Not unlike other older seminaries, RPTS occupied various homes in several states in its early years. This was due to the fact that the seminary would settle wherever the sole professor also served as a pastor, and students would go there to study under him.

After its fledgling start in Philadelphia, the “moving seminary” followed its various professors until it grew and finally settled in a more permanent location on Pittsburgh’s East End.

Following is a brief summary of the seminary’s sojourns (its name seemed to reflect its physical location), as much as can be known by using Glasgow’s and Copeland’s histories.

Philadelphia Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor S. B. Wylie, 1810–17. The location is uncertain, but perhaps it was at the First Reformed Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The seminary was suspended from 1818–23; courses were pursued under designated ministers. Philadelphia Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor S. B. Wylie, 1823–36. Coldenham Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor J. R. Willson, 1836–38. Classes were possibly held in his home, or in the church in Coldenham, N.Y.
Eastern Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor J. R. Willson, 1838–40. While the name referenced is different, this was still the Coldenham location in N.Y. Western Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor T. Sproull, 1838–40. Located on Pittsburgh’s North Side, then the city of Allegheny, Pa. Allegheny Theological Seminary, Pastors/Professors J. R. Willson and T. Sproull, 1840–45. Located on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Cincinnati Theological Seminary, Pastor/Professor J. R. Willson, 1845–49. In its first year, the Seminary was in a framed Methodist church on Elm Street, and then at the RP Church Hall at Vine and 11th Streets. In its final years in Cincinnati, the seminary was housed in a newly erected frame church on Vine Street. Northwood Theological Seminary, Ohio, Pastor/Professor J. R. Willson, 1849–51. Theological Department of Geneva Hall, Northwood, Ohio, 1851–56, then the city of Allegheny, Pa. Pastors/Professors J. B. Johnston, J. and C. K. Milligan, J. R. Willson. Allegheny Theological Seminary, Northside, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1856–1922. Pastor/Professor J. M. Willson. First located at Bidwell Street from 1856–1858. It then was housed at Sandusky and Lacock Streets from 1858–1873 before landing at 8 West North Avenue from 1873–1922. East End Reformed Presbyterian Church on N. Highland at Harvard in East Liberty, Pa. (now Pittsburgh). The seminary was temporarily between the Northside and Penn Avenue Locations from 1922–1924. The East End church is no longer standing, but its pews and pulpit are now in use at Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Pa. Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 7418 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, 1924–present, is in one of the few mansions still standing on Penn Avenue. Originally home to Durbin Horne of the Horne department stores family in Pittsburgh. A chapel was added in 1960 at the original entrance to the building, with several other significant renovations, as well as the addition of a library wing in 1971.

—By Grant Van Leuven; research compiled by John Mitchell