Austin Peay State University

A college left town, and the town fought to replace it. When the Presbyterian Synod moved Southwestern to Memphis in 1925, Montgomery Countians pushed for a state normal school in the empty buildings, and on August 4, 1927, the Presbyterians deeded the thirty-acre campus to the state. The bill called for training white teachers for the rural schools. Peay died that October, and his name went on the school, which opened on September 23, 1929. It became a college in 1943.

What the plaque says

Austin Peay State University Established in 1927 as a normal school named for one of Tennessee's governors, its present title dates from 1966. The seven educational institutions preceding it here were: Rural Academy, 1806-10; Mt. Pleasant Academy, 1811-24; Clarksville Academy, 1825-48; Masonic College of Tennessee, 1849-50; Montgomery Masonic College, 1851-54; Stewart College, 1855-74; Southwestern Presbyterian University, 1875-1925.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center — 1.2 mi
  An intact earthwork fort above the Cumberland and Red Rivers in Clarksville, begun with forced Black labor and later a contraband camp and recruiting center for Black soldiers.
• Dunbar Cave State Park — 3.2 mi
  A Clarksville cave with 800-year-old Mississippian artwork, later a resort and Roy Acuff's dance stage, now a state park with seasonal guided tours.
• Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge — 25 mi
  An 8,862-acre refuge on the Cumberland River floodplain near Dover, made in 1962 to replace habitat Lake Barkley flooded, wintering tens of thousands of waterfowl.

More markers nearby

• Robert Loftin Newman — steps away
• Trinity Episcopal Church — 0.3 mi
• Clarence Cameron White — 0.4 mi
• Burt High School — 0.4 mi