Judson University is a private Baptist university in Elgin, Illinois. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Judson was formed out of the liberal arts component of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. When the seminary moved from Chicago to Lombard, Illinois, it was decided to make the college separate from the seminary. Originally known as Judson College, it was named after Adoniram Judson, the first American Baptist missionary to foreign shores. The university has campuses in Elgin and Rockford, Illinois, and a student body of approximately 1,300. Judson College became Judson University on August 28, 2007. History Judson was formed out of the liberal arts component of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (NBTS), which was founded in 1913. In the early 1960s, when the seminary portion of Northern moved from Chicago to Lombard it was decided to make the college an independent entity. Under the guidance of Benjamin P. Browne, the college and seminary president, Judson College was founded along the shores of the Fox River in Elgin in 1963. The college was named after Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary abroad, who went to Burma in 1813 and would spend 37 years overseas. The land where Judson College was founded was an estate belonging to Margaret Deuterman, a doctor's widow. Deuterman was ready to sell the estate at $150,000 to a business that was planning to convert it into an entertainment club, but she was willing to listen to Browne and the other men from NBTS in their effort to use the estate to build the college. Mrs. Deuterman agreed to sell the estate for $100,000, and all she required was $500 earnest money to secure the property. No one else had any cash, except for Browne, who had $5. But Amos Barton, a college trustee who owned a construction business, had his company checkbook, and he agreed to loan the college the $500 needed to secure the property. The college received a charter from the State of Illinois, dated March 11, 1963. Judson College was financially strapped for most of its first ten years of existence and faced fierce opposition from the trustees of NBTS, other Baptist seminaries, other Baptist colleges, and even from the leadership of the American Baptists. Despite this, enrollment continued to grow, and by its fifth year, Judson was sending more graduates to Baptist seminaries than all the other established Baptist colleges. Judson College