Pillsbury Baptist Bible College was an independent Baptist college in

Owatonna, Minnesota Owatonna ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,420 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County F ...

, United States that operated from 1957 to 2008. Pillsbury described itself as a " biblical arts college." It offered a four-year program leading to the degrees of

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

and

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Bible, as well as several

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

s and a Bible certificate program. The campus was previously home to the Pillsbury Military Academy, Pillsbury Academy, and Minnesota Academy. In 1987 a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

of five campus buildings was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the Pillsbury Academy Campus Historic District. It was nominated because of its local significance in architecture, education, and religion, because it was the only 19th-century

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

institution of higher learning in Minnesota, and because of its association with benefactors Mark H. Dunnell and George A. Pillsbury.

History

The Minnesota Baptist State Convention opened the school as Minnesota Academy on September 10, 1877, as a

college-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or p ...

. The name was changed to Pillsbury Academy in 1886 in honor of one of its major donors, George A. Pillsbury, former mayor of Minneapolis and a member of the First Baptist Church of

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. In 1920 it was renamed the Pillsbury Military Academy. In 1957, after a dispute resulted in a change in Baptist Convention control from American Baptist to fundamentalist Minnesota Baptist, the Academy was abruptly closed and reconstituted as a 4-year biblical arts college, Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. The older structures on campus were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 22, 1987, as the Pillsbury Academy Campus Historic District. The five contributing properties are Old Main (built 1889), Music Hall (1892), Jefts Hall (1910–11), Lindsay Hall (1913–14), and a heating plant (1893). PillsburyBaptist

In February 2005, Pillsbury received

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Association for Biblical Higher Education The Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), formerly The Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges (AABC) is an evangelical Christian organization of bible colleges in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It is a member of the ...

(ABHE). Pillsbury also had membership in the American Association of Christian Colleges and Seminaries. Enrollment at the school had dropped from a high of about 800 in the years 1967-68 to 142 in its final semester. Pillsbury announced in October 2008 that it would permanently close at the end of the year and that its campus would be sold. The college closed on December 31, 2008. Pillsbury's transcripts are now held by

Maranatha Baptist University Maranatha Baptist University is a private Baptist university in Watertown, Wisconsin. History The institution was founded in 1968 as Maranatha Baptist Bible College by B. Myron Cedarholm. The college was named for the Aramaic phrase '' Mara ...

in perpetuity. In April 2014, the campus was purchased and revamped as a summer camp called Camp Pillsbury, which opened in June 2014. In addition to the camp programs that will be offered, a technical

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

operated by the Technical Academies of Minnesota will be housed on campus.

Athletics

Athletic teams were called the Comets. The school had football, baseball, wrestling, cross country, soccer, and basketball for men and volleyball, cross country, softball, cheerleading, and basketball for women. Pillsbury Baptist Bible college was an NCAA division III institution. It was a member of the

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III since the 2008–09 season. Corey Borchardt is the current commissioner of ...

until 1988. They were the men's golf champions of their conference in 1995.

Alumni

* Nathan Sproul (1994), Republican strategist and political consultant *Mark Telloyan, St. Joseph County, Indiana Superior Court Judge

References

External links

Pillsbury Baptist Bible College
— Official from

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Pillsbury College Prep

Camp Pillsbury
{{Authority control 1957 establishments in Minnesota 2008 disestablishments in Minnesota Association for Biblical Higher Education Independent Baptist universities and colleges in the United States Buildings and structures in Steele County, Minnesota Defunct private universities and colleges in Minnesota Education in Steele County, Minnesota Universities and colleges established in 1957 Educational institutions disestablished in 2008 Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Steele County, Minnesota University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota

History

Athletics

Alumni

See also

References

External links