Crozer Theological Seminary

Old Main
Old Main Building of Crozer Theological Seminary, November 2009
Location 21st St. and Upland Ave., Upland, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°51′21″N 75°22′17″W / 39.85583°N 75.37139°WCoordinates: 39°51′21″N 75°22′17″W / 39.85583°N 75.37139°W
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 Old Main building was used for Crozer Hospital (now part of Crozer-Chester Medical Center.) It is a three-story, "F"-shaped, stucco coated stone building. It has three pavilions connected by a corridor with flanking rooms. Each of the pavilions is topped by a gable roof and cupola, the largest cupola being on the central pavilion.[2] Most recently, it is used for medical offices associated with the center.

The Old Main building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1]

History

The Seminary began as the Normal School of Upland, established and built by wealthy textile manufacturer John Price Crozer.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6] 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.

Presidents
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

Notable faculty

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  2. ↑ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Pennsylvania Register of Historic Sites and Landmarks (June 1972). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Old Main" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  3. ↑ Ashmead, Henry Graham (1914), "John P. Crozer", History of the Delaware County National Bank : with biographical notes of its officers, Chester, Pennsylvania: Press of the Chester Times, p. 130, OCLC 245975812, retrieved 2009-10-06
  4. ↑ Brackney, William H. (2004), A genetic history of Baptist thought : with special reference to Baptists in Britain and North America, Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, p. 369, ISBN 978-0-86554-913-5, OCLC 260116581, retrieved 2009-10-06
  5. ↑ King, Martin Luther; Carson, Clayborne (1998), The autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., New York, New York: Warner Books, p. 62, OCLC 39399036, retrieved 2009-10-06
  6. ↑ Dugan, George (1970-05-17), "BAPTIST SEMINARY PLANS TO MERGE; Crozer Theological to Join With School in Rochester", New York Times: 36, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved 2009-10-06

External links