campus, eventually recommending Jackson. Their recommendation included taking over the endowment and campus of West Tennessee College.
The Tennessee General Assembly issued a charter for a new school, Southwestern Baptist University, in June 1875. Southwestern Baptist University opened in October 1875 in Jackson. It was a preparatory school the first year, adding college courses for its second year. Many of Southwestern's early faculty and trustees were alumni or former faculty of Union University.
In 1907, Southwestern trustee T. T. Eaton left his 6,000-volume library to the college. Eaton was a former professor of Union University, where his father, Joseph H. Eaton, was a former president. On September 17, 1907, Southwestern changed its name to Union University to honor the Eatons and others from Union at Murfreesboro who had affected Southwestern as faculty, administrators, trustees, and contributors.
In 1925, the Tennessee Baptist Convention secured a charter that vested the rights, authority, and property …
