Toccoa Falls College

In 1907, Toccoa Falls College was founded by Richard A. Forrest in the community of Golden Valley, North Carolina , as the Golden Valley Institute. On January 1, 1911, Forrest put $10.00 down on the $25,000.00 purchase price for the Haddock Inn and 100 acres (400,000 m 2 ) of land in northeast Georgia. In October, he relocated the school to near Toccoa, Georgia , in order to be near a mainline railroad. He renamed the school Toccoa Falls Institute and added secondary school courses to the theological classes. A 1913 fire destroyed the Haddock Inn, which was the classroom and residence building. After operating in tents for a time, the school built a new campus. In 1928 the secondary courses were reorganized, and the state of Georgia accredited it as Toccoa Falls High School, which remained open until 1976. In 1937, the state chartered the four-year college program and allowed it to grant the degree Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Education. [ 1 ] Dam break disaster Main article: Kelly Barnes Dam On November 6, 1977, the Kelly Barnes Dam, which had been built up and used by the college for electrical power since the Toccoa Falls Institute days, collapsed. The 40-acre (160,000 m 2 ) lake it impounded drained through the lower part of the campus. The resulting flood killed 39 people and injured 60, [ 2 ] as well as destroying much of the on-campus married student housing and damaging part of the men's dormitory. The dam was never rebuilt. With the destruction of the dam and the subsequent draining of the lake, there exists no possibility of a similar flood. [ 3 ]

Toccoa Falls The current president, Robert Myers, became the seventh president of the college in 2012. On January 12, 2009, Gate Cottage, one of the most historic buildings on campus, was destroyed by fire. The cottage had been built in 1939 and was the fourth oldest building on campus. No one was in the building at the time of the fire. Gate Cottage has been rebuilt with a bigger gift shop and dining area for various occasions, but without the School of Counseling, which was relocated to a new location between the Mission Building and Bandy Hall.

Main article: Toccoa Falls With a vertical drop of 186 feet (57 m) , Toccoa Falls , located on the college campus, stands as one of the tallest free-falling waterfalls in the eastern United States. The waterfall was purchased in 1907 as part of the campus of Toccoa Falls College and stands today as the distinguishing landmark of the college. Locals commonly refer to it as "The Falls."

Toccoa Falls College consists of four schools (School of Christian Ministries, School of Arts and Sciences, School of Professional Studies, and the Fetterman School of Nursing) with a total of ten departments. Within these departments, 35 majors and 43 minors are offered. [ 4 ] The Seby Jones Library is the primary academic library on campus.