Madison College

Ellen White had much to do with locating the site for Madison College in 1904. She had been telling her colleagues that the school must be near Nashville, Tennessee. When a 400-acre property in Madison, seventeen miles from Nashville, became available for about $12,000, she asked to see it. Though some were not impressed, she reported that “it was a favorable location for the work” and must be purchased. ^{23Bio., vol. 5, p. 345.}MOL 356.4

Madison College was the only institution on which Mrs. White served as a member of the board of directors. She wanted to make sure that the bitter lessons learned at Battle Creek and the new school at Berrien Springs, Michigan, would not be repeated at Madison. One of the clear goals of the founders, Edward A. Sutherland and Percy T. Magan, was that “the more closely conditions in the school approximated the conditions students would face when they went out to teach, the more easily would they adjust to their vocations.” ^{24Schwarz, Light Bearers, p. 246. See Ira Gish and Harry Christman, Madison: God’s Beautiful Farm (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979).}MOL 356.5

Perhaps for the first time, student labor, rather than cash, was accepted for tuition. All the staff and faculty worked with the students in developing industries that would provide income. The vast majority of the student body expected to serve in some capacity in the rural South. By 1915, thirty-nine of these self-supporting schools had been developed by Madison College graduates. ^{25Schwarz, Light Bearers, pp. 244-247.}MOL 356.6