Montreat College

Montreat College is a private, four year, liberal arts Christian college located in Montreat, North Carolina. Montreat College has a beautiful campus with most buildings built out of stone. Montreat's student body consists of around 400 undergraduate students.

The beauty and tranquility of the Blue Ridge Mountains led Congregationalist minister John C. Collins to form the Mountain Retreat Association in 1897 “for the encouragement of Christian work and living through Christian convention, public worship, missionary work, schools, and libraries.” By 1907, J. R. Howerton of Charlotte, North Carolina, conceived and carried out the idea of purchasing Montreat for the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Then, in 1913, Dr. Robert C. Anderson, president of the Mountain Retreat Association, proposed that the grounds and facilities of the Association be used for a school during the academic year. In 1915, the General Assembly decreed “that the property of the Mountain Retreat Association be used for a Normal School and that the establishment of the school be referred to the Synods.”

The Synods of Appalachia, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia elected trustees who met in Montreat on May 2, 1916, and elected Dr. Robert F. Campbell of Asheville, NC, chairman, Mr. W. T. Thompson Jr. of Knoxville, TN, secretary, and Ruling Elder T. S. Morrison of Asheville, NC, treasurer. The Montreat Normal School, a four-year preparatory and two-year college combination, opened its first session in October 1916 with eight students. Montreat Normal School continued to grow over the years. Throughout times of war, economic fluctuations, and rapid social change, the school sought to provide a Christian setting in which to prepare young women to become teachers.

In 1934, during Dr. Robert C. Anderson’s tenure as president, Montreat Normal School (College Department) was renamed Montreat College. The college grew as its academic program expanded. It began a four-year degree program in 1945. After 14 years as a four-year women’s college, the college was restructured in 1959 as a coeducational junior college and was given a new name, Montreat-Anderson College.

Montreat College is a private, four year, liberal arts Christian college located in Montreat, North Carolina. Montreat College has a beautiful campus with most buildings built out of stone. Montreat's student body consists of around 400 undergraduate students.

The beauty and tranquility of the Blue Ridge Mountains led Congregationalist minister John C. Collins to form the Mountain Retreat Association in 1897 “for the encouragement of Christian work and living through Christian convention, public worship, missionary work, schools, and libraries.” By 1907, J. R. Howerton of Charlotte, North Carolina, conceived and carried out the idea of purchasing Montreat for the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Then, in 1913, Dr. Robert C. Anderson, president of the Mountain Retreat Association, proposed that the grounds and facilities of the Association be used for a school during the academic year. In 1915, the General Assembly decreed “that the property of the Mountain Retreat Association be used for a Normal School and that the establishment of the school be referred to the Synods.”