Franconia College

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Franconia College was a small liberal arts college in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States. It opened in 1965 in a former resort hotel on Agassiz Road, and closed in 1978, after years of declining enrollment and increasing financial difficulties.

A small, eclectic faculty provided a diverse education. Franconia College became well-known in 1970, when 23-year-old Leon Botstein became the youngest college president in the country. The largest entering class in 1972 had 400 students. Areas of studies included the fine arts, architecture, performing arts, languages, law, and business. During the 1960s, the college played a small part in the Space Race.

Franconia College became notorious in the late 1960s when William Loeb, publisher of the Manchester Union Leader, vilified the students for behavior that included unmarried persons of the opposite sex sleeping together. The headline "Bare Debauchery" made the front page of the newspaper; a smaller headline announced the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Situated north of the White Mountain National Forest, the college provided easy access for students to the outdoor sporting activities for which the North Country is most famous.

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