Concord University

Chartered February 28, 1872 as a branch of the West Virginia Normal School, Concord State Normal School first opened for classes May 10, 1875 on the grounds now occupied by the Athens public schools. After 40 years, the Normal School relocated across town to its present campus in 1912.

With continued growth in the physical plant, the student body enrollment, the faculty, the curriculum and its mission, the school awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1923, and by 1927, students seeking A. B. degrees outnumbered students seeking two-year “standard normal” diplomas for the first time in the school’s history.

To reflect changes in the school’s mission, the Legislature changed the name of the institution on three occasions, first from Concord State Normal School to Concord State Teachers College in 1931, then to Concord College in 1943, and finally to Concord University in 2004. Prior to these name changes, it is interesting to note that as early as 1923, the State Board of Control had proposed the new name Athens College.