Cotner College, also known as Nebraska Christian University, is a former religious college located in present-day Lincoln, Nebraska, which was founded in 1889 by the Nebraska Christian Missionary Alliance.
History
thumb|right|150px|Samuel Cotner
In 1886, several local businessmen marketed 300 acres of land as free real estate for a college, hoping that a town would form around the college and increase the property value of their adjacent land holdings. The following year, in 1890, the institution was renamed Cotner College in honor of Omaha resident Samuel Cotner, a major donor to the college.
Both the college and the town remained small - Cotner College opened with a class of 30 students in 1889 and by 1900, Bethany Heights had a population of only 360, despite being a suburb of Lincoln which in the same year had 37,000 residents.
Bethany Heights was annexed by Lincoln in 1926, and Cotner College closed Bethany Heights location in 1933.
- Henry Howard Bagg (1853–1928), calendar artist, taught at Cotner College from 1902 to 1916.
- Lewis Worthington Smith, English professor
See also
- Bethany, Nebraska
- James A. Beattie House
- History of Lincoln, Nebraska
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln
- College View, Nebraska
- Union College (Nebraska)
- Neighborhoods in Lincoln, Nebraska