Euphrates College

Euphrates College (Turkish: Fırat Koleji, Armenian: Եփրատ Գոլէճ) was a coeducational high school in Harput (today Elazığ), a town in the eastern Turkey, founded and directed by American missionaries for mostly the Armenian community in the region.

History

In 1852 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established a theological seminary in Harput to educate clergymen for the Armenian Evangelical Church, and expanded it 1859 to "American Harput Missionary College". To meet the growing demand for general education in English language, the school's program was extended in 1878, and it was renamed "Armenia College". However, after 10 years, the Ottoman authorities urged to change the school's name, which became finally "Euphrates College". For the building of the college, $140,000 funds were raised from the US Government and $40,000 from the local people in 1875. The facilities at the college consisted of a hospital and an orphanage in addition to a theological seminary and high schools for boys and girls.

In 1895, Kurds looted and burned the Armenian villages on the Harput plain, and in the same month the town was attacked and eight of the twelve buildings on the campus were burned down.

In 1915 several of the leading Armenian members of the faculty were arrested, tortured, and executed on trumped-up charges. The college buildings were then occupied by the Ottoman Military and initially used as training camp, and later as a military hospital.

Euphrates College was officially closed shortly after the founding of the Republic of Turkey and nothing now remains of its buildings.

Presidents

• Dr. Crosby Wheeler (1878-1893)
• Dr. James Levi Barton (1893-1894)
• Dr. Caleb Frank Gates (1894-1903)
• Rev. Henry H. Riggs (1903-1910)

Faculty

• Ellsworth Huntington (1897–1901)
• Ashur Yousif
• Donabed Lulejian

See also

• List of missionary schools in Turkey
• List of high schools in Turkey

External links

• Armeniapedia
• Minorities schools in the Ottoman Empire (Turkish)
• Beloit College
• Hellenic Resources Network, American institutions under Turkish rule