Old LSU Site, Educational landmark in Pineville, Louisiana

The Old LSU Site in Pineville, Louisiana, preserves the location of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy, whose main building was completed in November 1859. The seminary opened on January 2, 1860, with five professors and 19 cadets under superintendent William Tecumseh Sherman. The school moved to Baton Rouge in 1869 and became Louisiana State University in 1870.

The main building was finished in November 1859, and the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy opened on January 2, 1860, with five professors and 19 cadets under superintendent William Tecumseh Sherman. After Louisiana seceded in January 1861, Sherman resigned, and in April 1861 students and faculty began enlisting in the Confederate military; the seminary closed on June 30, 1861. It reopened on April 1, 1862, under Rev. W.E.M. Linfield, and moved to Baton Rouge on November 1, 1869.

Cadets at the seminary were called "beneficiary" cadets, and the state legislature funded scholarships covering their boarding costs. The student body eventually reached 73, well below the 150 cadets the legislature permitted. The school's official French name was le Lycee Scientifique et Militaire de l'Etat de la Louisiane.

The site is protected as a registered historic location and open to visitors interested in educational history. You can walk the grounds and examine the remaining structures to understand the campus layout from that era.

When Louisiana separated from the Union in 1861, numerous students and faculty members left the seminary to join Confederate military forces.