VA-V30 Proposed First University in English America

Marker text: PROPOSED FIRST UNIVERSITY IN ENGLISH AMERICA

A "University and College" was authorized by the Virginia Company charter of 1618 at Henrico Town but never opened. Some 10,000 acres on the James River upstream from the twon were to provide agricultural income for the school. The college's mission was to Christianize Indian children and train them in "true Religion moral virtue and Civility." The Anglo-Powhatan War that began in 1622, the revocation of the Virginia Company's charter in 1624, and the lack of royal support for the project delayed the plans for Virginia's first college until 1693 when the College of William and Mary was established.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998