Cazenovia College

Cazenovia College was a private college in Cazenovia, New York. Founded as the Genesee Seminary in 1824 and sponsored by the Methodist Church in 1894, the college adopted the name of Cazenovia Seminary. It was reorganized in 1942 after church sponsorship was withdrawn and was Cazenovia College for Women from 1961 to 1982, when the college became co-educational again. It closed on June 30, 2023 due to poor finances and other economic issues. History Cazenovia College began in 1824 as the Genesee Seminary and was the second Methodist seminary to be established in the United States. Between 1904 and 1931, it functioned as a secondary school for local young people, an arrangement that ended when Cazenovia Central High School was built. It was sponsored by the Methodist Church but was a non-sectarian institution. It was initially located in the old Madison County Courthouse. Cazenovia was co-educational from its foundation. The seminary was created at the instigation of George Peck and several other prominent clergymen in the area. In 1839, the seminary initiated a three year course, as it was called, which was focused at the education of women. The seminary also had a missionary course, and in 1843 Sophronia Farrington (class of 1828) went out as the first female missionary to Africa, under the auspices of the Young Men's Missionary Society of Boston. This was the earliest foreign mission established by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Later the institution was known as Cazenovia Seminary. It was known as the Oneida and Genesee Conference Seminary, the Oneida Conference Seminary, and the Central New York Conference Seminary over the years. It did not officially adopt the name Cazenovia Seminary until 1894 but the name was at times used from its inception and is often used to refer to it at any time before it became a college.