,source:ProprioMeOW}} | locmapin = Louisiana#USA | built = 1923 | architect = | architecture = | added = November 10, 1982 | area = {{convert|20.9|acre}} | refnum = 82000433<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> }} '''Leland College''' was founded in 1870 as a Christian college for blacks in New Orleans. It was open to students "irrespective of race, color or previous condition of servitude."<ref>https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cityscapes_of_New_Orleans/VSaQDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Izanina+Chamberlain&pg=PA43&printsec=frontcover</ref><ref name="library">[http://www.ebr.lib.la.us/reference/ourafamlegacy/oaal_peopleandplaces/places/LelandCollege.htm Leland College] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314091601/http://ebr.lib.la.us/reference/ourafamlegacy/oaal_peopleandplaces/places/LelandCollege.htm |date=2009-03-14}}</ref> It was formerly known as '''Leland University'''. It was relocated to Baker, Louisiana after a storm in 1915. It closed in 1960.

== History == Leland University was founded in 1870. Holbrook Chamberlain, a philanthropist from Brooklyn, established the school. He bought the original campus’ land on St. Charles Avenue and built its buildings including University Hall. John Elijah Ford served as the school’s president.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=Clement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9mJ6sT-1bAC&dq=lawton+leroy+pratt&pg=PA466 |title=The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race |year=1919 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1873, the institution was relocated from temporary quarters to a new campus with buildings, which included the monumental Second Empire “University Hall” facing St. Charles Avenue. This campus was located across from Audubon Park and within block, of where Loyola University and Tulane University would build new campuses in the subsequent 25 years.

thumb|View of the original campus from St. Charles Avenue (University Hall is in the foreground)|500px

After University Hall was heavily damaged in the Hurricane of 1915, Leland University decided not to repair the campus. Instead, the board sold the valuable real estate, which had appreciated significantly since the University’s founding, and relocated to land purchased near Baker, Louisiana, where Leland College reopened in 1923.

Leland University was founded with the purpose of promoting Christian education in Louisiana and adjacent states. Never accredited, the school closed in 1960 because of financial difficulties.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/bakers-long-gone-leland-college-was-uptown-new-orleans-first-university/article_fcd3ebc8-34fe-11eb-85b6-2be6f73a5bda.html | title=Baker's long-gone Leland College was Uptown New Orleans' first university | date=December 4, 2020 }}</ref>

The {{convert|20.9|acre}} area of the Baker campus, comprising four contributing properties and one non-contributing building, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 1982.<ref name="nris"/><ref name=ladoc>{{cite web|url=https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/hp/nhl/attachments/Parish17/Scans/17024001.pdf|title=Leland College|publisher=State of Louisiana's Division of Historic Preservation |access-date=May 9, 2018}} with [https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/hp/nhl/view.asp?ID=228 three photos and two maps]</ref><ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=82000433}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form: Leland College|publisher=National Park Service|author=National Register Staff|date=October 1981|accessdate=May 9, 2018}} With {{NRHP url|id=82000433|photos=y|title=nine photos from 1981}}.</ref>

The college facilities had become derelict by the time of listing. In the early 21st century, only the ruins of the two dormitories can be seen faintly through trees. The frame classroom, the president's house, and the concrete classroom all disappeared at some time.

==Operation== When Dr. Travers of Saratoga was faculty president in 1882 it had 100 students and was co-educational. An hour a day of industrial work was required.<ref>https://docstudio.org/2015/12/15/leland-university-the-education-of-freed-slaves-in-new-orleans/</ref>

Alumni from Tulane University, which was next door, repainted in the middle of the night poles adorned with Leland's school colors "coal black" and included a skull and crossbones.<ref name=tu>https://docstudio.org/2015/12/15/leland-university-the-education-of-freed-slaves-in-new-orleans/</ref> Coal tar was used. Tulane president Albert Sidney Johnston, who had been a Confederare general, required an apology but the sophomore class at Tulane took suspension as a punishment instead.<ref name=iz>https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/home_garden/a-tale-of-two-universities-leland-tulane-and-an-early-example-of-gentrification/article_db27f685-e6bc-5c19-b76f-832fb8ecc5ed.amp.html</ref>

Julia Ward Howe delivered the commencement speech in 1885. In 1901 Rev. Dr. R. W. Perkins became president.<ref name=tu/> By 1904 Leland had 1,000 students.<ref name=iz/>

After the storm of 1915, its New York based trustees decided to sell. Plans to relocate to Alexandria and the purchase of 212 acres there were abandoned over racial opposition and the school was moved to 160 acres in Baker.<ref name=iz/>

==Alumni== * Abraham Lincoln Davis (class of 1949) minister and civil rights activist<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109064945/four-way-split-too-many-factions-negate/ |title=Four-Way Split: Too Many Factions Negate Louisiana Race Vote Power|work=The Pittsburgh Courier |via=Newspapers.com |date=1959-02-07 |access-date=2022-09-06}}</ref> * William Hicks (pastor) (class of 1893, BA, BD) Baptist pastor, academic administrator, writer<ref name="Tripp-2024">{{Cite web |last1=Tripp |first1=Jaclyn |last2=Joiner |first2=Gary |date=November 26, 2024 |title=Shreveport man born in 1869 established schools, led churches, worked with Booker T Washington |url=https://www.ktalnews.com/louisianas-lost-history/shreveport-man-born-in-1869-established-schools-led-churches-worked-with-booker-t-washington/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212001118/https://www.ktalnews.com/louisianas-lost-history/shreveport-man-born-in-1869-established-schools-led-churches-worked-with-booker-t-washington/ |archive-date=December 12, 2024 |website=KTAL-TV}}</ref><ref name="Leland College-1898">{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalogue_of_the_Officers_and_Students_o/dzpJAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+hicks+shreveport&pg=RA4-PA62&printsec=frontcover |title=... Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Leland University |date=1898 |publisher=Leland College |pages=62 |language=en}}</ref> * John W. Joseph, first black mayor of Opelousas, Louisiana<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 November 2017 |title=John W. Joseph, Opelousas' first black mayor, to be laid to rest tomorrow |url=https://www.klfy.com/news/local/john-w-joseph-opelousas-first-black-mayor-to-be-laid-to-rest-tomorrow/ |website=KLFY}}</ref> * Eddie Robinson, class of 1941, former Grambling State University head football coach * Christina Jenkins, cosmetologist and creator of the hair weave * Linda Thomas Greenfield<ref>https://africanamericanhighschoolsinlouisianabefore1970.com/leland-college/</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Education in New Orleans}} {{Private colleges and universities in Louisiana}} {{authority control}}

Category:Leland College Category:Buildings and structures in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Category:National Register of Historic Places in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Category:University and college buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Category:1870 establishments in Louisiana Category:1960 disestablishments in Louisiana Category:Defunct private universities and colleges in Louisiana