The New International Encyclopædia/Washington and Lee University

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. An undenominational institution of learning at Lexington, Va., established as the Augusta Academy in 1749 and chartered in 1782. The first considerable amount of money received by the school was that given by George Washington, which still yields an annual income of $3000 to the university. The name was in consequence changed to Washington Academy. In 1802 the Cincinnati Society, on dissolving the organization, appropriated the residue of their funds to the institution. Gen. Robert E. Lee was made president of the college in 1865, and during an administration of five years wielded great power for good with the students. After his death the corporate name of the institution was changed in 1871 to its present title, and in the same year Gen. G. W. Custis Lee succeeded his father as president, resigning in 1897. His successor was William Lyne Wilson, former Postmaster-General of the United States, who died in 1900. The following year George Hutcheson Denny, LL.D., was elected to the vacant position. The university is divided into three schools, of Arts, Engineering, and Law, with courses leading to the degrees of B.A., B.S., and LL.B. It accepts the certificates of accredited schools in lieu of the entrance examination and offers a number of free scholarships and a university fellowship. In 1903 it had a faculty of 22; 302 students; an endowment of $750,000. with an income of $50,000; and property valued at $400,000, including buildings and grounds worth $250,000. The library numbered 40,000 volumes.