Institutional Name Changes
Spring Arbor Seminary at Spring Arbor, 1835
Founded by Rev. Henry Colclazer, Dr. Benjamin Packard, and Rev. Elijah Pilcher as an institute of general learning. All three men were staunch Methodists.
Albion Wesleyan Seminary, 1839
Location moved from Spring Arbor to Albion and re-incorporated. The town of Albion, Michigan was named in honor of Albion, NY, from where the first settlers of the region emigrated. The name of the institution was for John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
Wesleyan Seminary at Albion, 1841
Re-incorporated and name changed.
Albion Female Collegiate Institute, 1850
Added as a branch of the Wesleyan Seminary, an institute of general learning.
Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Albion, 1857
Former acts amended and superseded; name changed. Previously only an educational institution, it became a degree-granting institution for women, but not men.
Albion College, 1861
One name created for the entire institution, a co-educational campus finally granting degrees to men as well as women.