Belleview College
Encyclopedia
Westminster, Colorado
Westminster is a Home Rule Municipality in Adams and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Westminster is a northwest suburb of Denver. The Westminster Municipal Center is located north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol. The United States Census Bureau that the city population...
, operated by the Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
and founded by Bishop Alma Bridwell White
Alma Bridwell White
Alma Bridwell White was the founder, and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop in the United States...
.
History
Around 1890, a New Yorker, Henry T. Mayham, convinced the Denver Presbytery to build a Presbyterian University on land that he owned on Crown Point, the highest point in what was then Arapaho County. The architect E. B. Gregory drew up plans for the main building and the cornerstone was laid in 1891. Funds were scarce in the years prior to the depression of 1893, and construction was delayed. Mayham hired his friend Stanford WhiteStanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
, to design the main building, now known as Westminster Castle
Westminster Castle
The Westminster Castle, also locally known as "The Big Red Castle" or "The Pillar of Fire" is a historic landmark located in Westminster, Colorado, northwest of Denver near the intersection of 83rd and Federal...
. White's plan was a three-story structure built from the native red sandstone quarried in Colorado's Red Rocks region. Mayham raised money for the project and Marcy Tabor, son of Augusta and H. A. W. Tabor, contributed $106K from his mother's estate to the college. The school was incorporated as Westminster University of Colorado. Classes began at the Crown Point location in September 1908. In 1915, the board of trustees changed the coed university to an all-male school. In 1917, all of the students went to fight in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the college was closed.
In 1920, the school was sold to the Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
which established an Elementary School, High School, Junior College and Bible Seminary on the site. In 1925, the name was changed to Belleview College and Preparatory School. In the late 1920s the campus was frequently used for Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
meetings and cross burnings
Cross burning
Cross burning or cross lighting is a practice widely associated with the Ku Klux Klan, although the historical practice long predates the Klan's inception...
. But in 1997, the Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
, the school's owner and parent organization, repudiated its historical association with the Klan.
The Belleview facility is still owned and operated by the Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.