Origins of Shenandoah University

Dayton is the birthplace of Shenandoah University, which traces its origins to a school established by the Rev. Abram P. Funkhouser in 1875. Known in its early years as Shenandoah Seminary, the coeducational institution benefited from the support of the Virginia Annual Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, which took formal ownership in 1884. The school's name changed periodically as it evolved from a high school to a junior college to a four-year institution. In 1960, Shenandoah College and the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music (which had originated as the college’s music department) moved to Winchester. They reunited in 1974 and became Shenandoah University in 1991.

Department of Historic Resources, 2019