The older of the two, Broaddus Institute, was founded in Winchester, Virginia, in 1871 by Edward Jefferson Willis, a Baptist minister who named the new school after Rev.

William Francis Ferguson Broaddus, a prominent Baptist minister at the time of the American Civil War.

In response to economic hard times, Broaddus Institute was moved across the Allegheny Mountains to Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1876.

In June 2017, the Higher Learning Commission put the University on probation because it determined that the institution was at risk due to financial difficulties.

[5] On July 31, 2023, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission revoked Alderson Broaddus University's ability to confer degrees after the end of 2023 and ordered to it cease admitting students so it can begin to close.

The commission stated that the "University's financial condition renders the institution unable to create a stable, effective, and safe learning environment for its students".

The campus occupied a rolling hilltop overlooking the Tygart Valley River and the community of Philippi, with its county courthouse, church spires and the historic Philippi Covered Bridge, used by both Confederate and Union troops during the first land battle of the Civil War.

Known as the "Battlers" (harkening back to the 1861 Battle of Philippi), Alderson Broaddus was a member of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and NCAA Division II.

AB and its predecessor institutions had been members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) since that league's formation in 1924.

Shortly after the announcement of the Mountain East split, AB found a new conference home, accepting an invitation to join the G-MAC in the fall of 2013.

[11] AB and three other West Virginia schools—former WVIAC members Davis & Elkins and Ohio Valley, plus independent Salem International—all entered the G-MAC.

[11] In 2012 AB started its football program, initially competing at the club level before moving up to Division 2 the following year.