Red River Valley University was a private liberal arts

Liberal arts colleges in the United States

Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...

 college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

 located in Wahpeton

Wahpeton, North Dakota

The first European explorer in the area was Jonathan Carver in 1767. He explored and mapped the Northwest at the request of Major Robert Rogers, commander of Fort Michilimackinac, the British fort at Mackinaw City, Michigan, which protected the passage between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron...

, North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, and affiliated with the Methodist Church. The university opened in 1893, and operated independently until 1905, when limited funds forced the closure of the Wahpeton campus. The university's trustees then forged an affiliation agreement with the University of North Dakota

University of North Dakota

The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...

 (UND), and reopened the school on the UND campus as "Wesley College."

The former Red River Valley University building in Wahpeton still survives, and is known as Old Main on the campus of North Dakota State College of Science

North Dakota State College of Science

The North Dakota State College of Science is a 2-year public college in Wahpeton, North Dakota and part of the North Dakota University System...

. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.