Elias Ayers, one of the most active members of the seminary’s board of directors, offered a memorial to the seminary in honor of his son, who had died while studying for the ministry. The gift of $15,000, which included the land to build a new facility, also included the stipulation that it be located permanently in New Albany. The seminary was built in New Albany at Sixth and Elm Streets. In November of 1840, classes began.
Elias died in January of 1842, too soon before all his expectations of a successful seminary could be realized. Elias’ widow, Mary Ann Silliman Ayers, remarried to Rev. Philip Lindsley in April of 1849. Rev. Lindsley had been acting president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) 1822-1823, and chancellor of the University of Nashville for 25 years. He had also been a kinsman of Ayers, both being born in Morris Co., New Jersey. Following his marriage to Ayers' widow, Rev. Lindsley had relocated in New Albany, and was persuaded to teach at the seminary, which he did for two years, without compensation. The school continued to struggle and relocated after the commencement of 1857, to Chicago, and currently is known as the McCormick Theological Seminary. The building in New Albany was utilized as the New Albany Female Seminary, then Tousley's School, and as a Civil War Hospital, and eventually a coffin factory.
Photograph [725 P8 211] used with permission of the Stuart B. Wrege Indiana History Room, New Albany-Floyd County Public Library. Information garnered from documents in VF Schools - Ayers University, particularly “McCormick Theological Seminary: An Informal History” by Marshal L. Scott, and “The McCormick Story – Celebrating 125 Years (1829 – 1955) of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois."
