"M" is for Mount Zion College

"M" is for Mount Zion College. Established in 1777 by a group of men calling themselves the Mount Sion Society, the institution started in a small log building as an all-grades school in Winnsboro. In 1785, the General Assembly chartered three colleges—one of which was Mount Zion College. The all-male school flourished throughout the antebellum period as a strictly disciplined, academically challenging academy whose graduates were well prepared for admission to southern colleges. After the Civil War, the school was re-established as Mt. Zion Collegiate Institute—the first graded public school in the state outside Charleston. In 1953 the Mt. Zion Society relinquished its title to the school lands and the school became part of a consolidated county school system. The 183rd and final commencement for graduates of Mt. Zion Institute were held in 1960.