 The energetic efforts of local leaders established the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College (later Georgia Military College) in 1879 on Statehouse Square.Where the crumbling remains of the old penitentiary stood, Georgia Normal and Industrial College (later Georgia College & State University) was founded in 1889.In part because of these institutions, as well as Central State Hospital, Milledgeville developed as a less provincial town than many of its neighbors.