Abingdon College was a college in

Abingdon, Illinois Abingdon is a city in Knox County, Illinois, Knox County, Illinois, United States, west of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. It is part of the Galesburg, Illinois, Galesburg Galesburg micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city was first ...

. It opened in 1853 and was consolidated with

Eureka College Eureka College is a private liberal arts college in Eureka, Illinois, that is related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Enrollment in 2018 was approximately 567 students. Eureka College was the third college in the Unite ...

in the 1880s. Abingdon College was founded by P. H. Murphy and J. C. Reynolds, and opened on the first Monday of April in 1853. It received a charter from the state of Illinois in February 1855. Between 1875 and 1877, however, a quarrel between groups involved in the college effectively closed it. F. M. Bruner bought the college in 1880, but in 1885, it merged with Eureka College, and the Abingdon campus closed in 1888. After consolidating with Eureka College and closing, the remnants of Abingdon College were bought by a professor named Summers, who named the facility Abingdon College Normal, but this college quickly failed as well. After this, another college in Abingdon,

Hedding College Hedding College was a college in Abingdon, Illinois, that operated from 1855 to 1927. The school was named after Methodist Bishop Elizah Hedding. Merged with Illinois Wesleyan University in 1930. The campus was used by the Roosevelt Military Academ ...

, which had been founded about 2 years after Abingdon College, bought the property in 1895 and used the buildings as their music and

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

campus.

References

{{reflist 1888 disestablishments in Illinois Defunct private universities and colleges in Illinois Education in Knox County, Illinois Educational institutions established in 1853 Eureka College 1853 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions disestablished in 1888