by Wesley Harris
Ruston’s longstanding dedication to educational excellence began with visionary pioneers and continues today through the efforts of those who followed their example. Before the steel beams, research labs, and sprawling grounds of Louisiana Tech University, there was Ruston College.
Modest in scale, ambitious in spirit, and now nearly forgotten, this faith-led institution of the 1880s planted the roots of higher education in Ruston, preparing the way for what would become Louisiana Tech.
The story begins in 1884, when Ruston was just becoming a town, mostly filled by
transplants from north Louisiana towns like Homer and Vienna and Mt. Lebanon that had embraced education as a means to a better life.
Ruston College arrived just as the new town received official recognition. Established first as the Ruston Male and Female Academy, founder Reverend W. C. Friley, a Southern Baptist pastor, envisioned a Christian institution serving the region’s youth.
Operating for roughly twelve years, Ruston College averaged about 250 students annually and offered both classical and religious instruction. The campus was on the site of Ruston’s current civic center with most of its facilities housed in a massive, rambling two-story structure.
One professor at Ruston College, C. Edwin Ives, described the campus as a grade school, high school, and college all rolled into one institution.
Many of the teachers in surrounding parishes received their education at Ruston College. My own great grandfather, Christopher Columbus Liner, attended Ruston College before he was licensed to teach school in Jackson Parish.
Ruston College represented an early commitment to offering classic and religious instruction to north Louisiana towns that sought educational opportunities. But it faced immense challenges. Funding came through tuition which fluctuated with enrollment. Sustaining a small private college was difficult in that era.
In 1888, Friley left to serve in leadership roles at other colleges. He was succeeded by Professor Thomas Summer Sligh, a seasoned educator from the Masonic Female Institute of Homer, Louisiana. Sligh’s wife, an accomplished mathematician, was also highly regarded for her scholarship. The Slighs were heavily involved in promoting education in north Louisiana, participating in teacher training conferences and educational associations.
In 1893, Sligh was succeeded by Professor G. W. Eichelberger, who was presiding when the college’s main building burned on December 26, 1893. At the time, about 160 students were enrolled.
Officials hustled to find alternative classroom space among other campus buildings and churches in Ruston. In 1894, Professor M. W. Hatton of Missouri took charge as Ruston College’s head. Local newspapers praised him as a brilliant young educator with “indefatigable energy.” Yet despite his leadership, enrollment fell to fewer than 100 students in 1894.
The school’s struggles while contemplating a new facility planted an idea in the minds of local leaders—that Ruston deserved a durable institution of higher learning.
Leaders took action to establish a tuition-free state institution in Ruston. On May 14, 1894, the Lincoln Parish Police Jury called upon State Representative George M. Lomax to champion such a school. Just weeks later, on July 6, 1894, the Louisiana Legislature approved Act 68, creating the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana. The act envisioned a school that would educate young people in the arts and sciences.
Francis P. Stubbs donated 20 acres for the new campus, and Col. Arthur T. Prescott was named the first president. Under his leadership, the first two-story brick “Old Main” building was constructed, complete with classrooms, auditorium, laboratory, and reading room. A nearby frame structure housed mechanical instruction.
What was later renamed Louisiana Industrial Institute, and even later Louisiana Tech, opened its doors in September 1895 with six faculty members offering a free education. Ruston College, still rebuilding, managed to reopen briefly that fall with about 100 students in a new facility. But the competition proved overwhelming. After the fall semester of 1895, newspapers no longer mentioned Ruston College. By 1896, it had closed permanently, though one of its buildings continued in use as a dormitory for the Industrial Institute.
Over the decades, the institution grew and changed. In 1898 it was renamed Louisiana Industrial Institute. In 1921, it became Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, reflecting broader academic offerings. Finally, in 1970, it evolved into Louisiana Tech University, a full-fledged research university. From its 20-acre start, the campus expanded to thousands of acres, with enrollment and academic programs multiplying to match.
Though many know Louisiana Tech today as a leading research university, proud of its engineering, technology, and science credentials, it is worth remembering that the institution’s roots include not just state legislation and industrial ambition—but a small, idealistic private college that dared to plant a seed in the soil of Ruston.
Ruston College left behind an enduring idea: that Ruston—a growing railroad town in Lincoln Parish—deserved a lasting center of higher learning. The buildings are gone, but the memory of Ruston College endures as the seed from which Tech ultimately grew. Ruston College may be forgotten in name, but its spirit continues to live on in the ambitions of Louisiana Tech University.
