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Transylvania University is a private Liberal Arts College located in Lexington , Kentucky with approximately 1,100 students. HISTORY When Transylvania University was founded in 1780 it became the 16th college in the U.S. and the first west of the Allegheny Mountains . The school is named ''Transylvania'' ( Latin for "across the woods") after the heavily forested region of western Virginia that became Kentucky in 1792. It opened at Danville , Kentucky in 1785 , and did not move to Lexington until 1789 . In dire financial straits because of the American Civil War, Transylvania University merged with Kentucky University (a Christian Church school) located in Harrodsburg , KY. Kentucky University originated in 1836 in Georgetown, KY as a spinoff from Georgetown College, a Baptist supported institution. This new school was launched by former Georgetown faculty members who were aligned with the Christian Churches. Originally known as Bacon College (named after Sir Francis Bacon ), the college was recharted as Kentucky University in 1858 upon a move to donated land in Harrodsburg. During the American Civil War, Kentucky University, which was devastated by fire, and Transylvania University, near closure due to financial hardships, secured permission to merge. The new institution utilized Transylvania's campus in Lexington while perpetuating name Kentucky University. Kentucky University's College of Agriculture and Mechanics, founded in 1865 was separated as the University Of Kentucky in 1878 due to questions regarding the appropriateness of a school controlled by a religious body receiving federal funding as a Land Grant institution under the Morrill Act . Due to confusion between Kentucky University and its daughter institution the University Of Kentucky , the instituion adopted the eldest name in its lineage "Transylvania University" in the first decade of the 20th century. Kentucky University's College of the Bible (later Lexington Theological Seminary ) received its own charter in 1878 . Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz , an unrecognized genius of Botany and Zoology from Europe, became the professor of botany at Transylvania University in 1819 , teaching French and Italian as well. He started at once describing all the new species of plants and animals he encountered. In 1825 his book ''Neogenyton'', drew much criticism from fellow botanists, causing his writing further to be ignored. In the spring of 1826 he was dismissed from the university, for either having an apparent affair with the university president’s wife or for attending even fewer classes than his students. He died in 1840 in Philadelphia , unknown and penniless. His considerable collections were sold as junk or destroyed. In 1924 his remains were brought back to Transylvania University to rest in a place of honor, in a tomb marked by the epitaph ‘A life of travels’. Transylvania is also the setting for part of the famous Novel '' All The King's Men '' by Robert Penn Warren . The school is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples Of Christ) . CAMPUS Commonly referred to as "Transy," the school is located on a 35 acre (142,000 m²) campus about 4 blocks north of downtown Lexington . Academic buildings
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