Halstead Seminary (Halstead, Kansas, USA)
The Halstead College Association was incorporated 5 May 1883, with Bernhard Warkentin as president and David Goerz as secretary. The Association was to furnish a rent-free building for five years to the Kansas Conference (General Conference Mennonite) School which became known as Halstead Seminary. The school, which was controlled by the Kansas Conference and located at the western edge of Halstead, Kansas, opened on 19 September 1883, with 12 students, but increased to 76 during the first year. H. H. Ewert was the principal.
The purposes of the school were: (1) to prepare teachers for the elementary schools, the English public school, and the German parochial school; to prepare students for college entrance; and to offer general liberal arts training to any who desired an education beyond the elementary stage. To attain these objectives three different "courses" were offered: a teachers' course, a German-English academy course, and a college preparatory course. In 1885 in co-operation with the mission board, a special department for Indian students was set up at the Seminary with 15 Indians attending. The arrangement did not work out, for it really meant two schools, the seminary controlled by the conference school committee, and the Indian school controlled by the mission board. After two years the Indian school was removed to the Christian Krehbiel farm east of Halstead where it continued a few more years.
Progress of the Seminary was encouraging although there were also financial and other difficulties. As the movement in behalf of Bethel College at Newton got under way the school interest also gradually shifted from Halstead to Newton. From 1883 to 1893 the total enrollment at Halstead was 515 with 30 graduates. In 1892 the Conference voted to close the Halstead Seminary with the end of the 1892-93 school year. In the fall of the same year Bethel College under the auspices of a Mennonite corporation opened its doors and became the successor to the Halstead Seminary.
Bibliography
Wedel, P. J. and E. G. Kaufman. The Story of Bethel College. North Newton, Kansas, 1954.
| Author(s) | Ed. G Kaufman |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Kaufman, Ed. G. "Halstead Seminary (Halstead, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Halstead_Seminary_(Halstead,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=95059.
APA style
Kaufman, Ed. G. (1956). Halstead Seminary (Halstead, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Halstead_Seminary_(Halstead,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=95059.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 638. All rights reserved.
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