Adelphia College
Seattle, Washington
1905-1918
E-Travel
Adelphia College: Short-Lived Home of Capitol Hill’s Swedish Brothers and Sisters by Catherine Lin has a good short history. Both the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Union-Record carried news from the school. Yearly Enrollment and financial
statistics were carried by the American Baptist Yearbook and also by the Swedish language Statistik öfver svenskarna i Förenta Staterna intill året 1910 by Frederick Larsson. The 1913 ad is from the Post Intelligencer.
History
Adelphia College was founded in 1905 by the Swedish Baptist churches of Seattle to provide an opportunity for young people of foreign birth to receive an English language education. Under the direction of the Adelphia College Educational Association, the school was open to all students regardless of religious or national background.
The Post-Intelligencer stated that initially Adelphia College “will confine itself to preparing students for the University of Washington,” with plans to add collegiate, theological, commercial and musical departments. However, the 1915 Annual of the Northern Baptist Convention reported that the school had “not yet raised its work to full college level.” In 1913 The U.S. Department of Education listed
Fifteen Adelphia College students in 1909. Image from the University of Washington Special Collections.
Adelphia College as an accredited secondary schools in Washington state; the 1913 commencement shows six students graduating from the Commercial Department.
In January 1912 Adelphia College made national news by accepting 96 Chinese students and creating a Chinese Department with five faculty. The students were from the “wealthy high grade merchant class.” One writer noted that Adelphia College would become the “gateway” for future Chinese students, resulting in beneficial economic relations between the United States and China. The reality was that by November 1913 “the majority of the students had left.”
Larsson reported that in its first five years Adelphia College had enrolled a total of 187 students with 14 graduating. Yearly totals from American Baptist Yearbook show as few as 15 enrolled in 1917 to a peak of 63 in 1913. Such numbers limited extracurricular activities. However, at the tenth anniversary of the school in 1915 an Adelphia Choir performed. Lin notes that the school also had a debate team that competed against area schools.
Financial supporters of the school faced hard times because of World War I and were unable to continue support. Since twenty- five Adelphia College boys served in the war, enrollment numbers also suffered. The school closed in 1918.
Bricks and Mortar
The Adelphia campus was located on twenty acres of land at the corner of Miller Avenue and North 13th Street. Overlooking Lake Union, it was across from the University of Washington campus. The cornerstone for Adelphia Hall was laid on September 11, 1905. The four-story brick structure was completed in time for classes in 1906. Measuring 111 x 63 feet, it contained a gymnasium, several large classrooms and an assembly Hall. Until the building was completed, classes were held in the First Swedish Baptist Church.
In 1909, Schmidt Hall, a boys’ dormitory, was completed. Built at a cost of $30,000, the brick structure had space for 125 boys.
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Adelphia Hall. Image from Wikimedia Commons, taken from the University of Washington Special Collections
After the school closed, Adelphia Hall was purchased by Thomas McHugh, who gave it to what is now Seattle University. Then in 1931 Seattle University turned the building and campus over to its preparatory school. Adelphia Hall was razed in 2015.
Sports
Since Adelphia Hall contained a gymnasium, Adelphia students had a place for indoor sports. However, it was not until 1912 that newspapers show a basketball team representing the school. That year Adelphia College lost to Queen Anne High School 91-1. The Crusaders of Eastside High School also took the measure of Adelphia College 92-4. The following year newspapers reported that the Preston Amateur Association team “outlucked” Adelphia 38-2.
In 1914 Adelphia College had enough boys for two teams. The first team split games with a team from the Trinity Episcopal Church and “skinned” a team from Green Lake Baptist Church 52-5. A second team twice defeated the seconds of Green Lake Baptist. Apparently, World War I ended sports programs at Adelphia.
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