Queen's College

In the record (7)

1. 1770

   In 1770 the North Carolina Colonial Assembly passed legislation for 'the founding, establishing, and endowing of Queen's College, in the Town of Charlotte,' funded in part by a tax on spirituous liquors in Mecklenburg County; Governor William Tryon, grateful to Presbyterians who had aided him during the Regulator conflict, ratified the charter on January 15, 1771.

   Elizabeth CollegeWilliam Tryon

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

2. 1771

   Queen's College opened operating out of a building erected by Thomas Polk at the southeast corner of South Tryon and Third Streets in Charlotte, with advertisements for the college appearing in newspapers beginning July 1771; the college operated through 1771-1772 without final royal approval of its charter, with Edmund Fanning (Yale 1757, Harvard 1764) nominally selected as president, though he likely never served due to his role suppressing the Regulator Movement.

   Elizabeth CollegeThomas PolkWilliam TryonEdmund Fanning

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

3. 1772

   King George III disallowed the charter of Queen's College in 1772, reportedly doubting the wisdom of formally chartering a Scots-Irish Presbyterian institution in the backcountry for fear it would perpetuate anti-royalist, dissenting sentiment; news of the royal rejection reached North Carolina in June 1773, effectively ending the initial chartering effort.

   Elizabeth CollegeKing George

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

4. 1773

   Despite lacking a royal charter, Queen's College's trustees continued to operate the school informally under the name 'Queen's Museum,' and in January 1773 inhabitants of Rowan and Mecklenburg counties petitioned to establish a 'public Seminary of Learning in the Western part of this Province,' though this second attempt produced little formal result.

   Harding High SchoolSecond Ward High SchoolCentral High SchoolElizabeth CollegeMint Museum of ArtLevine Museum of the New SouthHarvey B. Gantt CenterNASCAR Hall of Fame

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

5. 1776

   After independence was declared, the school in Charlotte formerly known as Queen's College/Queen's Museum became known as Liberty Hall Academy; its trustees supported the revolutionary cause, and notable students there reportedly included future North Carolina governor William R. Davie and future U.S. President Andrew Jackson.

   Harding High SchoolSecond Ward High SchoolCentral High SchoolElizabeth CollegeMint Museum of ArtLevine Museum of the New SouthHarvey B. Gantt CenterNASCAR Hall of FameAndrew JacksonWilliam R. Davie

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

6. 1777

   The North Carolina legislature granted the Charlotte academy a proper charter in 1777, after American independence had been declared, formalizing what had operated informally as Queen's Museum/Liberty Hall Academy since the crown's 1772 disallowance.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Mint Museum of ArtLevine Museum of the New SouthHarvey B. Gantt CenterNASCAR Hall of Fame

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

7. 1784

   Liberty Hall Academy relocated from Charlotte to Salisbury in 1784, effectively ending the operation of Charlotte's colonial-era institution of higher learning; the modern Queens University of Charlotte, founded separately in 1857 as the Charlotte Female Institute, later adopted the name 'Queens College' in 1912 to commemorate the original 1771 institution, though it is not a direct institutional continuation.

   Elizabeth College

   Source · checked 2026-08-13