Emlen Institution for the Benefit of Children of African and Indian Descent was an agricultural and industrial boarding school for African American and Native American Children in the United States. It was established in a bequest by Samuel Powers Emlen Jr., a prominent Quaker who lived in

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

who died in 1837. Emlen left $20,000 for the "education, maintenance and instruction in school learning and in agriculture and mechanical trades or arts, of free male orphan children of African or Indian descent." It was established in Ohio with the acquisition of an existing manual labor school for African Americans in Carthagena, Ohio before relocating to Pennsylvania. It is unclear when it ceased operating. Several buildings from one of its locations in Pennsylvania are extant.

History

Emlen's trustees in 1838 were Philip Physick, William Smith, Dr. H.L. Hodge, Daniel B. Smith, William White, Nathaniel Chauncey, Dr. Casper Morris and Dr. William Shippen. Emlen Institution succeeded a manual labor school for African Americans in Carthagena, Ohio run by Augustus Wattles and his wife Susan Perley Wattles. They sold their property to the trustees of Emlen's estate in 1841, and continued on as superintendents. Facing bigoted discrimination from Democrats, Wattles departed in 1857 the school property was sold. The boarding school relocated to

Solebury, Pennsylvania Solebury is an unincorporated community in Solebury Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Solebury is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 263 Pennsylvania Route 263 (PA 263) is a north–south stat ...

where it remained until 1873 when it was relocated again to Warminster.

Samuel Beecher Hart Samuel Beecher Hart (1863 - March 24, 1936) was a state legislator in Pennsylvania. He served multiple terms. In 1925 Hart, an African-American state legislator from Philadelphia, introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to ...

, captain of the "Gray Invincibles" and a state legislator who proposed successful legislation for a monument to Pennsylvania's African American soldiers was an alumnus. In 1881 the Israel H. Johnson the secretary of its board of trustees wrote in support of transferring six Quapaw Nation students from the Emlen Institute to the Carlisle Indian School.

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

has a collection of documents from the school in its Quaker collection.

St. Charles Seminary St. Charles Seminary is a former American Catholic seminary, founded by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1861 in Carthagena, Ohio. The seminary closed in 1969 and is now a retirement center for clergy and lay people. The seminary, chapel, ...

purchased its property in Ohio.

References

{{Reflist Defunct schools in Pennsylvania 1830s establishments in Ohio Educational institutions established in the 1830s Quaker schools in Ohio Quaker schools in Pennsylvania Education in Mercer County, Ohio