Oxford College was built one mile north of Covington, Georgia, as "Emory College" by the Georgia Methodist Conference in 1836, when they granted Ignatius Alphonso Few a charter to open a college named after the late Methodist bishop John Emory. Three years later, the Georgia state legislature incorporated the land around the college into a newly chartered city named after the University of Oxford, the "alma mater" of the founders of the Methodist movement. In the beginning of the 20th century, Emory College received a monetary and land grant from Asa Griggs Candler, then-president of The Coca-Cola Company, and moved its operations to Druid Hills, adjacent to Atlanta. Afterward, the Oxford campus continued to be used as a college preparatory school, junior college, four-year college, and finally the two-year Emory liberal arts program known today as Oxford College.