Tag: Wilberforce

Wilberforce is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,579 at the 2000 census. The community was named for the English statesman William Wilberforce, who worked for abolition of slavery and achieved the end of the slave trade in the United Kingdom and its empire. The small community was an important stop on the Underground Railroad before the American Civil War, as it had seven stations.
The community has two historically black universities, Wilberforce University, with its associated Payne Theological Seminary, and Central State University.
Wilberforce University was established in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1863 the AME Church bought the college after its temporary closing due to financial problems, making it the first to be owned and operated by African Americans. Bishop Daniel Payne, who led the founding and later purchase of the college, was its first president and served…