On February 17, 1891, the Rev. John Gordon of Omaha, Nebraska, and the Rev. Stephen Phelps of Council Bluffs, Iowa, gathered 38 Presbyterian pastors and lay leaders for a meeting to share their dream of establishing a Presbyterian seminary at Omaha. They felt a genuine need for educated clergy to serve small, rural communities in the Midwest. In May the group presented a proposal for a new seminary in Omaha to the General Assembly meeting and received approval. The Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Omaha opened with six students in September 1891.
The Seminary prepared pastors to serve Presbyterian churches in the Midwest from 1891 until it closed in 1943. More than 1,000 individuals graduated from the seminary, primarily serving throughout the Midwest, but some graduates were called to other states or served as missionaries in many places around the world.
As the successor of the Seminary, the Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation uses the income from the Seminary's assets to support seminary students and ordained pastors. The Foundation's primary programs include: scholarships to seminary students; support of continuing education opportunities for clergy, commissioned lay pastors and lay leaders; sponsorship of annual Lectures in Omaha and Kansas City; and scholarships to clergy for the annual Omaha Presbyterian School for Pastors each summer on the campus at Hastings College.
The Seminary also conducted summer school sessions at Hollister, Missouri, beginning in 1930. The summer session was designed to give special attention to ministers in small churches in rural communities. The summer sessions had an average attendance of 55 students and offered 40 hours of study in its first nine years.
