1801

Who was Ehrgott Jonathan Deininger?

Born Württemberg, September 10, 1801. Died Reading, August 1881.

Ehrgott Jonathan Deininger was born September 10, 1801, in Württemberg, Germany. His father, Christian Deininger, was a schoolteacher and organist. When Jonathan was about eighteen years old, the family emigrated to the United States. Christian Deininger initially settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he accepted a position as organist and schoolmaster with Trinity Lutheran congregation. He later moved to Reading.

Jonathan followed a different path. In the spring of 1834, he married Mary E. H. Muhlenberg, daughter of Henry A. Muhlenberg, one of Reading’s most prominent nineteenth-century citizens. Henry Muhlenberg served in Congress, was appointed United States minister to Austria, and later became a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. The marriage connected Deininger with one of Pennsylvania’s best-known political and religious families.

Jonathan and Mary established their home on a large farm northeast of Reading, then outside the developed city and within Muhlenberg Township. There Deininger erected the mansion that later became the center of the Selwyn Hall property.

1836

Linden Hall: The Deininger Mansion

In 1836, E. Jonathan Deininger erected the country residence originally known as Linden Hall on his farm northeast of Reading, then in Muhlenberg Township. Jonathan and his wife, Mary E. H. Muhlenberg Deininger, made the mansion their home during the early years of their marriage. The building survives today as Selwyn Hall-South on the Albright College campus.

The building survives today as Selwyn Hall-South on the Albright College campus. Although its name and purpose have changed repeatedly during nearly two centuries, the core of the building traces back to Deininger’s 1836 residence.

When Linden Hall was constructed, northeastern Reading looked nothing like it does today. The city had not yet spread far into the surrounding countryside. The mansion stood amid fields, woodland, springs and agricultural buildings near the foot of Mount Penn.

Later descriptions remembered the property for its attractive location, plentiful water, mature trees and broad open spaces.

Although the immediate mansion grounds later associated with Selwyn Hall consisted of only several acres, Deininger’s overall landholdings were far larger. By 1869, contemporary accounts described the Deininger estate as containing approximately 600 acres, including the mansion house and other improvements.

1838

Mary Deininger and the Muhlenberg estate

Jonathan Deininger’s ownership of much of this property came through his wife. Mary Elizabeth Muhlenberg was connected to the estate of former Pennsylvania governor Joseph Hiester, who died in 1832 without a will. Mary inherited an interest in the Hiester property.

When she died childless in 1838, she attempted to leave her property to her husband. Jonathan continued to possess, develop and lease those lands for decades. But the legal status of the property would eventually become far more complicated than anyone expected.

1868

George F. Baer and the Deininger property case

In 1868, a young Reading attorney named George Frederick Baer was asked to examine the title to some Reading real estate connected with Deininger. Baer discovered a serious problem. Mary Deininger’s will had been written before changes in Pennsylvania law governing married women’s property. Under the older law, her attempt to leave the property outright to her husband was legally defective.

Jonathan Deininger therefore did not have complete ownership of all the property he had long believed was his. Instead, he held what amounted to a life interest, with ultimate ownership belonging to Mary’s heirs. The dispute became even more serious because Deininger had cut timber from portions of the property. A person holding only a life estate generally could not permanently diminish the value of property belonging ultimately to someone else.

A settlement followed. In 1869, Deininger’s life interest in the property was transferred to the heirs in exchange for $60,000. Contemporary reporting described the estate involved in the transaction as approximately 600 acres, including the mansion house and other improvements.

For George F. Baer, the case proved enormously important. His ability to recognize a title problem that others had overlooked helped establish his reputation as a Reading lawyer. Baer reportedly received a $5,000 legal fee, a substantial sum at the time. He would later become one of the most powerful figures in the American railroad and anthracite industries and eventually president of the Philadelphia & Reading. One of the cases that helped launch that career began with Jonathan Deininger’s Reading real estate.

1854

Gold on Deininger’s farm?

The Deininger property even briefly attracted attention for something considerably more unusual.

There is no evidence that Deininger’s farm ever became a meaningful gold-mining operation, but the report offers another glimpse of just how rural and undeveloped the area remained during the middle of the nineteenth century. Before there were classrooms, dormitories and college buildings, people were examining rocks from the property for gold.

1840s–60s

Deininger the agriculturalist

After the death of his wife in 1838, Deininger devoted much of his attention to his property. Agriculture and horticulture became major interests. He was active in the Berks County Agricultural and Horticultural Society and was among its early life members. He worked to improve his farm and manage his estate while also maintaining a strong interest in books and study.

Contemporary descriptions remembered him as well informed, widely read, conversational and personally unassuming. He was also a member of St. John’s German Lutheran congregation in Reading. Deininger eventually left the farm and later lived in the city, but the northeastern estate continued to carry his name.

1870

Soldiers at Deininger’s farm

By the summer of 1870, the property was being used for large public gatherings. The 3rd Regiment National Guards of Philadelphia arranged an encampment at Deininger’s Farm from August 6 through August 13. The event was large enough that concession rights were advertised for an ice cream stand, an eating stand, a watermelon and fruit stand, a cigar stand, and a peanut and cake stand.

The episode offers an interesting preview of the property’s later educational use. Several years before uniformed school cadets marched across the estate, National Guardsmen were already camping there.

1871

Reading almost turned the estate into a public park

The following year, the future of the land became the subject of a public debate. In August 1871, a Reading resident urged city officials to purchase the Deininger estate and preserve it as a public park. The proposal provides one of the best contemporary descriptions of the property before northeast Reading became heavily developed.

The estate was described as a magnificent farm in the path of the city’s expansion. The writer warned that Reading was rapidly spreading northeastward and predicted that within ten or fifteen years the land might be divided into building lots. The property was praised for being beautifully situated, heavily wooded in places and crossed by two streams of pure spring water. The writer argued that few places near Reading possessed comparable natural advantages for a park.

The city did not acquire the land.

Had it done so, one of Reading’s largest nineteenth-century parks might today occupy the ground where Albright College eventually developed.

1872

David P. Lash buys the mansion

Instead, the property entered another chapter. In 1872, David P. Lash purchased the Deininger mansion and approximately three acres of surrounding ground for $12,000. Lash intended to turn the estate into a hotel and pleasure resort.

The same features that had inspired the public-park proposal made the property ideal for recreation: scenery, trees, spring water, open grounds and convenient access from the city by carriage. Lash began improving the property and envisioned a hostelry comparable to other popular resorts around Reading. The Deininger mansion was expected to attract the city’s “pleasure-seekers.” For a brief period, the old country estate became a recreational destination.

1874

Reading competes for an Episcopal school

By 1874, a new possibility emerged. The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania was searching for a permanent location for a proposed Diocesan School for Boys. Reading faced competition. Potential sites were considered in York, Lancaster and Columbia.

Supporters in Reading, however, made a determined effort to secure the institution. A diocesan committee inspected several properties in and around the city, including the former Deininger estate. The mansion and grounds ultimately proved attractive enough to win the school for Reading.

1874

The Episcopal Diocese acquires the property

The Episcopal authorities acquired the Deininger property from David P. Lash during 1874. Contemporary accounts described a purchase involving approximately three acres and a price around $14,000, while later accounts gave the property as closer to 4½ acres and the price as $14,800. The difference likely reflects variations in how the parcel and associated improvements were described.

Regardless, the former Deininger mansion was about to undergo another dramatic transformation. It would become a school.

1875

Turning a country mansion into a boarding school

The residence required considerable alteration. Rooms originally designed for family life had to be converted for classrooms, boarding accommodations and institutional use. Furniture and educational equipment were installed. The surrounding grounds were prepared for students.

The school’s founders envisioned more than simple classroom instruction. They emphasized scholarship, religious training, discipline, physical development and character. Their goal was to provide families throughout Central Pennsylvania with a strong preparatory school without forcing them to send their sons far from home.

1875

The Diocesan School for Boys opens

Students began arriving in September 1875. The formal opening followed on October 7, 1875. Residents of Reading were invited to inspect the building and see how the old Deininger mansion had been transformed. Within only a few years, the same property had been a country residence, a proposed public park, a pleasure resort, and now a residential school.

By 1877, the Diocesan School for Boys was entering its third year. Rev. Joseph M. Turner served as headmaster, and the institution emphasized both scholarship and Christian character.

1881

The death of Jonathan Deininger

Jonathan Deininger lived long enough to see his former country home transformed into a school. He died in August 1881, shortly before his eightieth birthday. His obituary recalled the beautiful farm in the northeastern section of Reading where he and his wife had lived and specifically noted that the Diocesan School for Boys was then located there. It also remembered Deininger as the man who had erected the mansion and lived in it for many years.

His wife Mary had died more than four decades earlier, in 1838. Their two children had died in infancy. Deininger spent his later years devoted to agriculture, horticulture, books and the management of his affairs. He was buried in Charles Evans Cemetery. By the time of his death, the estate that had defined a large part of his adult life was already entering an entirely different era.

1881–92

The Selwyn Hall campus grows

The first alterations to Linden Hall were largely practical changes needed to turn a private residence into a school. As enrollment grew, however, the campus began expanding around the old mansion.

In 1881 a playroom was fitted out in the basement. During 1881–82, a dining room, dormitory and reading room were added behind the original building. In 1886 the school installed steam pipes, made exterior improvements and erected its first flagpole. Gas lighting followed in 1887, reducing the fire risk created by oil lamps.

The school occupied about 4½ acres — essentially the original grounds surrounding the Deininger mansion — and that acreage remained relatively constant while Selwyn Hall operated.

Campus building continued into the 1890s. In the spring of 1892, a new brick gymnasium was erected on ground later occupied by Albright College’s Alumni Memorial Library and connected to Howe Hall by a corridor.

1882–88

The building that became White Chapel

Another major addition appeared in 1882 when a separate one-story brick building was completed as a gymnasium and armory. Six years later it was substantially enlarged and transformed into a two-story academic and residential building.

The remodeled first floor contained a large schoolroom, recitation rooms and the headmaster’s office. Upstairs was Dormitory D, with accommodations for 36 boys, two bathrooms and rooms for masters. The enlarged building was named Howe Hall in honor of Bishop M. A. DeWolfe Howe.

Long after the Selwyn Hall era ended, Howe Hall became one of the most recognizable buildings on the Albright College campus: White Chapel.

1883

Selwyn Hall takes its name

In 1883 the Diocesan School for Boys began using Selwyn Hall as its official name. The name honored George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand and later Bishop of Lichfield. Selwyn had preached at the 1871 convention at which the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania was organized and M. A. DeWolfe Howe was elected its first bishop.

Advertisements soon promoted Selwyn Hall as a church school for boys conducted on the military plan. The school accepted both boarding and day students and prepared boys for universities, West Point, Annapolis and business careers.

Military organization became one of its most visible features. Cadets wore uniforms, participated in drill and lived under a structured system of discipline. Historic photographs show young men in formation in front of the old Deininger mansion and relaxing beneath the enormous trees across the grounds.

1883–89

Lot Clarke Bishop and the military era

Lot Clarke Bishop came to the school in 1882 as commandant of cadets and became Headmaster and Commandant in 1883. Educated at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, he had previously taught at DeVeaux College in New York and at the Cathedral School of the Diocese of Long Island.

Under Bishop, Selwyn Hall experienced its strongest period of growth. New buildings appeared, the curriculum broadened, the resident faculty increased and military training became a much more prominent part of school life.

The strain of directing a small school that was continually wrestling with financial problems eventually damaged Bishop’s health. By late 1888 he was confined to his room and for a time continued directing the school from his bed. He ultimately resigned in 1889.

1880s

What the boys studied

Despite its military appearance, Selwyn Hall was fundamentally a college-preparatory school. It offered three broad programs: a classical course emphasizing Latin and Greek; a semi-classical course built around Latin with German or French; and a more flexible elective course.

History, mathematics and English were important parts of the curriculum. As the needs of students changed, the school added practical subjects as well. Bookkeeping entered the curriculum in 1884 for boys preparing for business careers, while physics was added and the mathematics faculty expanded.

Selwyn Hall took particular pride in preparing students for higher education. Its graduates went on to institutions including Lehigh, Princeton and Harvard, while others pursued military education at West Point and Annapolis.

1880s

A small faculty

Selwyn Hall never maintained a large teaching staff. The number of resident faculty members appears to have remained at six or fewer, and salaries were modest enough that turnover was frequent.

Several instructors later built notable careers. Edward Carroll, a graduate of Dublin University, taught mathematics before leaving to establish the Carroll Institute. Mathematics instructor L. B. Treharne later became city editor of the Boston Globe, while Lewis B. Semple went on to teach Latin and Greek at Lehigh University.

1875–90

From eight cadets to a growing school

Selwyn Hall began with only eight cadets in 1875. Seven more arrived before the end of the first year, bringing enrollment to fifteen. The number fluctuated in the late 1870s, then increased sharply.

In 1879, average attendance reached 33 students — 16 boarders and 17 day pupils. From 1881 through 1888, average attendance climbed from 27 into the low 40s, essentially filling the school’s available sleeping accommodations. The opening of the 1889–90 school year appears to have marked the institution’s enrollment high point.

The school remained small enough, however, that students lived, studied, drilled and socialized in a close residential environment.

1889

Boarding at Selwyn Hall was expensive

Cost was one reason the school remained relatively small. Board and tuition were $300 per year until 1889, when the charge rose to $400. Sons of clergymen received a reduced rate of $250.

Cadets were also expected to provide their own uniforms and personal equipment, although the school furnished rifles. At the same time, improving public high schools were becoming increasingly important competitors to private academies such as Selwyn Hall.

1880s

Dressed like U.S. Army soldiers

The military appearance of the cadets was deliberate. Their uniforms were modeled on the full-dress uniforms of the United States Army of the period, and military drill became especially important after Lot Clarke Bishop arrived as commandant.

The cadets took the military side of school life seriously. The student newspaper campaigned for better rifles and celebrated when new ones finally arrived. Drill competitions became highlights of public exercises and commencement.

1880s

Baseball, tennis — and maybe football

Selwyn Hall also maintained an active athletic program. Its Olympic Baseball Team was a source of considerable pride and received challenges from schools as far away as Washington.

Students began agitating for a football team by 1886, although the surviving record does not make clear how successful the effort became. Tennis was more firmly established. The old orchard behind Selwyn Hall was cleared for lawn tennis courts, with each student contributing one dollar toward the cost.

1880s

Hiking Mount Penn

The cadets also took advantage of Selwyn Hall’s location near Mount Penn. Hikes up the mountain were popular and, during the period when Lot Clarke Bishop’s sister served as matron, the outings often ended with picnics attended by cadets and young women invited as guests of the school.

Letters later printed in the student newspaper remembered the “delightful pic-nics” atop Mount Penn. The accounts provide a more personal picture of student life beyond the formal photographs of cadets in uniform.

1880s

Learning beyond Reading

Selwyn Hall students also traveled beyond the campus as part of their education. Excursions were planned to Lehigh University at South Bethlehem, the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, Gettysburg and the Switchback Railway at Mauch Chunk. These trips exposed students to higher education, natural science, history and engineering.

1886

The Cadet: Selwyn Hall’s student newspaper

An earlier student publication, the Diocesan School Record, was already in circulation by 1881. In February 1886, students launched The Cadet, edited by Alan G. Cooke of the Class of 1888 with P. G. Eastwick serving as business manager.

The Cadet recorded athletics, school improvements, afternoon teas, dances or “hops,” holidays, hikes and student complaints. Its editors pushed trustees for improvements, defended Selwyn Hall against criticism that it was too expensive or exclusive, and encouraged alumni and students to donate books to the library.

The paper offers one of the clearest surviving windows into everyday life at the academy.

1885–90s

Commencement was a major event

Examinations and commencement were public occasions attended by parents, trustees, bishops and friends of the school. Formal examinations were held at the end of the Christmas and Trinity terms, while commencement combined academics with athletics and military display.

At the 1885 exercises, students were examined in subjects including Latin and geometry. Twenty-six pupils were reported in the various classes, and the program included prizes, speeches, cadet drill and music supplied by Reading’s Liberty Cornet Band.

Baseball and tennis exhibitions were also staged, while cadets competed for drill prizes. One recorded contest required repeated rounds before a winner could finally be selected, showing how seriously the students took military precision.

The 1884–85 year was also reported as a financial milestone, with income covering the school’s expenses. That did not mean the institution had escaped its older debt or secured a permanent endowment, but for the moment the outlook was encouraging.

1880s

Marching to church on Sundays

Religion remained central to life at Selwyn Hall. Sunday church attendance was required, and the cadets marched from the school to Christ Church for the 11 o’clock service.

The trip was long enough that students welcomed news that Reading’s streetcar line would be extended closer to the school. Sunday ended with Evening Prayer after supper, with the Selwyn Hall choir and glee club taking part.

1880s

Students came from across the country

Although most cadets came from Pennsylvania, Selwyn Hall attracted boys from a surprisingly broad area. Students arrived from Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey.

The school even acquired an international connection when a father from Japan sent his son to Selwyn Hall for college preparation.

1886

The Selwyn Hall Alumni Association

By 1886 the school had existed long enough to organize an alumni association. Its first meeting was held in Bethlehem that June, with annual dues set at one dollar.

One of the association’s first important projects was raising $100 to furnish a memorial chapel honoring former headmaster Joseph M. Turner. Outwardly, Selwyn Hall appeared to be growing into a permanent institution. Beneath the surface, however, financial problems had never completely disappeared.

1879–93

Financial trouble from the beginning

Selwyn Hall had no permanent endowment, making it heavily dependent on tuition. During its earliest years, tuition income was not sufficient even to meet current expenses.

In 1879 Bishop Howe reported that he had used $2,500 from money donated to him for religious and charitable purposes to support the school and pay interest on its debt. By 1881, the institution had improved enough to meet its current operating expenses without outside assistance, but the underlying debt and dependence on enrollment remained.

The school’s growth therefore rested on a fragile financial foundation. A small decline in the number of paying students could quickly create a crisis.

1893

The depression of 1893

The national business depression beginning in 1893 struck Selwyn Hall at exactly the wrong time. Public alarm over smallpox further discouraged enrollment.

That fall, Bishop Howe sent a circular letter to clergy throughout the diocese warning of the crisis and asking them to help recruit students. Many clergymen were reluctant to recommend a school whose financial future appeared uncertain, while hard economic conditions meant fewer families could afford private-school tuition.

The decline accelerated.

1894

A last attempt to save the school

Rev. William J. Wilkie resigned as headmaster in 1894. The trustees then selected Dr. Samuel W. Murphy to operate the school while the diocese continued supervising its academic and religious program.

The diocese raised more than $2,500 in subscriptions to address pressing debts, but the problems had become overwhelming. When Murphy took charge in September, enrollment had fallen to roughly a dozen boys, some of whom were paying reduced tuition.

Unpaid bills damaged the school’s credit. Coal could not be ordered until previous bills were settled, and a Philadelphia supplier refused to ship uniforms without payment in advance. Rumors of Selwyn Hall’s financial condition spread throughout the diocese and Reading, making parents even more reluctant to send their sons.

Murphy eventually left, placing the school under Capt. E. Dee Smith, commandant of cadets and instructor in physics and mathematics.

1895

February 14, 1895: Selwyn Hall closes

The school struggled through the winter. In February, parents of the remaining students were instructed to make arrangements to remove their sons.

On February 14, 1895, the doors of Selwyn Hall were locked, ending nearly twenty years of operation by the Episcopal Diocesan School for Boys.

There was no single cause for the failure. The school had struggled without an endowment from the beginning. Expansion increased expenses. Public high schools became stronger competitors. The depression of 1893 reduced the number of families able to pay for boarding school, smallpox fears hurt enrollment, and repeated leadership changes weakened confidence in the institution.

By its final year, declining enrollment and poor credit had created a cycle the school could no longer escape. The Episcopal academy was gone, but the name Selwyn Hall remained attached to the property.

1901

An empty campus

For several years the former school property stood largely idle. By 1901, Selwyn Hall was being advertised for sale. The property was described as approximately four acres with roomy buildings, a complete gymnasium, pure running water and city conveniences. One advertisement even suggested that it would make an excellent sanitarium.

By this point, the site had developed far beyond Jonathan Deininger’s original mansion. It had become a small institutional campus.

1902

Selwyn Hall is sold

In 1902, Walter G. Boas and Isaac Spatz purchased the Selwyn Hall property for $7,500. Their intention was to make it available for Schuylkill Seminary. The property was described as approximately 4.14 acres with five buildings, including a gymnasium, chapel, dormitories and other school facilities. The campus was reportedly capable of accommodating as many as approximately 160 people.

The old school grounds were about to become an educational institution once again.

1881

Schuylkill Seminary returns to Reading

Schuylkill Seminary already had a history of its own. The institution had been established in Reading in 1881 by the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical Association. In 1886, it moved to Fredericksburg in Lebanon County, where it remained for roughly sixteen years.

By 1902, church leaders wanted to bring the school back to Reading. The former Selwyn Hall campus offered a ready-made location.

1902

Reading helps bring the school back

The move required substantial financial assistance. Supporters sought $12,500 in local subscriptions to help acquire, renovate and equip the property. The total cost of the project was estimated at approximately $25,000.

Supporters argued that Schuylkill Seminary would benefit Reading not only educationally but economically. The institution was expected to generate approximately $20,000 a year in local spending. The seminary then had about 60 students in Fredericksburg, and supporters hoped enrollment would increase considerably after the return to Reading.

1902

Schuylkill Seminary opens at Selwyn Hall

During the summer of 1902, the East Pennsylvania Conference approved the transfer. In September 1902, Schuylkill Seminary opened at Selwyn Hall under Rev. Warren F. Teel, Ph.M. Its curriculum included classical studies, Latin scientific, English scientific, academic courses, commercial education, music, elocution, voice culture and theology. The old Deininger property had begun another educational life.

1902

A final reminder of the old farm

Despite the development around it, remnants of Jonathan Deininger’s agricultural estate remained. In December 1902, a large stone-and-brick barn near the seminary was destroyed by fire. The structure measured approximately 40 by 120 feet and had been erected by Jonathan Deininger many years earlier.

Twenty-three cattle had fortunately been moved to pasture that morning. Approximately 50 tons of hay and three tons of straw, however, were destroyed. Even as a college campus emerged, parts of the old farm were still present.

1914

Howe Hall becomes White Chapel

Howe Hall continued to evolve under Schuylkill Seminary. It became commonly known simply as “the chapel.” In 1914, a senior class donated a clock and bell tower. The clock came from the Howard Clock Company of New York, while the bell was manufactured by the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York.

The building was later enlarged and fitted with stained-glass windows. It survived fires in 1932 and 1944. By about 1956, it was generally known as White Chapel.

2015

White Chapel’s many lives

White Chapel eventually served many purposes. At different times it functioned as a chapel, dormitory, science laboratory and art department facility. Students and faculty successfully opposed an attempt to demolish it during the late 1970s.

After the art department moved out in 1990, however, the building became largely vacant and was primarily used for storage. A structural study completed in 2012 found serious deficiencies. In 2015, the approximately 133-year-old building was demolished. One of the last major physical reminders of the nineteenth-century Selwyn Hall campus had disappeared.

1923

Schuylkill Seminary becomes Schuylkill College

Schuylkill Seminary continued to expand after returning to Reading. In 1923, the institution became Schuylkill College. That distinction is important when looking at photographs of the present campus from the 1920s. A photograph taken there in 1925 shows Schuylkill College, not Albright College. Albright had not yet moved to Reading.

1856

Albright College had its own history

The institution that became Albright College developed separately. Modern Albright traces its ancestry to Union Seminary, established in New Berlin, Pennsylvania, in 1856 by the Evangelical Association. Union Seminary became Central Pennsylvania College in 1887. A separate denominational branch later established the Albright Collegiate Institute in Myerstown in 1895. That institution became Albright College in 1898.

By the early twentieth century there were therefore two separate schools: Albright College in Myerstown and Schuylkill Seminary in Reading. Central Pennsylvania College, descended from the original Union Seminary, merged with the Myerstown Albright institution in 1902. This institutional lineage explains why modern Albright College traces its founding to 1856.

1928

Albright comes to Reading

The church divisions that had contributed to the development of separate institutions eventually healed. In 1922, the Evangelical Association and United Evangelical Church reunited as the Evangelical Church. Maintaining two nearby colleges associated with the reunited denomination became increasingly difficult to justify.

In 1928, Albright College in Myerstown and Schuylkill College in Reading agreed to consolidate. The Reading campus was selected as the home of the combined institution. The Albright College name was retained. The transition continued through the 1928–29 academic period. Modern Albright College in Reading had emerged.

Today

Selwyn Hall Today

The Selwyn Hall seen on the modern Albright College campus actually combines buildings from two very different periods.

Selwyn Hall-South is the historic structure that began as Linden Hall, E. Jonathan Deininger’s private residence, in 1836. The mansion later became part of the Episcopal school property and today houses offices associated with Student Affairs, the dean of students and Student Accounts.

Selwyn Hall-North is much newer. It was constructed in 1928 as a dining hall and women’s dormitory and today houses the college’s Admissions Office.

The distinction is significant because the two sections can appear to belong to the same period, but their origins are separated by more than 90 years. Selwyn Hall-South preserves the direct physical connection to Jonathan Deininger’s original country estate, while Selwyn Hall-North belongs to the period when the property was developing into the modern college campus.

Today

The campus was here before Albright

One of the most fascinating parts of this history is that Albright College did not arrive in Reading and build a campus from nothing. It inherited a place with decades of educational history and nearly a century of earlier local history. Dig down through the ground it stands on:

1830s–1929

From a 600-acre estate to a college campus

The transformation of this corner of Reading is remarkable.

1830s

E. Jonathan Deininger establishes his country home on a vast property northeast of the city.

1854

Newspapers report gold discovered in quartz on his farm.

1869

The Deininger estate, about 600 acres, is involved in a major property settlement.

1870

National Guardsmen camp on the farm.

1871

Residents propose making the land a public park.

1872

David P. Lash buys the mansion property and develops it as a pleasure resort.

1875

Boys arrive to attend the Episcopal Diocesan School.

1882

Howe Hall, the future White Chapel, is constructed.

1883

The school is known as Selwyn Hall.

1895

The academy closes.

1902

Schuylkill Seminary returns to Reading and occupies the old Selwyn Hall campus.

1923

Schuylkill Seminary becomes Schuylkill College.

1928–29

Schuylkill College and Albright College of Myerstown consolidate, making the Reading campus the home of modern Albright College.