Founders of the General Assembly Training School
(for more information about each founder, read Dr. W. L. Lingle's Founders' Day speech, 1948)
Rev. A. L. Phillips, D. D.
ATS was born in the heart of Dr. Phillips. Through the efforts of Dr. Phillips and Mr. R. E. Magill, the General Assembly approved the creation of ATS. Sadly, Rev. Dr. Phillips died only a few months after the school opened.
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Dr. Walter L. Moore
Dr. Moore was President of Union Theological Seminary in 1914, and became one of the co-founders of ATS. When Miss Annie Wilson, of Richmond, volunteered for the foreign field, and in 1907 she asked UTS to allow her to take certain courses to prepare her for foreign work, Dr. Moore began to see the need of a Training School for Mission workers.
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Ms. Annie Wilson
Annie Wilson was commissioned as a missionary to the foreign fields. In 1907, she requested permission to attend lectures at Union Theological Seminary in order to prepare for her mission work. Even though seminary education was intended for men only at the time, Dr. Moore agreed to her request. Because of her request, Dr. Moore and Dr. Phillips began to organize a school to prepare women and men for lay ministry.
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Dr. R. E. Magill
Dr. Phillips brought Dr. Magill to Richmond to be the Business Manager of the Presbyterian Publication Committee, where he soon became Secretary. He and Dr. Phillips created a training school in Nashville, which ultimately closed. Their efforts created ATS in Richmond, VA.
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Mr. Ownsley Sanders
An elder at Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, Mr. Sanders was the President of the Presbyterian League of Richmond. With his tremendous fund-raising efforts, ATS was able to purchase the two-acre site from Union Theological Seminary and run the school for three years in rented buildings.
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Dr. Walter L. Lingle
Elected the first president of ATS in 1918, Dr. Lingle saw the first buildings purchased and the campus expand by the time he left in 1922. He was also a professor at Union Theological Seminary, editor of the Seminary Review, Chairman of the Montreat Program Committee and Platform manager, President of the Trustees of Davidson College, and a member of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee during his tenure as president.
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Rev. William Megginson |
General Assembly Minutes
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Chosen by Dr. Phillips, Rev. Megginson became the first dean of ATS. His pioneer service for four years helped establish the school in Richmond.
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Click on photo above to read the 1912 and 1914 minutes of the General Assembly's approval and control of the Assembly's Training School.
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