OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Hobby Lobby says it plans to donate the campus of the now-defunct St. Gregory’s University to nearby Oklahoma Baptist University.
The Oklahoma City-based craft retailer and its founding Green family announced Friday that they’ve scheduled a Wednesday news conference to formally announce details of the donation.
St. Gregory’s was founded in 1875 as a Roman Catholic mission run in Atoka, Oklahoma, by Benedictine monks. The monks founded a college in Konawa, Oklahoma, in 1877, and moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1910 after a fire destroyed the original college building.
The university closed in 2017 after failing to receive a $12.5 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hobby Lobby bought the 75-acre campus a year ago for $8 million and leased it to Oklahoma Baptist. The OBU main campus also is in Shawnee, which is 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City.
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