Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side One: The Florida Institute, renamed Florida Memorial College in 1918, was established on this site in 1879. It stood as a lighthouse of promise for generations of African Americans. After the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, there were few opportunities for African Americans pursuing an education. The Black Baptists of Florida petitioned the American Baptist Home Mission Society to establish a co-educational school in Florida to educate ministers and teachers. In October 1879, the Education Board of the Bethlehem Baptist Association met in Gainesville to establish a school in Live Oak. The Board awarded $600 for construction, hired teachers, and established a curriculum. The Rev. J.L. Fish was appointed president, and his wife, Ada Fish, served as a teacher. Nine members were appointed to the school’s Board of Trustees, including Dr. Henry Morehouse, founder of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The Florida Institute opened in Live Oak in 1880, and offered students a 40-week term costing $1 for every four weeks of attendance. By 1884, the school had grown to consist of ten acres of land, classrooms, dormitories, an office, an auditorium, and the president’s residence. Side Two: In the early 1920s, the General Baptist Convention moved Florida Baptist Academy, a sister school to Florida Memorial College, from Jacksonville to St. Augustine and renamed it the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. It became an instant rival with Florida Memorial College when competing for philanthropic support. During this time, Florida Memorial College was plagued by low enrollment and financial limitations, and its administration building was destroyed by fire. In 1941, the General Baptist Convention voted to merge Florida Memorial College with Florida Normal and Industrial Institute into Florida Memorial University, and relocated to south Florida. The buildings that remained on this site were sold at public auction in 1948; the proceeds were used to build Suwannee County’s first public hospital. Florida Memorial University is a private, co-educational institution offering thirty undergraduate and graduate degree programs, located in Miami Gardens. The university is the only HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in south Florida, and is one of the thirty-nine member institutions of the United Negro College Fund.