- Euphrates College
Euphrates College (Turkish: "Fırat Koleji", Armenian: "Եփրատ Քոլեջ") was a
coeducation al high school in Harput (today Elazığ), a town in the easternTurkey , founded and directed by American missionaries for mostly the Armenian community in the region.History
The
American Board of Foreign Missions established 1852 atheological seminary in Harput to educateclergy men for theArmenian 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 collge 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. [Henry H. Riggs, "Days of Tragedy in Armenia: Personal Experiences in Harpoot, 1915-1917", 1997, Michigan.]
Euphrates College was officially closed shortly after the founding of the
Republic of Turkey and nothing now remains of its buildings.Presidents
* Dr. James Levi Barton (1893-1894)
* Dr. Crosby Wheeler (1894)
* Dr. Caleb Frank Gates (1894-1903)
* Rev. Henry H. Riggs (1903-1910]Faculty
*
Ellsworth Huntington (1897–1901)
*Ashur Yousif
*Donabed Lulejian ee also
*
List of missionary schools in Turkey
*List of high schools in Turkey
*Massacres in Harput District References
External links
* [http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Rediscovering_Armenia_Guidebook-_Western_Armenia Armeniapedia]
* [http://host.nigde.edu.tr/~remzikilic/yayinlar/OsmanliTurkiyesindeAzinlikOkullari.html Minorities schools in the Ottoman Empire] tr icon
* [http://www.beloit.edu/~oie/campus_internat/history_1898_1914.html Beloit College]
* [http://www.hri.org/docs/Horton/hb-31.html Hellenic Resources Network, American institutions under Turkish rule]
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