But according to a contemporary history, the rabble broke through the barriers and created pandemonium, which ended only when college officials demolished the whiskey barrel with an axe. For the dedication celebration in 1824, Robinson supplied a huge barrel of whiskey, which he intended for the dignitaries in attendance. The campus took its current architectural form in the 1820s when a local merchant, "Jockey" John Robinson, an uneducated Irish immigrant, donated funds to build a central building. George Washington, the institution's first major benefactor The current statue is made of bronze the original wooden statue was restored and now resides in the library. An 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) statue of George Washington, carved by Matthew Kahle and known as Old George, was placed atop Washington Hall on the historic Colonnade in 1844 in memory of Washington's gift. In gratitude, the trustees changed the school's name to Washington Academy in 1813 it was chartered as Washington College. The gift rescued Liberty Hall from near-certain insolvency. Washington's gift continues to provide nearly $1.87 a year toward every student's tuition. The shares were originally a gift given to Washington by the Virginia General Assembly. In 1796, George Washington endowed the academy with $20,000 in the form of 100 shares of James River Canal stock, at the time one of the largest gifts ever given to an educational institution in the United States. Washington and Lee enrolled its next African-American student in 1966 in the law school. He is believed to be the first black student to enroll in higher education in the United States, although he did not receive a degree. Chavis accomplished much in his life including fighting in the American Revolution, studying at both Liberty Hall and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister, and opening a school that instructed white and poor black students in North Carolina. Liberty Hall is said to have admitted its first African-American student when John Chavis, a free black, enrolled in 1795. The academy granted its first bachelor's degree in 1785. The academy moved to Lexington in 1780, when it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy, and built its first facility near town in 1782. A number of prominent men from the area acted as its original trustees, including Andrew Lewis, Thomas Lewis, Sampson Mathews, Samuel McDowell, George Moffett, William Preston, and James Waddel. In 1776, it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of revolutionary fervor. The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 by Scots-Irish Presbyterian pioneers and soon named Augusta Academy, about 20 miles (32 km) north of its present location. It hosts 24 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams which compete as part of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA Division III). The institution consists of three academic units: the college itself the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and the School of Law. The campus is approximately 50 miles (80 km) northeast from Roanoke, 140 miles (230 km) west from the state capital of Richmond, and 180 miles (290 km) inland southwest from the national capital at Washington, D.C. Washington and Lee's 325-acre campus sits at the edge of Lexington and abuts the campus of the Virginia Military Institute in the Shenandoah Valley region between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States. Washington and Lee University ( Washington and Lee or W&L) is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia. Washington and Lee University (the United States) Show map of the United States
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