[2] Soule University began as 'Chappell Hill Institute', a private preparatory school informally established during or before 1850.

[2][3] The Methodists had been seeking a replacement for the financially unstable and scandal-ridden Rutersville College and identified Chappell Hill as the site for a new institution of higher education.

[3] Soule closed in 1861 at the start of the American Civil War with most students joining the Confederate States Army.

The economy of the Chappell Hill area was devastated after the war, limiting the university's sources of funding.

When an outbreak of yellow fever in Chappell Hill grew into two epidemics, Soule's student population dropped precipitously and never recovered.

[3] Local supporters in Chappell Hill kept Soule open for over a decade after the school's charter was transferred to Southwestern.

[3] A chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity was chartered in 1861 before the university closed at the start of the Civil War.