Perhaps you have seen a 100 Years in Rutherford Hall brochure, poster, or social media post with the image accompanying this article. The Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) is celebrating the Lord’s goodness in giving us a permanent home in Pittsburgh, Pa., a century ago.

From its beginning in 1810 and through the next few decades, the denominational seminary of the RPCNA was nomadic in its existence. During this time, the RPCNA Synod would appoint a local pastor as a professor. Theological students would relocate to his pastorate to train under him. By 1856, the seminary had consolidated in the Pittsburgh area, with professors teaching in churches, a rented building, and a building it owned on North Avenue. Eventually, the professors petitioned Synod to provide a more suitable, permanent home. Let’s just say Synod responded with a bang!

The denomination ended up purchasing what was known at the time as the Horne Mansion (also nicknamed The Gables). This substantial brick mansion built at the turn of the 20th Century with wonderful grassy wooded grounds was in the Point Breeze area of Pittsburgh, where other millionaires with names such as Carnegie or Frick also had homes. Built by Durbin Horne, the son of the founder of the classy Horne Department Stores, this three-story building was purchased for $40,000 in 1923, with classes beginning the following year. This history is why we have 1923–1924 on our anniversary image. We are using last year and this year to celebrate and to request funds for ongoing renovations.

As we looked at this history, some discrepancies arose about these dates. In his excellent history on RPTS, Spare No Exertions, Dr. Bob Copeland states on page 69 that the Horne Mansion did not come up for sale until 1924, and he footnotes the 1924 Minutes of Synod. This purchase date of 1924 is repeated in the RPTS book To God Alone Be Glory that remembered the 200th anniversary of RPTS (p. 18) and in John Edgar’s History of the RPCNA 1920–1980 (p. 24). Yet some digging into the 1924 Synod Minutes reveals an interesting story.

Dr. Copeland footnotes page 21 of the 1924 Minutes, where in “Item 17. Purchase of Seminary building” we read,

“After weeks of negotiation we finally recommended to the Board of Trustees that the property be purchased. For the purchase price, $20,000 was available from the sale of the old Memorial Building, and $15,000 from the Hyslop estate.

The property was offered for $40,000, a price far below its real worth in the judgment of many. A majority of the committee felt that Synod would approve the purchase even though the price exceeds the limit set by $5,000.”

Reading this section, it does sound like the purchase was finalized at that 1924 Synod. However, these minutes in Item 17 were in a section of the “Unfinished Business” of Synod. What was occurring at the 1924 Synod was the finalization of $5,000 of the building’s financing after it had already been purchased. For, on page 22 of the minutes, we see that

“Of this $5,000, we report that $2,734 has been contributed by private individuals and Mr. J. F. Steele is on a note for $2,266, the balance still owed Mr. W. L. Stewart from whom the building was purchased.

We respectfully request that Synod ratifies the purchase of the building at a price paid and instruct the Board of Trustees to pay the note of J. F. Steel to W. L. Stewart for $2,266, with interest for eight months, out of undivided funds in the hands of the Board.”

Those eight months of interest would represent the Steele loan from Nov. 1923 to June 1924. The committee asked Synod to ratify a decision they had already made to approve the extra $5,000 on the purchase price and pay off the “swing loan” from Mr. Steele.

The 1923 purchase date is further confirmed in these same minutes in another place. On page 71 of the 1924 Minutes of Synod, we read the following from the seminary’s Board of Superintendents’ report:

“The Seminary year began on Tuesday, September 18, 1923 with a lecture by Professor McKnight on ‘What the Covenanter Ministry has to offer,’ delivered in the East End Church. In November the special committee appointed by Synod to secure a permanent location purchased the former Durbin Horne home at 7418 Penn Avenue, not far from the line between the city and Wilkinsburg, and a mile from the Wilkinsburg house. Work was begun in the new building after Thanksgiving.”

These minutes are from the Synod meeting on June 4–11, 1924. The reference to the year 1923 in this quote indicates that the purchase date was Nov. 1923.

To confirm this date, our director of institutional advancement, Mark Sampson, checked the Allegheny County tax records. He discovered a Nov. 14, 1923, transfer date of the building to the Trustees of the RPCNA. With these clarifications and the knowledge that classes began in 1924, we are thankful to our Synod forefathers for having the vision to purchase the building we now call Rutherford Hall. This special place is truly a home for our theological community and a wonderful environment for training pastors and kingdom workers to serve Christ’s church.

As we have renovated the basement level into a lovely kitchen, dining area, and student lounge; as we do further work this summer on the first floor to make our office and entryway more inviting and useful; and as we replace a 126-year-old slate roof, we are asking the Lord to help us “preserve, renew, and beautify” Rutherford Hall. We are making this effort not only for our current students but also—with a similar vision to those in the 1920s, we trust—for those who will be studying here another century from now!

If you would like to visit us to tour the building or support us in some way, please call us at (412) 731-6000, write to us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or visit our website at rpts.edu.

Author’s note: I consulted with Dr. Copeland before publishing this article, and he graciously concurred with our findings and helped further edit this history.