Washington Adventist University was established in 1904 as a coeducational institution known as the Washington Training College. Its purpose was to train young men and women in the liberal arts. In 1907, when the name was changed to Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, the more limited objective of special training for missionaries replaced the original concept of a liberal arts college. In 1914 the college resumed the status of a liberal arts college and took the name Washington Missionary College.
