Vivion Home

The Vivion Farm and Home: A Kansas City Landmark

A landmark in Kansas City for many years, the Vivion Home currently serves as the residence for the president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary & College, SBC. The Antebellum-style farm home sits majestically atop a grassy hill that is lined with towering hardwood trees. With antique barns and sheds, the Vivion Farm is the gateway to MBTS.

The present home is the second on this site. The original house was built in 1876 by Maj. Harvey Jackson Vivion, a Confederate civil war officer. Vivion’s daughter, Mrs. Sheffa Foster, and her husband, Benjamin, came to live in the Vivion Farm house following their marriage in 1915. The home was completely destroyed by fire in 1947 and rebuilt in 1948.

In the years that Mrs. Foster resided on the farm, it served as an area showplace. The pasture was always mowed to resemble a city park and the house was surrounded by flower gardens. The fences to the south and west of the farm were covered with climbing roses, and during the summer there was almost a mile of red blooms.

Mrs. Foster sold the 99.4 acres surrounding the house to Midwestern in 1957. Then the home and the surrounding five acres were bequeathed to the Seminary at the time of her death in 1966. The Seminary still stands on 100 acres of land purchased from Mrs. Foster in 1957 for the original site of the school. Many of the home’s furnishings are from the early 1900s and were a part of the Foster estate.

The Vivion Home has housed all four Midwestern presidents and their families. Dr. Millard Berquist renovated and redecorated the home while living there from 1967-1972; Dr. Milton Ferguson and family resided there from 1973-1995; Dr. Mark Coppenger’s family lived there from 1995-1999; and Dr. Phil Roberts and family have renovated and held the residence since their coming to Midwestern in 2001.