The now-closed Hiwassee College campus in Madisonville, Tn. — where a number of Chattanooga area residents formerly attended college over the years — has been sold.
The Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church announced in a story in its newspaper, The Call, that the 284-acre property has been sold to Bruderhof, an international Christian communal organization.
The story said the group plans to refurbish the campus and operate a community of families, who will live in former dormitories.
An elementary school will also be housed in the former Science Building, and a workshop is also planned for the site. All the buildings are scheduled to be refurbished, and as many as 250 people are likely to live on the former college campus in the coming years, the article added.
Due to financial problems and declining enrollment in recent years, the college closed in May 2019. It had operated as a United Methodist Church-affiliated private liberal arts school for 170 years.
Bruderhof, which means “place of brothers” in German, is a religious group in the Anabaptist tradition. Approximately 28 settlements are found on four different continents, and the group tries to live as early Christians through shared income and service to others, the article said.
Due to an agreement with both parties, the sale price was not disclosed, the story added.
Various Hiwasee College archival materials and records have already been removed.
To see a story written in
chattanoogan.com in 2019 when the last graduation was held at Hiwassee, read
here.