JACKSON, Tenn. — March 6, 2023 — Union University leaders celebrated the historical marker, commemorating Union University’s bicentennial anniversary at the location of its original campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The historical marker ceremony was hosted on March 2 at the Central Magnet School campus.
Union University, the oldest institution affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, was chartered by the Baptist General Association of Tennessee in 1848. The school’s buildings were used as hospitals for armies during the Civil War, but as a cholera epidemic broke out around the South, the Murfreesboro institution was forced to close in the 1870s.
In 1907, trustees of Southwestern Baptist University in Jackson chose to rename the institution “Union University” in honor of the Murfreesboro school.
“The historical marker helps us honor those who came before us at Union University,” said Keaghlan Sheridan, director of alumni relations at Union University. “The marker reminds us of Union’s long history and of the influence it has had in both the Jackson community and middle Tennessee community.”
Prior to the historical marker ceremony, Union University leaders and alumni gathered at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville to pray for the university and to praise the Lord for his faithfulness in Union’s 200-year history.
Union continued its bicentennial celebration in Nashville on March 2 with an alumni social event at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, where UU alumni of all generations gathered together in celebration and fellowship.
“It is beautiful for us to see multiple generations of Union alumni worshipping, praying and fellowshipping together,” Sheridan said. “The heart of Union’s Office of Institutional Advancement is for alumni to feel valued, seen, known and appreciated as they live and work around the world, and [this event] is just one of the ways we hope to celebrate their legacy.”
To learn more about upcoming bicentennial events at Union University, visit uu.edu/200/present/.