Smithville Seminary
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Smithville Seminary
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Smithville Seminary building in 2008
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| Location | 29 Institute Ln., Scituate, Rhode Island |
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| Coordinates | 41°50′03″N 71°34′59″W / 41.8342°N 71.5830°WCoordinates: 41°50′03″N 71°34′59″W / 41.8342°N 71.5830°W |
| Built | 1839 |
| Architect | Russell Warren (architect) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Part of | Smithville-North Scituate (#79000003) |
| NRHP Reference # | 78003446 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 29, 1978 |
| Designated CP | August 29, 1979 |
The Smithville Seminary was a Freewill Baptist institution established in 1839 on what is now Institute Lane in Smithville-North Scituate, Rhode Island. Renamed the Lapham Institute in 1863, it closed in 1876. The site was then used as the campus of the Pentecostal Collegiate Institute and later the Watchman Institute, and is now the Scituate Commons apartments. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The buildings on the knoll were built in 1839 and comprised a large three-story central building with columns and two wings. The wings, with 33 rooms each, were separated by 20 feet from the main building and connected to it via two-story covered passageways. The central building housed classrooms, offices, staff apartments, and dining facilities, a library and reading room on the second floor, and a large room on the third floor which might serve as a chapel, while the other two buildings served as separate male and female dormitories. The two-mile-long Lake Moswansicut could be seen from the third-floor chapel. The buildings were designed by Russell Warren, the leading Greek Revival architect in New England in the 20th century,
After the close of the renamed Lapham Institute, the campus became the site of the Pentecostal Collegiate Institute from 1902 to 1919 and, eventually, the Watchman Institute in 1923.
The site became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The buildings were also renovated in the 1970s and converted into apartments known as Scituate Commons.
Smithville Seminary was founded in 1839 by the Rhode Island Association of Free Baptists. At the time, the Free Baptists already had two academies, one in New Hampshire (the New Hampton Institute), the other in Maine (Parsonsfield Seminary), and Rhode Island desired to have one of their own. Reverend Hiram Brooks was asked to start the school, and raised $20,000, all of which he put toward buildings. Sadly, the entire commitment of these monies to brick and mortar rather than an endowment fund may have caused financial difficulties for the institution, as it was unable to support itself through tuition revenue.
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