Presidents of Georgetown College
Augustus Cleveland Davidson 1893-1898
Davidson was born in Franklin Co., Missouri, December 3, 1846. He was the son of Samuel M. and America A. Davidson. He earned B.A., M.A. degrees from Georgetown College in 1871, 1874 respectively. He received honorary D.D., LL.D degrees in 1886, 1904, and 1920 from Howard College and his Alma Mater. On November 17, 1874, he married Elizabeth Stevenson Keene in Georgetown, Kentucky. They had four children: Mattie C. (Mrs. T.F. Seale), Allan Keene, Marion Tabb, and Harry Frazer. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1871, and pastored churches in Eminence, Ky. (1871-76), Bloomington, Indiana (1876-79), Aurora, Indiana (1879-84), Marion, Alabama (1884-87), First Baptist Church, Covington, Kentucky, (1887-93). He was president of Georgetown College, 1893-98, and then served as pastor at South Side Church, Birmingham, Ala. (1898-1906), Murfreesboro, Tennessee (1906-08), First Baptist Church, Covington, Kentucky (1908-12), Livingston, Alabama (1912); then became pastor emeritus and 5th Sunday pastor. He was dean of the Alabama Baptist Preaching School. He died March 31, 1938.
During Davidson’s tenure as president, Georgetown College underwent the largest building program of its history, which included the first women’s dormitory (Rucker Hall) and a building that housed the library, chapel, literary society, and gymnasium. The college also entered the arena of intercollegiate athletics by fielding a football team, and in 1893, women began attending with the men.
