A Century-Old Predecessor
Long before the two Protestant seminaries now taking root in the Valley, there was the Maclay School of Theology--the predecessor of what is now the Claremont School of Theology.
Ten students enrolled when that seminary began classes in the pastor’s study at the San Fernando Methodist Church. That was 110 years ago.
Businessman Charles Maclay provided an endowment and a future campus site of 10 acres. The first graduation ceremonies were held in 1889. But Maclay died the next year and financial problems beset the school, forcing it to close in 1893.
It reopened a few years later on the Methodist-related campus of the University of Southern California but closed again in 1899. The seminary reopened in 1907, was renamed the USC School of Religion in 1922, and made its final move in 1957 to Claremont.
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