Crozer Theological Seminary

Last updated
Old Main
OldMainUpland.JPG
Old Main Building, Upland, Pennsylvania, November 2009
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location21st St. and Upland Ave., Upland, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°51′21″N75°22′17″W / 39.85583°N 75.37139°W / 39.85583; -75.37139
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1857
Architectural styleItalianate
NRHP reference No. 73001626 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 18, 1973

The Crozer Theological Seminary was a Baptist seminary located in Upland, Pennsylvania, and founded in 1868. It was named after the wealthy industrialist, John Price Crozer.

Contents

Martin Luther King Jr. was a student at Crozer Theological Seminary from 1948 to 1951, [2] being elected student body president [3] and graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. [4]

In 1970, the seminary merged with the Rochester Theological Seminary, forming the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York and the seminary's Old Main building was subsequently used as office space by Crozer Hospital (now part of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center.) The Old Main building is a three-story, F-shaped, stucco-coated stone building with 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. [5] The seminary's grounds are now the Crozer Arboretum.

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

History

Crozer Chester Medical Center Campus Map Crozer Chester Medical Center Campus Map.jpg
Crozer Chester Medical Center Campus Map
Crozer Hall Crozer Hall.jpg
Crozer Hall
Lewis House Lewis House at Crozer Theological Seminary.jpg
Lewis House
Vedder House Vedder House.jpg
Vedder House

The Seminary began as the Normal School of Upland, established and built by the president of the board of directors of the American Baptist Publication Society, John Price Crozer. [6] [7] After the outbreak of the American Civil War, the school was closed. [8]

Crozer allowed the Union army to use the building as a hospital during the Civil War. The hospital contained a thousand beds and accommodated 300 nurses, attendants and guards. The patients were almost exclusively Union soldiers except for after the battle of Gettysburg, in July 1863, when the number of wounded and sick Confederate army soldiers left on the battlefield required their acceptance at the hospital. During the war, more than 6,000 patients were treated. Many of the dead from the hospital were some of the first burials at nearby Chester Rural Cemetery. [9]

After the war, the building was repossessed by Crozer and subsequently sold to Colonel Theodore Hyatt for use as the Pennsylvania Military Academy until 1868. [10] [11]

Crozer died in 1866. When Old Main was vacated by the Pennsylvania Military Academy his family converted the school to the Crozer Theological Seminary in his honor. His son recruited faculty for the new mission, [12] It served as an American Baptist Church school, training seminarians for entry into the Baptist ministry from 1868 to 1970. [13] Henry G. Watson was named its first President in 1869.

In 1970 the school moved to Rochester, New York, in a merger that formed the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. [14] The old seminary building was used as the former Crozer Hospital (now the Crozer-Chester Medical Center). The building is currently used as administrative offices for the Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Presidents
NameTenure
Henry G. Weston1869–1909
Milton G. Evans1909–1934
James H. Franklin1934–1944
Edwin E. Aubrey1944–1949
Sankey Lee Blanton1950–1962
Ronald V. Wells1962–1970

Campus

The multi-acre campus contains the Crozer Arboretum and the following buildings:

Pearl Hall

Pearl Hall Library Pearl Hall Library of Crozer Theological Seminary.jpg
Pearl Hall Library

Pearl Hall is a serpentine stone library on the campus which opened on June 4, 1871. [15] The building was sponsored by William Bucknell, the benefactor of Bucknell University, in memory of his late wife Margaret Crozer, the daughter of John Price Crozer. In addition to the $30,000 cost of the building, Bucknell also gave $25,000 for the cost of books and $10,000 for an endowment fund. [16]

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester, Pennsylvania</span> First city in Pennsylvania, United States

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Delaware Valley on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. The population of Chester was 32,605 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upland, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Upland is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Upland is governed by an elected seven-member borough council. The population was 3,239 at the 2010 census, up from 2,974 at the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Luther King Sr.</span> American Baptist preacher (1899–1984)

Martin Luther King Sr. was an African-American Baptist pastor, missionary, and an early figure in the civil rights movement. He was the father and namesake of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He was the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1931 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Williams King</span> Mother of Martin Luther King Jr.

Alberta Christine Williams King was an American civil rights organizer best known as the wife of Martin Luther King Sr., and as the mother of Martin Luther King Jr. She was the choir director of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She was shot and killed in the church by 23-year-old Marcus Wayne Chenault six years after the assassination of her eldest son Martin Luther King Jr.

Henry Clay Vedder was an American Baptist church historian, seminary professor, editor and theologian. Vedder authored numerous articles and twenty-seven books on church history and theology.

William Augustus Jones Jr. was an African-American Minister and Civil Rights leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School</span> American Baptist seminary in New York

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Hopkins Strong</span> American theologian

Augustus Hopkins Strong was a Baptist minister and theologian who lived in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most influential book, Systematic Theology, proved to be a mainstay of Baptist theological education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel DeWitt Proctor</span>

Samuel DeWitt Proctor was an American minister, educator, and humanitarian. An African-American church and higher education leader, he was active in the Civil Rights Movement and is perhaps best known as a mentor and friend of Martin Luther King Jr.

William Robert Bucknell, was an American real estate investor, businessman, philanthropist, and benefactor to Bucknell University for whom the university is named.

The American Baptist Historical Society (ABHS) is the oldest Baptist historical society in the United States.

Crozer Health is a four-hospital health system based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and serving Delaware County; northern Delaware and parts of western New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester Rural Cemetery</span> Historic cemetery in Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester Rural Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery founded in March 1863 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Some of the first burials were Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who died at the government hospital located at the nearby building which became the Crozer Theological Seminary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware County National Bank</span> United States historic place

Delaware County National Bank is a historic bank building in Chester, Pennsylvania, located at the southwest corner of 3rd Street and Avenue of the States adjacent to the Old St. Paul's Church burial ground. It was built between 1882 and 1884, and is a 2+12-story masonry building in the Renaissance Revival style. It is built of brick and brownstone and has a low hipped slate-covered roof. The roof features metal cresting, five projecting decorated chimneys, and four Corinthian order pilasters supporting the front pediment dormer. It was headquarters for the Delaware County National Bank from 1884 to 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Price Crozer</span> American textile manufacturer and philanthropist

John Price Crozer was an American textile manufacturer, banker, president of the board of directors of the American Baptist Publication Society, and philanthropist from Pennsylvania. His mills produced clothing for the US Army and other customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upland Baptist Church</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania

Upland Baptist Church is a Baptist church built in 1851 in Upland, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvary Baptist Church (Chester, Pennsylvania)</span>

Calvary Baptist Church is a Baptist Church founded in 1879 in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is affiliated with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and the American Baptist Churches, USA.

Josephus Pius Barbour was an American Baptist pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Chester, Pennsylvania who served as an executive director of the National Baptist Association and editor of the National Baptist Voice publication. He was the first African American to graduate from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1937, and later mentored a teenaged Martin Luther King Jr., when King was a student there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas J. Clayton</span> American lawyer and judge (1826–1900)

Thomas Jefferson Clayton was an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who served as the first elected President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania from 1874 to 1900. Clayton was an author of several letters to the Delaware County Republican newspaper based on his travels throughout Europe, Asia and Africa which were turned into a book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Lewis Crozer Library</span> Public library in Chester, Pennsylvania

The J. Lewis Crozer Library is a public library in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1769 as one of the earliest libraries established in Pennsylvania. It was chartered as the Chester Library Company in 1830 and reincorporated in 1879 as the Chester Free Library. In 1925, the library was renamed in recognition of a $250,000 gift bequeathed to it by the wealthy philanthropist J. Lewis Crozer. The library occupied several buildings over the years, including the Deshong Art Museum from 1961 to 1978. The current library building was built in 1976 as a neighborhood branch and became the main library in 1978.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Nojeim, Michael J. (2004). Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 179. ISBN 0-275-96574-0
  3. Frady, Marshall (2002). Martin Luther King Jr.: A Life. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-303648-7.
  4. Downing, Frederick L. (1986). To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr. Mercer University Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-86554-207-4
  5. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania". CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on 2005-09-14. Retrieved 2012-01-07.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.
  6. Jordan, John W. (1914). A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 462–464. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  7. Ashmeade, Henry Graham (1884). History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. p. 432. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  8. Cope, Gilbert (1904). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 7. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  9. "About Us - Chester Rural Cemetery". www.chesterruralcemetery.org. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  10. Cope, Gilbert (1904). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 8. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  11. "Crozer Theological Society". www.uplandboro.org. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  12. 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
  13. William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2021, p. 630
  14. Dugan, George (1970-05-17), "BAPTIST SEMINARY PLANS TO MERGE; Crozer Theological to Join With School in Rochester", The New York Times , p. 36, ISSN   0362-4331 , retrieved 2009-10-06
  15. Ashmead, Henry Graham (1884). A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: L.H Everts & Co. p. 434. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  16. Jordan, John W. (1914). A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 463. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  17. King, Martin Luther Jr.; Carson, Clayborne (1998), "Chapter 3: Crozer Seminary", The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., New York City: Warner Books, ISBN   9-780-4465-2412-4, OCLC   39399036 , retrieved 2020-10-26 via Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, Stanford University