Gardner-Webb University is a leading regional Christian university with a distinguished history. In 1905, representatives from the Kings Mountain and Sandy Run Baptist Associations voted to create a high school in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. The school opened in 1907, and a junior college program was added in 1928. By World War II, the high school program had been phased out. In 1942, the school changed its name from Boiling Springs Junior College to Gardner-Webb College in honor of former North Carolina Gov. O. Max Gardner and his wife, Fay Webb Gardner. The university is proud of its long line of successful presidents. Under the leadership of Dr. Philip L. Elliott, the institution's first long-term president, the student body grew, the campus was expanded, and the school joined the family of colleges supported by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Today, Gardner-Webb offers both undergraduate and graduate studies in an idyllic Southern setting.