Hulbert, Eri B. (Eri Baker), 1841-1907

Eri B. Hulbert, Jr., born in Chicago, 1841. Attended Union College, Hamilton Theological Seminary (1865). Pastor of Fourth Baptist Church (1878). Professor, Union Theological Seminary (1881), acting president (1884-1885). First dean of University of Chicago Divinity School. Died 1907.

Eri B. Hulbert, Jr. was born in Chicago in 1841, and lived in the city until leaving to attend Union College. After graduation from that institution, he attended Hamilton Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1865. He immediately accepted a pastorate in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he stayed for three years. From 1868 to 1870 he was in charge of mission work in the rolling mills in Chicago. After Chicago, he became pastor of Baptist churches in St. Paul, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. In 1878, Hulbert returned to Chicago to become pastor of the Fourth Baptist Church.

In 1881, Hulbert surrendered his pastorate to accept the professorship of church history with Union Theological Seminary. While at the seminary, he became an associate of William Rainey Harper, first president of the University of Chicago, and Thomas W. Goodspeed. Hulbert served as acting president of the seminary in 1884 and 1885, and was appointed dean when the seminary merged with the University and formed the Divinity School. Hulbert served in that capacity until his death, in 1907.