Point University reached another milestone in West Point on Wednesday and this time the public gets to share in the rewards.
The campus coffee shop, campus store and cafeteria opened to the public with a ribbon cutting with a slew of local officials.
“We are honored to have you call West Point home,” said Elinor Crowder, president of the Valley Area Chamber of Commerce.
The opening gives residents of the area another dining option – food in the cafeteria is provided by Kimble’s of LaGrange.
It also gives the city its own coffee shop.
The coffee shop is named for professor Roy McKinney, a former geology and Old Testament professor at the school when it was known as Atlanta Christian College and based in East Point. College President Dean Collins said McKinney loved having coffee with his students to debate the issues and the coffee shop at the former campus also was named for him.
McKinney’s wife, Betty Jo, was on hand for the opening of the new coffee shop and created a stained glass sign with “McKinney’s Coffee Shop” on it that hangs over the bar.
Collins said he actually remembers the building where the new campus offerings are located, at 817 3rd Ave., as Sneadle’s Furniture Store, when he visited West Point in the 70s as a student at Atlanta Christian College.
“I had long hair and a bushy beard and (Sneadle) didn’t like me much,” Collins said. “Toward the end of his life, he came to like me, so I think he’d be proud that we’re here.”
Collins said the college chose to have the facilities be open to the public so that students could interact with the community and have a “real life” context for their education.
“It’s also a service to the community,” he said.
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