Bradford College was a college in the part of Haverhill,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, that was once the town of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. Founded in 1803, Bradford College began as Bradford Academy, one of the earliest

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

institutions in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. In 1836, Bradford began educating women exclusively. By 1932, the school had grown from a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and became Bradford Junior College. In 1971 Bradford became authorized to grant

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...

. The new Bradford College began admitting men again that same year. Bradford College specialized in the

creative arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, and had one of the oldest alum associations in the country. On November 19, 1999, its board of trustees announced that the 197-year-old liberal arts institution would close in May 2000. The former campus is now home to Northpoint Bible College.

History

Bradford College traces its origins to Bradford Academy, which was founded in 1803, making it the 3rd oldest post-secondary institution in Massachusetts, behind

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, before becoming defunct in 2000. The academy was incorporated in 1804. Many of Bradford's early graduates became

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

. The first president of Bradford was Katharine Denworth, a graduate of Swarthmore with a doctorate from Columbia. Her tenure from 1927 to 1939 oversaw the transformation of Bradford in 1932 into a liberal arts junior college for women leading to a bachelor's degree. With degrees in classics from Oberlin and Smith, scholar Dorothy M. Bell became president in 1940. Over the ensuing 27 years, Bell led Bradford Junior College through World War II and to national and international prestige as a two-year liberal arts private women's college, retiring in 1967. The college became coeducational, and the name changed to Bradford College in 1971. During the 1990s, annual budget shortfalls of more than $1 million, combined with declining enrollment and revenues and resulting losses due to competition from larger regional institutions, sealed the school's fate. In 1997, the school incurred an $18 million debt when it refinanced old debt and sought funds to build new dormitories. After 197 years, Bradford College was closed in 2000, leaving substantial debt. In late 2007, the remaining endowment of $3.6 million was awarded to

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

, an alternative

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...

. With the closing, 33 full-time professors and 133 employees, were left without jobs.

Property sold

According to the

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

denomination, an affiliate of

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 1,001 stores in 48 U.S. states. The Green family fo ...

stores (founder: David Green) purchased the former Bradford College campus in 2007. Renovation needed to be done before a new school opened on the campus. An estimated $5 million worth of repairs and upgrades were needed before the campus reopened for the fall semester of 2008. Green and his affiliates covered the cost of repairs. The , multimillion-dollar campus, was then given to Zion Bible College, the Assemblies of God Bible school previously located at the former campus of the Barrington College in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, approximately southeast of Providence. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 17,153. Barrington was founded by Congregationalist separ ...

Notable alumni

* George H. Atkinson, missionary in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

* Sarah Charlesworth, artist * Alice Blanchard Coleman, missionary society leader and writer *

Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...

, author, son of Bradford faculty

Andre Dubus Andre Jules Dubus II (August 11, 1936 – February 24, 1999) was an American writer of Short story, short stories, Novel, novels, and Essay, essays. Biography Early life and education Andre Jules Dubus II was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, t ...

; attended briefly * Esther Forbes, author of '' Johnny Tremain'' and other works * Ann Hasseltine Judson, 19th-century Christian missionary to Asia * John Taylor Jones, early missionary to Thailand * Nayef Samhat, president of

Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1854, it is one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the American Civil War that still ope ...

* Lucy Goodale Thurston, 19th-century Christian Hawaiian missionary * Portia Washington Pittman, daughter of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

& the institution's first African-American graduate

Notable faculty

* Douglas Huebler, artist *

, writer * Marion Coats Graves * Helen Augusta Whittier, taught art history

Notes and references

External links

Bradford College Alumni Association
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Haverhill, Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1804 Educational institutions disestablished in 2000 Defunct private universities and colleges in Massachusetts Former women's universities and colleges in the United States 1804 establishments in Massachusetts 2000 disestablishments in Massachusetts Universities and colleges disestablished in the 20th century