Romney Classical Institute

Romney Classical Institute
Romney Classical Institute
Address
	East Main Street (Northwestern Turnpike); Romney, Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia); United States
Coordinates	39°20′26″N 78°45′07″W / 39.340575°N 78.752048°W
Information
Established	December 12, 1846
Closed	Shuttered during the American Civil War (1861–65); Closed after 1866
Oversight	Romney Literary Society (1846–1861); Joseph Nelson (1861–1865)
Principals	William Henry Foote (1846–49); E. J. Meany (1850–51); John Jeremiah Jacob (1851–53); William C. Clayton (1853, 1866); Joseph Nelson (1853–65);
Assistant Principals	John Jeremiah Jacob (1849–51)
Faculty	Mr. Dinwiddie; John Jeremiah Jacob; Joseph Nelson;
Campus	present-day West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind
Campus size	15 acres (0.061 km2)

Romney Classical Institute was a 19th-century coeducational collegiate preparatory school in Romney, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), between 1846 and shortly after 1866. Romney had previously been served by Romney Academy, but by 1831 the school had outgrown its facilities. The Virginia General Assembly permitted the Romney Literary Society to raise funds for a new school through a lottery. On December 12, 1846, the assembly established the school and empowered the society with its operation.

From 1846 to 1849, the institute was directed by Presbyterian Reverend William Henry Foote, who had been a teacher and principal at Romney Academy. In 1849, when the Romney Literary Society revamped the operating code and bylaws for the institute, Foote took offense; he established a rival school, Potomac Seminary, the next year. Professor E. J. Meany succeeded Foote, and was followed by eventual West Virginia governor John Jeremiah Jacob in 1851. Presbyterian Reverend Joseph Nelson replaced Jacob in 1853 and purchased the institute in 1861.

The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute went on hiatus during the American Civil War. Nelson revived the school and was succeeded in 1866 by William C. Clayton, who later served in the West Virginia Senate; the institute was disestablished shortly thereafter. In 1870, the reorganized Romney Literary Society transferred the institute's building and grounds to the state of West Virginia for the approved West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. The schools opened on September 29, 1870, and are still in operation today. However, the former institute building was destroyed by fire on February 26, 2022. In addition to Jacob and Clayton, Robert White, Attorney General of West Virginia, was an alumnus of the institute.