Its primary goal was to prepare men for the priesthood of the New Church. Following the establishment of the Theological School and a collegiate department, later to become Bryn Athyn College, the Boys School opened in 1881.[2] In 1884, a girls' school, privately set up by Sarah DeCharms Hibbard, merged with the Academy.[2]
At the start of the 20th century, the schools relocated to what was then the countryside near Philadelphia, in Montgomery County.[2] Funding from PPG Industries founder John Pitcairn enabled the construction of the new campus. Later, in the 1960s, the college moved to a separate, adjacent campus.[2]
^Rogers, Sam L.; Census, United States Bureau of the; Hunt, William Chamberlin; Bliss, Edwin Munsell; Office, United States Census (1919). Religious Bodies, 1916: Summary and general tables. U.S. Government Printing Office.