Institution

The Parchment Valley Conference Center is owned and operated by the West Virginia Baptist Convention and has been home to Palmer Theological Seminary’s (Palmer) West Virginia program since 1993. Palmer’s West Virginia program offers Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry degree programs, as well as a non-degree certificate program, similar to Eastern’s School of Christian Ministry’s diploma programs.  The Parchment Valley Conference Center (Parchment Valley) is a 1400-acre campus, located in Ridley, WV, approximately 40 miles north of Charleston, WV. The property consists of the former Hyres Farm, purchased by the West Virginia Baptist Convention circa 1965, for use as a conference center. The farm’s milking barn was converted to a meeting space shortly after the site was purchased. This structure is currently occupied, in part, as the campus’ primary dining hall. Palmer’s West Virginia programming is mainly housed in the Santrock Education center, named after Dorothy Santrock, who was instrumental in providing initial funding for Palmer’s West Virginia program. As many as four meeting rooms are used for classes by Palmer, and this building is also home to Palmer’s library; dedicated to Bill Thomas, a 1968 graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, predecessor to Palmer. The annual graduation banquet for Palmer’s West Virginia program is held at Hill Hall, Parchment Valley’s largest meeting space, which can seat 300 people. Lodging is available at the Parchment Valley campus in four lodge structures.

The Parchment Valley Conference Center is owned and operated by the West Virginia Baptist Convention and has been home to Palmer Theological Seminary’s (Palmer) West Virginia program since 1993. It is a 1400-acre campus, located in Ridley, WV, approximately 40 miles north of Charleston, WV. The property consists of the former Hyres Farm, the Santrock Education center, and Hill Hall. Palmer’s West Virginia program offers Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry degree programs, as well as a non-degree certificate program, similar to Eastern’s School of Christian Ministry’s diploma programs.

West Virginia Campus for Palmer Theological Seminary

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of our founding institution, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary), Warner Memorial Library Archives proudly presents the driving tour of the historic and current locations outside the main campus at St. Davids, Wayne, PA. Please see our walking tour for more information on the main campus: https://theclio.com/tour/2739

On March 19, 1925, six Baptist ministers came together with a dream to open "a new theological school, devoted to the wholesome, vigorous, and effective training of students for the Gospel ministry." Their answer became Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary) which originally stood from 1808-1818 S. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA.Facing the park, EBTS had one major problem in its early years: the student population frequently outgrew the building. From 1925 to 1932, the seminary bought the properties surrounding 1812 – the first building purchased on July 20, 1925 – with 1814 purchased in 1926, 1810 in 1928, 1808 and 1816 in 1930, and finally 1818 in 1931, giving the campus a total of 126 square feet. And yet, from the opening date of September 22, 1925, EBTS was consistently at capacity, with rapid growth forcing faculty offices into rooms originally meant for closets and pantries. In the back of the first catalog under the heading "Expenses," the following statement can be found:“The rooms in the seminary are completely furnished, including bed clothing. Students supply their own bath towels. The rooms are well heated and lighted. There is no charge for tuition, room, light or heat. Each student is charged $6.00 per week for board. …Apartments are provided for students with children. The Seminary pays the rent and the student furnishes and heats the apartment and takes care of the living expenses.”EBTS celebrated its first graduating class in May 1926 with 11 students – small by today's standards, but impressive at the time. Charles T. Ball was the EBTS president at the time, as well as one of the six founding ministers of the school, who also was a professor of Psychology of Religion, and his office overlooked the first floor entry of 1812, paneled in wood mahogany. As the school grew, so did its holdings: a library of 20,000 volumes was built on the ground floor of the 1816 building, and a women's lounge was added for Senior Tea as well as piano lessons.Of course, EBTS wanted to expand even further, and in 1939, they got their opportunity to purchase a new property: one that they would remain in for over seventy years.

On March 19, 1925, six Baptist ministers came together with a dream to open "a new theological school, devoted to the wholesome, vigorous, and effective training of students for the Gospel ministry." Their answer became Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary) which originally stood from 1808-1818 S. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA. From 1925 to 1932, the seminary bought the properties surrounding 1812 – the first building purchased on July 20, 1925 – with 1814 purchased in 1926, 1810 in 1928, 1808 and 1816 in 1930, and finally 1818 in 1931, giving the campus a total of 126 square feet.

Rittenhouse Square Location for EBTS

Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary was located at 6 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA for seventy-five years, from 1939-2014. The 120,000-square foot, four story red brick complex occupied 8.5 acres and was located on the "Golden Mile" of Lower Merion township at the corner of City and Lancaster Ave.Originally built in 1919, the site previously hosted Green Hill Farms Hotel, designed by Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer as "a Great Gatsby-esque retreat for the area's upper class." The interior included wall-to-wall carpeting, exposed wood floors, and an entryway with black and white marble floor and an open sitting room with fireplaces and columns. Green Hill Farms Hotel remained a popular destination so close to the city – despite a murder occurring in 1931 when Edward Allen killed his sister's lover Francis Donaldson III in one of the rooms, making national headlines – but EBTS purchased the entire property for $550,000, including the hotel, garage, curtains, furniture, silver, and china, due to increased need for space to combat the seminary's rapid growth.The main structure of the hotel became Palmer Hall, named for Gordon Palmer, the seminary's third president and serving president at the time of the purchase. Much of the architecture from the hotel was kept, which had the advantage of faculty offices having their own bathrooms. Male students lived on the fourth floor while female students and classroom spaces occupied the first to third floors. The terrace dining room was the original chapel of the seminary, and the garage was converted into the library, classrooms, and faculty offices. At one point, the hotel was connected via an underground hallway to a building purchased by Lankenau Hospital to the north as a dormitory for nursing students, eventually closed off after stories of seminarians sneaking over began stirring.From the 40's-50's, the seminary maintained operation of the swimming pool (until the early 1980s), golf course, and bowling alley. In fact, as reported by Randall Frame, the seminary's director of communications several decades ago, the bowling alley was where many students earned money as pin setters during the early years. The pool also became the site of one of the seminary's stands for social justice when Professor Culbert "Cubby" J. Rutenber led a black student by the hand to the swimming pool, in defiance to rules at the time prohibiting African Americans from using same public facilities as whites – a stance that continues to this day and is in alignment with its mission.More property was purchased in 1945 when the Wynnewood Apartments at 63rd and City Ave. was obtained for housing for married students with children. It was named Eastern Hall at first, then Baker Hall by 1965 when it was rededicated for Gordon H. Baker, founding trustee. Later in 1945, Lancaster Apartments at 6351 Lancaster Ave. was purchased to provide faculty housing. A clubhouse formerly used by Overbrook Golf Club was then purchased in 1953 to be used for classrooms and offices for the School of Christian Education by EBTS, and a two-story brick addition was built as classroom and library space in 1957, adding to the Austen K. DeBlois Library (named for the seminary's second president).However, the largest addition to the campus was the Curtis Lee Laws Memorial Chapel in 1951, named for a charter trustee and Board member until his death in 1946. A 600 seat sanctuary, the building also hosted the William Howard Doane Hall of Sacred Music in the above grade basement. The Hall of Sacred Music was funded by a donation from Marguerite Treat Doane – the same woman Doane Hall at Eastern University is named for – and named for her father who composed over 1,000 hymns including "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" and "More Love to Thee, O Christ." Mrs. Doane also donated several key pieces of music which ended up in the seminary's safe to be found at a crucial time…Time passed, and the seminary continued to grow and expand. However, a terrible fire broke out in 1968 at Baker Hall, due to a faulty incinerator in the basement; the community came together to provide for the refugees, but the building was sold a year later due to an inability to upkeep the building. Lancaster Apartments was sold a few years later in 1973 due to rising costs in the area, but the seminary itself stayed strong, splitting administratively from Eastern College in 1987.And then, two years later, Judy DiBona, accounting manager at Eastern College, was doing some research at the seminary and found an original manuscript of Mozart's Fantasia and Sonata in C Minor – written in his own hand! It had been donated by Marguerite Treat Doane as a gift to establish the chapel building, and it was later auctioned to Sotheby's for $1.3 million, the funds of which were later used to fund the reinstallation of the Music Department at Eastern College. Another manuscript from the same gift was discovered in 2005 by Heather Carbo, circulation supervisor at the seminary library; this one was a Beethoven manuscript of Grosse Fuge in B flat major, later auctioned for nearly $2 million.However, after seventy-five years at the property, the Seminary sold the property in 2014 and moved temporarily to King of Prussia. The once hotel returned to a life of housing by becoming The Palmer Apartments, keeping the name it had held for so long in honor of its history.

Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary was located at 6 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA for seventy-five years, from 1939-2014. The 120,000-square foot, four story red brick complex occupied 8.5 acres and was located on the "Golden Mile" of Lower Merion township at the corner of City and Lancaster Ave. Originally built in 1919, the site previously hosted Green Hill Farms Hotel, designed by Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer as "a Great Gatsby-esque retreat for the area's upper class." EBTS purchased the entire property for $550,000, including the hotel, garage, curtains, furniture, silver, and china, due to increased need for space to combat the seminary's rapid growth. The main structure of the hotel became Palmer Hall, named for Gordon Palmer, the seminary's third president and serving president at the time of the purchase. After seventy-five years at the property, the Seminary sold the property in 2014 and moved temporarily to King of Prussia. The once hotel returned to a life of housing by becoming The Palmer Apartments, keeping the name it had held for so long in honor of its history.

Overbrook/Wynnewood Location for EBTS

Located on 4261 N. 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA, the Esperanza College of Eastern University will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. In 2000, a faith-based junior college was founded as a collaboration between Nueva Esperanza Inc. and Eastern University. Originally named, Nueva Esperanza Center for Higher Education (NECHE), it was the first college dedicated to serving the Latino population in the United States. Classes met at the Esperanza Inc. facilities located at N. 5th Street.Before then, though, the location had undergone quite a lot of changes. During the 1890s to 1920s, the site was home to the Northern Philadelphia Stock Yard. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the main structure was built and became the home of the Pioneer Paperstock Co. After that, the building changed hands to the 5th and Bristol Hardware Manufacturing Company from the 1960s to the 1980s. Finally, in 1986, Esperanza was founded.By the time the first class graduated in 2004, NECHE had already made a name for itself. The school served mainly "nontraditional students," some of which had not been in school for many years. The majority of the students speak Spanish at home; therefore, different tracks are offered to support transition from Spanish to English fluency for those students needing it.In 2005, several major awards and titles were granted. The site was awarded branch campus status at the same time that it was designated a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). NECHE was also awarded a U.S. Department of Education Title V grant to grow its program offerings and expand facilities. This led to discussions in 2006 of renaming NECHE "Esperanza College," and construction began on the updated location. By 2007, Esperanza College officially opened its doors and has continued to grow ever since.Highlights over the years include a second Title V grant being awarded in 2010 to add programs in Accounting, Middle Level Education, and Medical Assisting to existing programs such as Business, Criminal Justice, and more. In 2013, a new wing was opened with science labs, a simulation lab, a student lounge, and more classrooms – the same year that Esperanza was named a Finalist in Examples of Excelencia Awards. Four years later, a third Title V grant allowed for more programs to be offered, including Media &amp; Technology and Health Sciences, as well as the construction of a Student Success Hub. From 2019-2021, additional laboratories, a media studio, and other spaces opened up. By 2021, the first cohort of the Early College program began, and an E-sports program was added to the curriculum, with their lounge opening in 2023. Another grant was awarded to the college in 2022 to help expand their online offerings. In 2024, a new community library, Liberty Library, was opened at the college.

Located on 4261 N. 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA, the Esperanza College of Eastern University will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. In 2000, a faith-based junior college was founded as a collaboration between Nueva Esperanza Inc. and Eastern University. Originally named, Nueva Esperanza Center for Higher Education (NECHE), it was the first college dedicated to serving the Latino population in the United States. Classes met at the Esperanza Inc. facilities located at N. 5th Street. The school serves mainly "nontraditional students," some of which had not been in school for many years. The majority of the students speak Spanish at home; therefore, different tracks are offered to support transition from Spanish to English fluency for those students needing it.

Historic and Current Eastern University and Palmer Theological Seminary Locations

West Virginia Campus for Palmer Theological Seminary

Introduction

Backstory and Context

Sources