Anderson University (South Carolina) - Johnson Female Seminary Heritage

Johnson Female Seminary Heritage

Anderson University traces its heritage and initial founding to 1848 in the form of Johnson Female Seminary which was located in the City of Anderson. The short-lived seminary was founded by the Rev. W. B. Johnson, an early Baptist statesman and the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary closed its doors due to the combined impact of Rev. Johnson's untimely death and the onset of the Civil War, but not without leaving a lasting impression on the local young people of that day. Shortly after the turn of the century, those who fondly remembered the impact that the Johnson Female Seminary had on the region developed a compelling vision of resurrecting the institution in the form of Anderson College which later became Anderson University. In less than a year, a band of visionaries had raised $100,000 and secured 32 acres (13 ha) for the new campus and, thus, Anderson University was born. Rev. Johnson's home still stands in Anderson, South Carolina, and his portrait hangs in perpetuity in the Merritt Parlor on the Anderson University campus.