In 1852 the city of Tabor was founded by several Christian clergymen, who were also active abolitionists, (George Gaston, Samuel A. Adams, and Rev. John Todd) and their families. They chose to settle in what is now Tabor in order to found a Christian college, which eventually became Tabor College. The founders were impressed with this high location and mutually selected the name Tabor after the Biblical name of Mount Tabor, a mountain near Nazareth, the town of Jesus' childhood In the 1850s the abolitionist John Brown kept a store of weapons in Tabor, and met here with other supporters to plan his raids in Kansas and Virginia, including the Raid on Harpers Ferry. The town was the home of many abolitionists, including John Tod, a conductor on the Underground Railroad and co-founder of Tabor College. Tabor College was located in the city from 1853 to 1927 before it closed for financial reasons. The college's buildings housed German Prisoners of War during World War II.