In 1943, the college suspended operation for the duration of World War II, and the school buildings were used as apartments by servicemen and their families.

James Cannon Jr., pastor and later bishop of the Farmville Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was the school's first principal, serving until early 1911.

[4] Thomas Rosser Reeves, pastor of Washington Street Church in Petersburg, Virginia,[10] was BFI's principal from 1911 until 1914, when he resigned due to the death of his wife in 1912.

[4] James Cannon Jr., then returned to BFI as president, after spending several years laying the organizational foundations for what later became Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center.

[4] Gates left BCG and moved to Waynesboro, Virginia, where he purchased Fairfax Hall from the family of its founder, John Noble Maxwell, and oversaw its operation.

[12] Joseph Paul Glick then became Blackstone's president from 1936 until the college temporarily suspended operations after the 1942–1943 academic year due to World War II.

[4][13] Immediately after the war (two weeks after V-J Day), Blackstone College reopened for the 1945–1946 academic year with John Duncan Riddick as its president.

[1] Notable alumna of Blackstone include actress Bea Arthur[15] and Violeta Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua.