Born of Mergers

Eliza Clark Garrett

Eliza Garrett, the wife of Chicago mayor Augustus Garrett, became convinced of the need for better training for Methodist preachers. In her will, made out in early December 1853, she left a considerable inheritance for the founding of a biblical institute. A meeting was held in Chicago on December 26, 1853, at which a group of Methodist leaders invited John Dempster to come to Chicago and organize the institute. Eliza Garrett''s will and this organizational meeting are the basis for the date of 1853 as the founding of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (then named Garrett Biblical Institute).

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Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill. Circa 1923.

In the early 1960s, Garrett Biblical Institute changed its name to Garrett Theological Seminary. It became Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1974 when it merged with Evangelical Theological Seminary, Naperville, Ill., to form one seminary (see below).

Chicago Training School, 4949 Indiana School. Circa 1895.

Having flourished in the 1920s, Chicago Training School (CTS) and Garrett Biblical Institute (GBI) faced hard times in the 1930s. In March 1934, the trustees of both institutions voted to bring the Training School into GBI. The integration of CTS meant that the scope of Garrett''s vision for training Christian leaders expanded to include leaders of church-based instutitions for the betterment of social conditions and significant numbers of women.		 Chicago training school
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Administrative building of Evangelical Theological Seminary, Naperville, Ill. Circa 1913.

In 1968, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church, thus leaving the newly-formed denomination with two seminaries in close proximity to Chicago. The 1972 General Conference mandated the merger of the two seminaries, and in 1974 it was agreed that Evangelical Theological Seminary and Garrett Theological Seminary would form a merged seminary on the Evanston campus. In order to embrace the traditions of both institutions, the merged seminary was named Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

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