SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Missouri Baptist Convention renamed Hannibal-LaGrange College on Oct. 26 to Hannibal-LaGrange University after alumni campaigned to retain the “LaGrange” part of the moniker.
Messengers to the convention’s annual meeting, gathering in Springfield, voted 593–360 to amend a motion presented on behalf of the school’s trustees. The trustees had proposed changing the name of the four-year liberal-arts college with about 1,150 students to the University of Hannibal. The amendment re-inserted the historic “LaGrange” reference into the name of the school, currently based in Hannibal.
After the ballot the school’s president and trustee chairman stepped forward to tell messengers they also would accept the amendment. A second public vote passed nearly unanimously.
Founded in 1858 in the Mississippi River town of LaGrange, Mo., the La Grange Male and Female College flourished until the Civil War but afterward struggled to recover from debt. In 1928 the institution merged with Hannibal College and moved 30 miles downriver to Hannibal, where it became known as Hannibal-LaGrange College.
Hannibal-LaGrange is one of four colleges historically affiliated with the convention.
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