Lake Shore Seminary
Address
16 W. Division Street

North East
,
Pennsylvania

United States
Information
School typePrivate Preparatory School and College
Religious affiliation(s)Methodist Episcopal Church
OpenedAugust 1871
Closed1881

Lake Shore Seminary was an American educational institution in North East, Pennsylvania. This coeducational high school and college opened in 1871 as a collaborative effort of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. It included a campus of 84 acres and a newly constructed four-story building. Although it attracted 150 students, the opening debts of the school and the withdrawal of the Presbyterian church from the effort resulted in bankruptcy. Lake Shore Seminary closed in 1881. Later its campus was used for Saint Mary's College and Mercyhurst North East.

History

In the 1860s, the Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church decided to create a seminary in North East, Pennsylvania because the community lacked a public high school.[1][2][3] The Lake Shore Seminary was chartered by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for "a literary purpose" in 1867.[4] On April 13, 1867, the Pennsylvania State Senate and Pennsylvania House of Representatives gave the seminary's board authority to borrow money and issue bonds.[4] Rev. John T. Oxtoby was the president of the school's board of directors.[5][6]

The seminary's board secured contributions and acquired a property north of town that was previously owned by the Hall family.[2][7][8] Construction of a building began in 1867; the cornerstone was placed in October 1868 and the building was completed in 1870.[9][2] The building was estimated to cost $30,000 ($659,550 in today's money).[10] Because of this large cost, the Erie Conference collaborated with the Presbyterian Church to create and run the seminary.[2][1] In total, the new school cost $75,000 ($1,735,658 in today's money), with the community supporting some of its cost.[11]

Lake Shore Seminary opened in August 1871 as a coeducational preparatory school and college.[12][2][11] Its professors included J. P. Mills, L. T. Kirke, and Wilbur Garrison Williams.[12] Mills was the school's first principal and president of its faculty.[11][5] Laura Reddy Buckey served as its preceptress.[13]

By 1873, the school has 150 students.[9] However, the Presbyterians became unsatisfied with the joint management of the seminary and withdrew their support.[2] The Erie Conference could not carry the school's debts on its own.[2] In January 1877, it was advertised that the school would be sold at the Erie County Sherriff's sale; however, newspapers in February noted that the seminary avoided being sold for its debts.[14][15] H. U. Johnson became the seminary's principal in July 1877.[16] The Lake Shore Seminary went bankrupt in 1881.[9][12]

The seminary's trustees tried to sell the campus to the U.S. government for use as a school for Native Americans.[2] When that initiative failed, it was sold through a bankruptcy sale.[2] The People's Savings Institution (later North East Savings Bank) acquired the seminary's building and grounds in a sheriff's sale.[9][2][12] The bank was the primary creditor in the seminary's bankruptcy.[7] The bank sold the former campus to the Redemptorists Fathers of Annapolis, Maryland on February 1, 1881, for $10,000 ($303,241 in today's money).[9][12] They established a preparatory school for Catholic priests called St. Mary's College that opened on August 2, 1881.[9][12] The Redemptorists expanded the campus buildings but closed the high school in 1987.[1][17] Mercyhurst College purchased the former seminary in 1991 and used it as Mercyhurst North East until 2020.[18][19]

Campus

The campus of Lake Shore Seminary was located on Division and North Lake Streets (now 16 W. Division Street) on the highest point in North East, Pennsylvania.[9][12][1] It had a view of Lake Erie.[20] It consisted of 84 acres (34 ha) and a building constructed in 1870.[19][9] The brick building was in the Second Empire style and had four stories, that included classrooms, a dining room, a chapel that could seat 400 people, and dormitories for 100 students.[1][9][8] It was 168 feet long and 60 feet deep.[8]

Academics

Although affiliated with the Methodist Church, the seminary's curriculum was non-denominational.[9][12] The seminary taught ancient and modern language, drawing, English, mathematics, metaphysics, music, painting, and teaching.[2] Students could enter the school at any time.[6] The Pennsylvania legislature allowed the seminary to issue certificates, literary degrees, Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees, and Masters of Arts (MA) degrees.[4] However, the seminar closed before it "reached the grade for which it was intended".[11] The school graduated many teachers who taught in the state's public school system.[11]

In 1876, the cost for tuition, room, and board was $33 to $35 per quarter.[21] Students and teachers had a cooperative system for board, keeping costs to $1.97 a week.[21]

Student life

The seminary had a chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity from 1871 to 1875.[22][23]

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Beates, Susan; Blystone III, Rodney E. (1990). A Walking Tour of Historic North East Pennsylvania (PDF) (2nd ed.). North East: North East Area Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Miller, John (1909). A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Vol. 2. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 353–354 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Simpson, Matthew, ed. (1878). Cyclopedia of Methodism: Embracing Sketches of Its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition. Philadelphia: Everts & Stewart. p. 703 – via Google Books.
  4. 1 2 3 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1867). Laws of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Passed at the Session of 1867. Harrisburg: Singerly & Myers, State Printers. p. 1242 – via Google Books.
  5. 1 2 "Opening Exercises at the Lake Shore Seminary". The Titusville Herald. Titusville, Pennsylvania. 1871-08-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 "Lake Shore Seminary". The Titusville Herald. Titusville, Pennsylvania. 1871-10-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 History of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Vol. 1. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. 1884. p. 455 – via Google Books.
  8. 1 2 3 "From the Keystone State". Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph. Ashtabula, Ohio. 1877-08-03. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "North East Borough, Erie County, Pennsylvania (PA)". www.livingplaces.com. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  10. ↑ Stiles, S. M. (1871). Methodism in the State of Pennsylvania, as Represented in State Convention: Held in Philadelphia, October 18-20, 1870. Methodist Episcopal Book Room. p. 76 – via Google Books.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Pennsylvania Dept. of Public Instruction (1878). Report of the Superintendant of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the Year Ending June 1, 1877. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S. Hart, State Printer. p. 261 – via Google Books.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bates, Samuel P. "North East Township and Borough of North East", Chapter IX: Township Histories in History of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884, pp. 750-760. via Erie County, Pennsylvania Genealogy Project
  13. ↑ Women, Cazenovia Junior College for (1877). First Fifty Years of Cazenovia Seminary, 1825-1875: Its History, Proceedings of the Semi-centennial Jubilee, General Catalogue. Nelson & Phillips. p. 238 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "The Lake Shore Seminary". The Conneautville Courier. Conneautville, Pennsylvania. 1877-02-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Local and General News". The Conneautville Courier. Conneautville, Pennsylvania. 1877-01-31. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Prof. H. U. Johnson of Orwell". Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph. Ashtabula, Ohio. 1877-07-20. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "HS Seminary to Close Doors". Indiana Gazette. Indiana, Pennsylvania. 1987-04-18. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Our History". Mercyhurst. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  19. 1 2 Donnelly, Lu (2018-07-17). "Mercyhurst North East Campus (St. Mary's Seminary)". SAH ARCHIPEDIA. Charlottesville, Virginia: Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  20. ↑ "From North East, PA.; Teacher's Institute". The Pittsburgh Commercial. 1874-11-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. 1 2 "Lake Shore Seminary". Butler Citizen. Butler, Pennsylvania. 1876-07-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Lurding, Carroll and Becque, Fran. (August 5, 2023) "Closed Institutions". Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities. Urbana: University of Illinois. Accessed December 21, 2023.
  23. ↑ Baird, William Raimond (1905). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (6th ed.). New York: The Alcolm Company. p. 544 – via Google Books.
  24. ↑ "A Man Nationally Known and Locally Forgotten (Until Now)". Erie Yesterday. July 1, 2011. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  25. ↑ Herringshaw, Thomas William, ed. (1926). Herringshaw's American Blue-Book of Biography; Prominent Americans of 1926. Chicago: American Blue Book Publisher. p. 555 – via Google Books.
  26. ↑ "Active Life of Judge Walling". The Daily Republican. Monongahela, Pennsylvania. 1916-10-16. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
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