1835

The Deininger estate

Jonathan Ehrgot Deininger had his substantial country residence constructed about 1835, when northeastern Reading remained largely outside the developed portion of the city. The mansion stood amid open land and large trees near the foot of Mount Penn, overlooking the growing city and the Schuylkill Valley.

Nineteenth-century accounts referred to the property as Deininger’s Farm, the Deininger estate, or the Deininger Mansion. The grounds were extensive enough to support farming, recreation and large public gatherings. That became apparent by 1870.

1870

Soldiers camp at Deininger’s Farm

In the summer of 1870, the 3rd Regiment National Guards of Philadelphia arranged an encampment on Deininger’s Farm from August 6 through August 13. The event was large enough to attract vendors selling ice cream, prepared food, watermelon and fruit, cigars, peanuts and cakes.

It provides an interesting glimpse of the estate before it became a school. Several years before cadets trained on the property, uniformed National Guardsmen were already camping beneath its trees.

1871

Reading considers the estate for a public park

The following year, the Deininger property was proposed for an entirely different purpose. In August 1871, a Reading resident urged the city to purchase the estate and preserve it as a public park. The proposal described the property as a magnificent farm in the path of Reading’s northeastward growth. The writer warned that if the city failed to act, the property would eventually be divided into building lots.

The estate was praised for its beautiful location, wooded sections and two streams of pure spring water. At the time, it was considered by at least some residents to be one of the most desirable possible locations for a public park near Reading. The city did not acquire it.

Had officials acted on the proposal, the future Albright College property might have developed into a public park instead of a school campus.

1872

David P. Lash purchases the property

In 1872, David P. Lash purchased the Deininger mansion and approximately three acres of ground for $12,000. Lash saw many of the same qualities that had attracted supporters of the park proposal. He planned to turn the property into a hotel and pleasure resort.

The location was praised for its scenery, abundant water and access by pleasant carriage drives from Reading. Lash began improving the grounds and intended to develop the mansion into a hostelry comparable to other popular recreation destinations around the city. For a brief period, the former country estate became a place where Reading residents could escape the increasingly crowded industrial city.

1874

A new school for Central Pennsylvania

By 1874, the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania was looking for a permanent location for a proposed Diocesan School for Boys. Reading competed with other communities for the institution. Potential properties were considered in York, Lancaster and Columbia, while Reading supporters promoted sites in and around the city.

A committee inspected several properties, including Deininger’s estate. The Deininger property was ultimately selected. The mansion, open grounds and accessibility made it well suited for conversion into a residential school.

1874

The Episcopal Diocese purchases the estate

The Episcopal authorities acquired the property from David P. Lash during 1874. Contemporary accounts described the purchase as the Deininger mansion with approximately three acres of ground for about $14,000. Other historical accounts give the property as roughly 4½ acres and the cost as $14,800.

Regardless of the slight differences in the figures, the purpose was clear. The former Deininger estate would become the home of the Episcopal Diocesan School for Boys.

1875

Turning a mansion into a school

The old residence required considerable alteration. Rooms intended for family life were adapted for classrooms, boarding accommodations and school activities. Furniture and educational equipment were installed, while the surrounding property was organized for students.

The institution was intended to provide more than classroom instruction. Its leaders emphasized academics, religion, discipline, physical development and character training. The goal was to establish a preparatory school in Central Pennsylvania that could provide boys with a strong education without requiring families to send them far from home.

1875

The school opens

Students began arriving in September 1875, and the school held its formal opening on October 7, 1875. Local residents were invited to inspect the mansion and see how the property had been transformed for educational use. Within only a few years, the estate had passed from private residence to proposed public park, pleasure resort and boarding school.

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

1882

Howe Hall and the future White Chapel

As the school grew, additional buildings were constructed around the old mansion. In 1882, a one-story brick building called Howe Hall was erected and named for Bishop M. A. DeWolfe Howe. A second story was added six years later.

Howe Hall eventually became one of the most recognizable buildings on the later Albright College campus: White Chapel. The chapel was therefore part of the expanding school campus rather than the original Deininger residence.

1883

Selwyn Hall

By 1883, the Episcopal school was known as Selwyn Hall. Advertisements described it as “A Military, Boarding and Day School for Boys.” The Selwyn Hall name quickly became closely associated with both the institution and its campus.

The school offered boarding and day instruction and prepared students for universities, West Point, Annapolis and business careers. Military organization became one of its most visible features. Cadets wore uniforms, drilled on the grounds and lived under a structured system of discipline. Historic photographs show rows of young men in uniform standing in front of the old mansion or reclining beneath the enormous trees surrounding the campus.

1883

Lot Clarke Bishop and a growing academy

Lot Clarke Bishop became headmaster in 1883 and later carried the title Head Master and Commandant of Cadets. His arrival coincided with a period of expansion. Buildings were improved to accommodate additional students, while academic standards were strengthened to prepare pupils for colleges, universities and scientific institutions. Selwyn Hall was becoming a substantial preparatory academy.

1880s

A school with military discipline

Although Selwyn Hall was widely referred to as a military academy, its educational program was considerably broader. Students studied subjects including classical languages, mathematics, science, English, German, sacred history, music and French. The institution maintained teachers, matrons, a chaplain and a physician.

Military drill was an important element of school life, but Selwyn Hall was fundamentally a college-preparatory institution. Its graduates later attended schools including Lehigh, Princeton and Yale, while others continued into military education at West Point.

1885

Selwyn Hall’s great day

By 1885, Selwyn Hall had become a recognizable Reading institution. That year’s commencement included chapel services, academic examinations, prizes, speeches, military drill and music from Reading’s Liberty Cornet Band. Students were examined in subjects including Latin and geometry. Twenty-six pupils were reported in the various classes.

The 1884–85 school year was also an important financial milestone because the institution reportedly covered its expenses entirely through income for the first time. It was an encouraging moment for a school that had struggled financially almost from the beginning.

1880s

Education beyond the campus

Selwyn Hall students also participated in excursions away from Reading. Planned destinations included Lehigh University at South Bethlehem, the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, Gettysburg and the Switchback Railway at Mauch Chunk. Those trips exposed students to higher education, natural science, American history and engineering. The school clearly envisioned education as extending beyond classroom instruction.

1890s

A small but ambitious school

Selwyn Hall was never a large institution. Near the end of its existence, enrollment was reported as averaging around 30 pupils. The highest enrollment during Lot Clarke Bishop’s tenure was said to have reached 38 students in one year.

The relatively small enrollment created an intimate residential environment in which students studied, lived and drilled together. Despite its size, the school developed a reputation extending beyond Reading.

1894

The final years of Selwyn Hall

By the mid-1890s, the academy faced serious difficulties. The headmaster, Rev. Mr. Wilke, resigned in June 1894. The trustees then leased the school buildings to Dr. Samuel W. Murphy of North Carolina, who attempted to continue operating the institution. The fall term began with only 18 students and a faculty of four.

Murphy’s health soon failed, however, leaving him unable to give the academy the attention it required. He left Reading hoping to recover, while two teachers temporarily maintained the school. Soon afterward, students were informed that the academy would close. Some immediately packed their trunks and departed.

1895

Selwyn Hall closes

In February 1895, Selwyn Hall closed. The academy’s curriculum at the time included classical, scientific, mathematical and English courses arranged as a four-year program. Although its students wore uniforms and participated in military drill, contemporary descriptions stressed that it was primarily a preparatory school.

At the time of its closing, the property was valued at approximately $25,000. The Episcopal school was gone, but the name Selwyn Hall remained attached to the grounds.

1901

Selwyn Hall after the academy

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 the property might make an excellent sanitarium.

By then, Selwyn Hall was no longer simply a mansion. It had developed into a small institutional campus containing several buildings and specialized facilities.

1902

A new buyer

The next major chapter began in 1902. Walter G. Boas and Isaac Spatz purchased the Selwyn Hall property for $7,500, anticipating that it could become the new home of Schuylkill Seminary. The property was then described as approximately 4.14 acres with five buildings.

Those buildings included a gymnasium, chapel, dormitories and other facilities necessary for an established school. The campus was said to have been capable of housing as many as approximately 160 people. After years of relative inactivity, Selwyn Hall was about to become an educational campus again.

1881

Schuylkill Seminary returns to Reading

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

By 1902, church leaders were considering bringing it back to Reading. The former Selwyn Hall property offered an existing school campus that could be repaired and expanded rather than constructed from scratch.

1902

Reading helps bring the seminary back

The move required significant financial support. A campaign sought $12,500 from Reading residents and businesses to help acquire, renovate and equip Selwyn Hall. Supporters estimated that approximately $25,000 would ultimately be needed.

They promoted the project not only as an educational opportunity but as an economic benefit to Reading. It was estimated that the school could generate approximately $20,000 annually in local expenditures. Schuylkill Seminary then had about 60 students in Fredericksburg, and supporters hoped enrollment could grow considerably after the return to Reading.

1902

The transfer is approved

During the summer of 1902, a special session of the East Pennsylvania Conference met at Selwyn Hall. The purchase of the property was approved, along with the plan to transfer Schuylkill Seminary from Fredericksburg to Reading. The buildings and grounds cost $7,500, with additional funds required for repairs, alterations and equipment. The way was now clear for students to return to the old campus.

1902

Schuylkill Seminary opens at Selwyn Hall

In September 1902, Schuylkill Seminary opened at Selwyn Hall under Rev. Warren F. Teel, Ph.M., as principal. The curriculum included classical studies, Latin scientific, English scientific, academic and commercial courses, music, elocution, voice culture and theology. The campus had entered another educational era.

1902

Remnants of the old Deininger farm

Even as the property became more institutional, reminders of its agricultural past remained. In December 1902, a large stone-and-brick barn near the seminary was destroyed by fire. The building measured about 40 by 120 feet and had been erected many years earlier by Jonathan Deininger.

Twenty-three cattle had been taken to pasture earlier that morning, but approximately 50 tons of hay and three tons of straw were lost. The fire was a reminder that the developing school campus still retained pieces of the old nineteenth-century farm.

1914

Howe Hall becomes White Chapel

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

The building was later enlarged, and stained-glass windows were installed. It survived fires in 1932 and 1944. By about 1956, it had become known as White Chapel.

2015

White Chapel’s many lives

Despite the name, White Chapel served numerous purposes over the decades. At different times it functioned as a chapel, dormitory, science laboratory and art department facility. An attempt to demolish it during the late 1970s was successfully opposed by students and faculty.

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

1923

Schuylkill Seminary becomes Schuylkill College

Schuylkill Seminary continued growing after its return to Reading. In 1923, the institution became Schuylkill College. That distinction is important when examining historic photographs of the present Albright campus from the 1920s. A photograph taken there in 1925, for example, would show Schuylkill College, not Albright College. Albright had not yet moved to Reading.

1856

Albright College had a separate history

The institutional roots of modern Albright College developed elsewhere. 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 development produced the Albright Collegiate Institute in Myerstown in 1895. That school became Albright College in 1898.

By the early twentieth century, therefore, two separate educational institutions existed: 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. That lineage explains why modern Albright College traces its institutional founding to 1856.

1928

Albright comes to Reading

The denominational divisions that had created separate schools eventually healed. In 1922, the Evangelical Association and United Evangelical Church reunited as the Evangelical Church. Maintaining two nearby colleges affiliated with the reunited church became increasingly difficult to justify.

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

Today

The campus was here before Albright

One of the most interesting parts of the story is that Albright College did not come to Reading and create a campus from scratch. It inherited a property that already had more than half a century of educational history. Dig down through the ground it stands on:

1835–1929

From farm to college

The transformation of this corner of Reading is remarkable.

1835

Jonathan Ehrgot Deininger builds a country mansion.

1870

National Guardsmen camp on the farm.

1871

Residents propose preserving the estate as a public park.

1872

David Lash purchases the 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 built.

1883

The school is known as Selwyn Hall.

1895

The academy closes.

1901

The property is offered for sale as a four-acre institutional campus with multiple buildings and a gymnasium.

1902

It sells for $7,500, local residents help finance its renovation, and Schuylkill Seminary returns to Reading.

1923

Schuylkill Seminary becomes Schuylkill College.

1928–29

Schuylkill College and Albright College of Myerstown consolidate, and the Reading campus becomes the home of the unified Albright College.