Memphis’ Rhodes College was founded in 1848 as the Masonic University of Tennessee. Two years later, the name was changed to Stewart College after the president at the time, William M. Stewart.
In 1855, the Presbyterian Church took control and established a school of theology, resulting in the name Southwestern Presbyterian University.
The name was then condensed to Southwestern when President Charles Diehl transferred the school to Memphis in the 1920s, but it was changed again 20 years later to Southwestern at Memphis.
In honor of former president Peyton Nalle Rhodes, the college was renamed Rhodes College in the 1980s.
– Amanda Fox, The 100 Companies