Old Post Road - Established 1666 - Cokesbury College
Harford County, Harford County, Maryland
Marker Inscription
Cokesbury College The first Methodist College in the world established at Abingdon June 5, 1785 by Bishops Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury. Destroyed by fire December 4, 1795. Located 175 yards east of this point. Erected by the Governor William Paca Chapt… transcription continues on the marker
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The Story
In the young republic's earliest years, the newly organized Methodist Episcopal Church set out to plant education alongside faith, and in 1785 its founding bishops opened Cokesbury College at Abingdon, Maryland — named for the two men who led it. Championed as the first Methodist college in the world, the school rose on the old post road that had carried travelers and mail through Harford County since the 1600s. Its life was brief: a decade after opening, fire consumed the building in December 1795, and the ambitious experiment ended in ashes 175 yards east of where this marker stands.
Why it matters
Cokesbury marked American Methodism's first bid to join religion and higher learning, an early chapter in the nation's long tradition of church-founded colleges shaping the young republic.
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Related people
- · Bishop Thomas Coke
- · Bishop Francis Asbury
Related events
- · Founding of Cokesbury College (1785)
- · Destruction of Cokesbury College by fire (1795)
Themes & tags
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