Pfeiffer University

Pfeiffer University is a private university in the village of Misenheimer near Richfield, North Carolina that is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.HistoryPfeiffer originated from a home school operated by Miss Emily Prudden in the late 19th century. The school first began operation on the outskirts of Hudson, North Carolina, on Lick Mountain in Caldwell County, North Carolina. University archivist Jonathan Hutchinson said in 2013, "Our accepted founding date is 1885," referring to the date Prudden's first school began, "but Emily probably started the school in about 1898." The school was called Oberlin, after John Frederick Oberlin, a French priest noted for his social improvement in the Alsace Region of France. The school was later endowed by Mrs. Mary P. Mitchell, and the name was changed to the Mitchell School.A fire destroyed the school in 1907 and it moved to the nearby town of Lenoir, North Carolina. As that location proved inadequate, the school again relocated in 1910, this time to its current location in Misenheimer. The Mitchell School began awarding high school diplomas in 1913. In 1928 the school began offering junior college classes and was accredited as such in 1934. It was that year that the Pfeiffer family of New York City gave generous financial gifts to the school for construction of new buildings, and it was then that the name Pfeiffer Junior College was used.During the 1950s the school began offering senior college courses. The four-year Pfeiffer College was accredited in 1960 during the administration of Dr. J. Lem Stokes II, President. Pfeiffer opened a satellite campus in Charlotte, approximately forty miles away, in 1977. In 1996 the college's trustees voted to re-organize to achieve university status, and the current name of Pfeiffer University was adopted.