Peniel College was a Nazarene college located in Peniel, Texas. It has since closed.

History

Texas Holiness University was founded by B. A. Cordell and E. C. DeJernett in 1898. It was then established on a 37-

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

campusSouthern Nazarene University: History of Texas Holiness University
/ref> in 1899 by A. M. Hills and a small holiness community at Holiness, later called Peniel and now part of

Greenville, Texas Greenville is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, about northeast of Dallas. It is the county seat and largest city of Hunt County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,557, and in 2019, its estimated population was 28,827. ...

. It was sponsored by the Holiness Association of Texas, but the association disbanded in 1910 after many of its members united with the

Church of the Nazarene The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa within Johnson County, Kansas. With its members co ...

."Why These Schools? Historical Perspectives on Nazarene Higher Education
The school then became one of the first three "official" Nazarene educational institutions in 1908, supported by the Dallas District Church of the Nazarene, and the name was changed to Peniel College. In 1920, the college merged with Oklahoma Nazarene College in

Bethany, Oklahoma Bethany is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The community was founded in 1909 by followers of the Church of the Nazarene from Oklahoma City. History Bethany was founded July 28 ...

, which was then renamed "Bethany-Peniel College". Peniel's presidents included A. M. Hills, Edgar Ellyson (1907-1911), Roy T. Williams (1911-1913), J. B. Chapman (1913-1918),''Spirit-Filled: The Life of James Blaine Chapman'' by David Shelby Corlett, Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press
/ref> and A. K. Bracken, who took the presidency at Bethany-Peniel College in 1920.Yearbook of American Churches Covering the Year 1918 by Clyde F. Armitage
/ref>

Legacy

Founded in 1909, Oklahoma Holiness College, called Oklahoma Nazarene College when it absorbed Peniel College, took on the founding date of Texas Holiness University (1899).

Notes and references

{{coord missing, Texas Educational institutions established in 1899 1920 disestablishments in Texas Buildings and structures in Hunt County, Texas Defunct private universities and colleges in Texas Defunct Nazarene universities and colleges 1899 establishments in Texas