Miltonvale Wesleyan College
1909-1972
The Wesleyan Methodist Church as early as 1844 (then called the Wesleyan Connection) resolved: “that the supposition that the Scriptures do not require Christian, and especially Christian ministers, to study and become truly learned, when circumstances will permit, is a great and dangerous error.” Many attempts were made to found educational institutions in the form of colleges, institutes, and seminaries in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. A denominational school became a reality largely through the direction of Rev. Silas W. Bond in 1909 as the little village of Miltonvale, Kansas, proceeded to build both Miltonvale Wesleyan College and a conference campgrounds on adjoining sites. Great emphasis was placed on the student’s life as stated by Rev. Bond in 1915.
“Miltonvale Wesleyan College stands for the highest ideals in Christian experience, intellectual training, social culture and physical development, and in reaching these ideals, it is the purpose of the management to give every student training in the very best environment possible.”
Miltonvale Wesleyan merged in 1972 with the Bartlesville Wesleyan campus in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The “Holiness unto the Lord” motto seen above the door of the historical collector’s print of the Administration building served as one of the major goals for the life of the school. The Oklahoma campus is now known as Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
