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Old Main
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| Location: | 21st St. and Upland Ave., Upland, Pennsylvania |
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| Area: | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built: | 1857 |
| Architectural style: | Italianate |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 73001626[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | June 18, 1973 |
The Crozer Theological Seminary was a multi-denominational religious institution located in Upland, Pennsylvania. The school succeeded a Normal School established at the site and the building's use as a hospital during the American Civil War. The seminary mostly served as an American Baptist Church school, training seminarians for the entry into the Baptist ministry.
After 1970, when the seminary merged with institutions in Rochester, New York, the building was used for Crozer Hospital (now part of Crozer-Chester Medical Center.) Most recently, it is used for medical offices associated with the center. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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The Seminary began as the Normal School of Upland, established and built by wealthy textile manufacturer John Price Crozer.[2] Crozer allowed the Union to use the building as a hospital during the American Civil War.
After Crozer's death in 1866, his family converted the school to another purpose, endowing it as the Crozer Theological Seminary in his honor. His son recruited faculty for the new mission.[3]
The most famous student of Crozer Seminary was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. He enrolled on September 14, 1948 and graduated on May 8, 1951 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He then studied and earned his doctorate at Boston University.[4]
Another Crozer student was Dr. Monroe E. Dodd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana from 1912–1950, founder of the Dodd College for Girls, and a pioneer radio minister.
In 1970 the school moved to Rochester, New York, in a merger that formed the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.[5] The old seminary building was used as the former Crozer Hospital (now the Crozer-Chester Medical Center). Now the building is used for medical offices on the grounds of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Harry G. Weston | 1869–1909 |
| Milton G. Evans | 1909–1934 |
| James H. Franklin | 1934–1944 |
| Edwin E. Aubrey | 1944–1949 |
| Sankey Lee Blanton | 1950–1962 |
| Ronald V. Wells | 1962–1970 |
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