Bethel Academy was the second Methodist school in the United States. In 1790 Bishop Francis Asbury laid plans for Bethel Academy, four miles southeast of Wilmore on cliffs above the Kentucky River. It was operating by 1794 and closed about 1804 because of lack of funds and Indian hostilities. Its second site was in Nicholasville from 1820 to 1893. Asbury College, established in 1890 and named for Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop circuit rider in the United States, became the home of Asbury Theological Seminary in 1923. The original Bethel Academy site and the Asbury College Administration Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.