September 18, 1890

Hendrix College, which had been known as Central Collegiate Institute since its establishment fourteen years earlier as an ungraded school in Altus (Franklin County), formally opened its academic year after having been relocated to Conway (Faulkner County) by vote of the board of trustees the previous spring. Bidding for selection as the new site was based on pledges of financial support and land and was hotly contested by several Arkansas cities. From an initial enrollment of twenty pupils in 1876, the school has grown into one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the nation.