The Genesee Wesleyan Seminary was the name of two institutions located on the same site in Lima, New York. The Genesee Wesleyan Seminary (I) was founded in 1831 by the Genesee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The plan for its establishment dates to 1829 when the Conference appointed a committee for this purpose. In 1849, there was a substantive attempt to upgrade the institution to a truly college-level entity, and Genessee College was created to replace the seminary. By the end of the Civil War, the location at Lima was seen as too limiting, and plans by civic leaders in Syracuse for a new university in that city led to the removal of Genesee College to Syracuse in 1870, where it became the basis of Syracuse University.