Ouachita Baptist University

Specialties

Ouachita Baptist University is a church-​related, liberal arts university whose aims are to meet the educational needs of students and to prepare them for places of leadership and service.

History

Established in 1886.

Ouachita Baptist University (pronounced Wash’-uh-taw) was named for the Ouachita River, which forms the eastern boundary of the campus. Ouachita is a Caddo Indian word which is thought to have meant «eastern boundary of our nation.»

Ouachita Baptist University, located on the banks of the Ouachita River in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, opened for the first session on September 6, 1886, and has operated continuously since that date.

Interest in a Baptist school antedated the opening by many years. Caleb Lindsey, a Baptist preacher from Kentucky, was operating a private school in what is now Randolph County in 1816. In 1850 a committee on ministerial education recommended to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention steps necessary to establish a «seminary for the education of her ministry.» Interest continued, and in 1857 this committee recommended raising an endowment fund. The following year, W. R. Trewick and W. M. Lea, agents, secured pledges amounting to $ 42,000. By 1860 the endowment reach