Free Methodist leaders bought and developed 10 acres of land with two vacant buildings in 1872 to found Spring Arbor Seminary, seeking to combine sound and thorough scholarship with careful religious training, a commitment that continued to guide Spring Arbor University. Founded in 1873 near the site of a former Potawatomi Indian village and on property that once belonged to Michigan Central College, now Hillsdale College, the seminary was devoted to earnest Christianity and sound learning and was open to all children regardless of religious conviction or belief. In the 1920s, the school added junior college courses and became Spring Arbor Seminary and Junior College. In the early 1960s, its high school program ended and it received collegiate accreditation as Spring Arbor College. After later adding programs for adults and graduates, it officially became Spring Arbor University in 2001, an accredited university with a wide range of degree offerings, while remaining devoted across its campuses to liberal arts study, commitment to Jesus Christ as the perspective for learning, and critical participation in the contemporary world.