In the early 1880s, Captain A.M. Reinhardt and his brother-in-law John J.A. Sharp saw the need for an outstanding school in Waleska – one that would give students an opportunity to advance beyond the primary grades. A devout Methodist who cared about the spiritual and intellectual growth of young people, Captain Reinhardt asked the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church for help in establishing a school to provide basic instruction in the liberal arts. The Conference chartered the new school in 1883, naming the Reverend James T. Linn as its first teacher and president. In January 1884, the institution started classes for 12 students in an old cabinet and wood shop.
Reinhardt Academy, as the school was then called, provided instruction for all ages and grade levels and a curriculum designed to train teachers and ministers. The academy gradually evolved into a privately supported two-year college and was accredited to offer associate degrees as a Level I institution by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1953. In 1994, the Commission on Colleges accredited Reinhardt as a Level II institution, and that same year, the school awarded the first bachelor’s degrees in business administration.
Like its founding fathers, Reinhardt continues to respond to the educational needs of North Georgia. On June 1, 2010, Reinhardt College became Reinhardt University. As a comprehensive university firmly grounded in the liberal arts, Reinhardt University offers instruction to men and women in a Christian environment at its main campus in the city of Waleska, Georgia, and in various other locations in the state of Georgia.