The Presbyterian College, which would eventually become Pine Hill Divinity Hall
The Halifax Free Church College (1848-1878) was established by the Free Church Presbyterians in Halifax in 1848. There were three students enrolled in 1848. By 1860, twenty six had graduated from the school. When the Seccession and Free Church Presbyterians merged in 1860, the Truro Seminary (formerly the West River Seminary), run by the Seccessionists, joined with the Free Church College. With the union of all Presbyterians into the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1875, the college grew and soon needed more space. It met in various buildings in Halifax until it purchased Albro House in 1878. By an act of Parliament in 1879, the college became known simply as the Presbyterian College, Halifax. The first degrees from the Presbyterian College were granted in 1883.
After church union in 1925, the Presbyterian College was amalgamated with the Methodist theology department of Mount Allison University and was renamed the Theological College of the United Church of Canada, Halifax. In 1927, the Board decided on Pine Hill Divinity Hall as the name of the new theological college which was created by an act of Parliament in 1930. The College granted the degrees of Bachelor of Theology, Bachelor of Divinity, Master of Divinity, and Master of Theology as well as the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. The College also held a Lay Supply Summer School for a number of years after 1962.
In the 1971, the College merged with the Divinity Faculty of the University of King’s College (the Anglican Church of Canada) and Holy Heart Theological Institute (The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Halifax) to become the Atlantic School of Theology.
From information compiled by Judith Colwell
