San Francisco Theological Seminary - History

History

San Francisco pastor William Anderson Scott opened two Presbyterian schools in his churches in the mid-19th century, the second of which became San Francisco Theological Seminary.

In 1871, SFTS began with four professors and four students meeting for instruction at the Presbyterian City College located in what now is Union Square. Six years later, the Seminary moved to its own building next to the City College building on Haight Street.

The seminary moved in 1890 to a 14-acre (57,000 m2) hilltop site in Marin County about 15 miles (24 km) north of the Golden Gate Bridge. A new charter issued in 1900 gave the Seminary power to grant degrees, and jurisdiction over the Seminary was transferred from the Synod to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1913.

In the post World War II era under President Jesse Hays Baird, SFTS enjoyed unprecedented expansion, with enrollment increasing to more than 300 and new buildings rising all over the San Anselmo campus.

SFTS joined in 1962 with neighboring graduate schools and academic centers in founding the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. The GTU developed joint M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in cooperation with the graduate school at the University of California Berkeley.

In 1990, SFTS opened its second campus in Pasadena, which was housed in the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, due to seminary budget cuts, the board of trustees voted to close the Pasadena campus in February 2011. However, despite the announced closer, the seminary is considering alternative opportunities to expand their programs in Southern California.

Today, the San Anselmo campus has more than 350 master’s and doctoral level students, with about 115 full-time.