Pillsbury Baptist Bible College was an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist college in Owatonna, Minnesota, United States, in operation 1957â€"2008. Pillsbury described itself as a "biblical arts college." It offered a four-year program leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Bachelor of Science in Bible, as well as several associate degrees 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 comprising five campus buildings was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Pillsbury Academy Campus Historic District. It was nominated for having local significance in architecture, education, and religion as the only Baptist school among Minnesota's 19th-century private institutions of higher education, its fine architecture, and its association with benefactors Mark H. Dunnell and George A. Pillsbury.
History
Pillsbury People (Pillsbury Baptist Bible College) - I made this video to help me remember some of the people who made Pills the great school that it was from 1957 - 2008. I enjoyed making the video as it ...
The campus was first opened as the Minnesota Academy on September 10, 1877, by the Minnesota Baptist State Convention as a college-preparatory school. The name was changed to the Pillsbury Academy in 1886 in honor of one of its chief donors, George A. Pillsbury of the First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and one-time mayor of the city. 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 (1910â€"11), Lindsay Hall (1913â€"14), and a heating plant (1893).
In February 2005, Pillsbury received accreditation by the Association for Biblical Higher Education (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 1970s 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 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 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 a NCAA division III institution. It was a member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference until 1988. They were the men's golf champions of their conference in 1995.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Steele County, Minnesota
References
External links
- Pillsbury Baptist Bible College â€" Official from archive.org
- Pillsbury College Prep
- Camp Pillsbury
