The oldest Jesuit seminary in the United States, training priests from 1869 to 1974.
Woodstock College was established in 1869 as the first and only Jesuit seminary in the United States, intended to train the majority of American Jesuit priests. Located on 249 acres along the Patapsco River in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore, it served this mission for over a century. In the 1960s, influenced by the Second Vatican Council and evolving theological education practices, the college began considering relocation to an urban setting.
In 1969, Woodstock College moved to New York City and operated in cooperation with Union Theological Seminary and Jewish Theological Seminary. However, controversies over urban lifestyle practices and the Jesuit order's desire to consolidate its theology schools nationally led to the institution's closure in 1974. Its resources and assets were transferred to the Woodstock Theological Center, an independent Catholic research institute established at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The original Woodstock campus buildings are now used as a Job Corps Center, while the grounds form part of Patapsco Valley State Park. The theological library retained its independence through affiliation with Georgetown University's library system, preserving Woodstock's scholarly legacy.