George Williams College is a campus of

Aurora University Aurora University (AU) is a private university in Aurora, Illinois. In addition to its main campus and the Orchard Center in Aurora, AU offers programs online, at its George Williams College campus in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and at the Woodsto ...

located on

Geneva Lake Geneva Lake ( Potawatomi: ''Kishwauketoe'' 'Clear Water') is a body of freshwater in Walworth County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. On its shores are the city of Lake Geneva, and the villages of Fontana-on-Geneva- ...

Williams Bay, Wisconsin Williams Bay is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of three municipalities on Geneva Lake. The population was 2,564 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History The village ...

. The campus was previously part of an independent college that was first based in the

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

neighborhood of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and later in

Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I-55. ...

History

George Williams College has its genesis in a summer camp founded on the shores of

in Wisconsin by

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

leaders I. E. Brown, William Lewis, and Robert Weidensall in 1886. This camp was created to serve as a professional YMCA training school. The camp moved to

in 1890, where it transformed into a college. The school's Hyde Park campus went by a variety of names during the late-19th and early-20th century: the Training School of the YMCA (1890–96,) the Secretarial Institute and Training School (1896–1903), the Institute and Training School of the YMCA (1903–13), and the YMCA College or Association College (1913–33). In 1933, its name was changed for the final time to " George Williams College". During the 20th century, the college "was a national center for the development of group work as a profession. It was also an early pioneer in the idea of holistic health, with the integration of body, mind and spirit that was key concept within the YMCA movement." By late 1965, the college had moved to

, but the stark racial divide between the mostly-black student body and the mostly-white residents of Downers Grove caused racial issues to flare up numerous times. By the 1980s, the school was struggling. In 1986, the college library was acquired by

The Master's University The Master's University is a private non-denominational Christian university in Santa Clarita, California. History The college was founded in 1927. It was originally named Los Angeles Baptist College and Seminary. In 1961, it moved to Newhal ...

in Santa Clarita, California, and in 1989, the abandoned Hyde Park campus was demolished to make room for new development opportunities. The college was absorbed by

in 2000. The original Geneva Lake camp location now houses a campus of the college, which is named "George Williams College".

Present

The GWC campus now consists of 137 acres. The campus hosts a conference center and the Music by the Lake summer concert series at Ferro Pavilion. GWC focuses on service-related undergraduate degree programs, including business management, environmental studies and sustainability, nursing, psychology, and social work.

References

{{authority control Aurora University Defunct private universities and colleges in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1890 Educational institutions disestablished in 2000 Hyde Park, Chicago Universities and colleges founded by the YMCA Universities and colleges in Chicago 1890 establishments in Illinois 2000 disestablishments in Illinois