Lanier University was a short-lived

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, located in today's

Morningside-Lenox Park Morningside/Lenox Park is an intown neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia founded in 1923. It is located north of Virginia-Highland, east of Ansley Park and west of Druid Hills. Approximately 3,500 households comprise the neighborhood that includes ...

neighborhood of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, in the United States. It was notable for its connections with the second

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

, which was also based in Atlanta and which owned the university for a time. Charles Lewis Fowler, a Baptist minister, founded Lanier in 1917. He hoped for financing from

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magnate

Asa Candler Asa Griggs Candler Sr. (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) was an American business tycoon and politician who in 1888 purchased the Coca-Cola recipe for $238.98 () from chemist John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. Candler founded th ...

but instead got backing from the Georgia Baptist Association. Lanier was to be Georgia's first co-ed Baptist college."Shearith Israel Renovates.....'All Southern' Lanier University ", ''Morningside/Lenox Park Association''
/ref> The university was named in honor of

Sidney Lanier Sidney Clopton Lanier (February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881) was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catch ...

, the "poet of the Confederacy."

Design

Architect A. Ten Eyck Brown made architectural plans for the new campus in Morningside on a crescent-shaped strip of land (see illustration). At the head of this strip, at University Drive and Spring Valley Lane, would stand a replica of the Custis-Lee Mansion in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. This was built and named Arlington Hall. The University Park subdivision was developed around the university in 1921, and University Drive is also a reminder of that time.

Operations and demise

Among its faculty was

William Joseph Simmons William Joseph Simmons (May 7, 1880 – May 18, 1945) was an American preacher and fraternal organizer who founded and led the second Ku Klux Klan from Thanksgiving evening 1915 until being ousted in 1922 by Hiram Wesley Evans. Early life Simmo ...

, founder and leader of the second

. Simmons was a "professor of southern history" at Lanier. Financial problems plagued the school; in 1921, the school was sold to the

, which owned it for a year, with

Nathan Bedford Forrest II Nathan Bedford Forrest II (August 1871 – March 11, 1931) was an American businessman who served as the 19th Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans from 1919 to 1921, and as the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia. For ...

(grandson of the Confederate general by the same name) as secretary and business manager. "The central idea involved in this proposition of the operation of Lanier University by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is to do what few universities are doing in this country, and that is to teach pure Americanism," Forrest told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. "Most of our large universities now are turning out socialists, cynics, and atheists." Forrest predicted the Klan-run Lanier would enroll 1,000 to 2,000 students within a year. Instead, it failed in less time than that, closing on September 1, 1922."Lanier University Will Be Abandoned, ''Atlanta Constitution'', July 13, 1922 It was sold that October.

Synagogue

In 1949 Congregation Shearith Israel, then in Summerhill, bought the property from the estate of Walter E. King and used it as a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

. During this time Summerhill was deteriorating due to the construction of the

Downtown Connector In Downtown Atlanta, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 (pronounced "seventy-five eighty-five") is the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/ Langford Parkway interchang ...

freeway, and many Jews were moving from there to Morningside, where many would later join to fight the construction of the I-485 freeway through Morningside. Since 2009, Arlington Hall has been occupied by the Canterbury School, while the synagogue remains in buildings behind it to the east.

References

External links

"Shearith Israel Renovates.....'All Southern' Lanier University ", ''Morningside/Lenox Park Association''

"Forrest tells aims of Ku Klux College", ''New York Times'', September 12, 1921

''The Ku-Klux Klan: Hearings before the Committee on rules''
- information on faculty, curriculum, etc. after KKK acquisition of Lanier {{Authority control 1917 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1920s disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) A. Ten Eyck Brown buildings Defunct private universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Educational institutions disestablished in 1922 Universities and colleges established in 1917 History of Atlanta Jews and Judaism in Atlanta Ku Klux Klan in Georgia (U.S. state) Synagogues in Georgia (U.S. state) Universities and colleges in Atlanta White supremacy in the United States 20th-century synagogues in the United States