Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary is the result of the interweaving of three institutions:

• Garrett Biblical Institute (Founded 1853)
• The Chicago Training School for City, Home and Foreign Missions (Founded 1934)
• Evangelical Theological Seminary (Founded 1873)

What has remained consistent through the histories of Garrett Biblical Institute, Evangelical Theological Seminary, and the Chicago Training School has been an unwavering, core commitment to the formation of Christian leaders. These institutional histories live on in the school’s core values of critical and creative reason, evangelical commitment, and prophetic participation in society.

Garrett-Evangelical is on the campus of Northwestern University and continues many associations with the university. Both institutions were founded by the same clergy of Methodists in the mid-nineteenth century. Garrett was an institution that specialized in preparing women for ministry. Dr. Georgia Harkness was the first woman to hold the position of professor of theology at any seminary in the United States. The Center for the Church and the Black Experience was one of the earliest centers focusing on religion, ministry and the African American experience.