Wayland Seminary - 1867-1897: Washington D.C.

1867-1897: Washington D.C.

Separate branches were set up in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. (Another school, the Augusta Institute, now Morehouse College also received the support of the NTI) Classes began in both cities by 1867. In Washington, the school became known as Wayland Seminary, named in commemoration of Dr. Francis Wayland, former president of Brown University and a leader in the anti-slavery struggle. The first and only president was Dr. George Mellen Prentiss King, who administered Wayland for thirty years (1867–97).

Over the 30 years Dr. King led Wayland, the other branch of the originally planned National Theological Institute at Richmond had faced even greater challenges than Wayland; there, the first classes were actually held in a former "slave jail" building. However, the branch in Richmond had also grown into a substantial institution by 1897, and had become known as Richmond Theological Seminary.