John P. McConnell (1866-1941)

John P. McConnell, educator, was born about eight miles north of here. He served as acting president of Milligan College in Tennessee and later taught history and economics at Emory and Henry College. An advocate of higher education for women, McConnell became the founding president of the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford in 1911. He hired faculty and designed curricula before students arrived in 1913. The school, later known as Radford University, became coeducational in 1972. McConnell was president of the Southern Educational Society, the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia, and Southwest Virginia, Inc., which promoted economic development.