Owen Memorial Hall

The Owen Monument and Memorial Hall is located inside the Christian College of Nursing. The monument was erected in 1914 in memory of missionary Clement Owen who, together with Priest Bae Yoo-ji, was the first missionary to come to Jeollanam-do Province. The monument was built using the 4,200 dollars collected by Owen’s relatives in the USA after Owen died as a martyr in Gwangju.

A Western-style building with a total surface area of 434 square meters (including the annex building), the monument is said to have been used as chapel and assembly room. Today, the building serves as the auditorium of the Christian College of Nursing.

Clement Owen came to Yangnim-dong, Gwangju in the 1900s and served as a missionary and medical volunteer with his wife, who was a nurse, before dying of exhaustion and overwork in 1909. Owen had hoped to build a memorial hospital in honor of his grandfather, but died before his plan was materialized. The plaque hanging in the hall honors both men in English and Chinese reading, “In Memory of William L. and Clement C. Owen.”