Founder John Todd | ||
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Similar Leander Clark College, Midwestern College, Lenox College, Vennard College, Westmar University | ||
Tabor College was a Christian college in Tabor, Iowa that operated from 1853 to 1927. It is now defunct.
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History
The school's roots date to 1852 when Deacon Samuel A. Adams, George Gaston, and Rev. John Todd came to Iowa for the purpose of establishing a Christian college, and in 1853 they established the Tabor Literary Institute. Many of the founders were abolitionists and affiliated with the Congregationalists, and their goal was to found an egalitarian school similar to Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1866 the institute was renamed Tabor College and received collegiate powers. Henry J. Steere, a philanthropist from New England gave major donations to the school in the late nineteenth century, but after various financial struggles the school closed in 1927. After several unsuccessful attempts to attract students in the 1930s and early 1940s, such as recruiting only boys in the bottom of their high school classes, the school failed to reopen again as an educational institution. During World War II, the U.S. Government housed German P.O.W.s in the school buildings. All of the campus' buildings were eventually demolished except for Adams Hall, which is now an apartment building. The University of Iowa archives contain the student records for Tabor.