Fall 2007 - Northwestern College

125-year anniversary
125 Years
in the life of
Northwestern College
Coverstory
Rev. Seine Bolks was the driving force
behind the founding of Northwestern
Classical Academy and served as a
charter member of its Board of
Trustees.
I
Early pioneers who surveyed northwest Iowa in 1869 for a suitable location for a Dutch colony.
n 1870, three wagon trains of Dutch settlers arrived in
northwest Iowa and founded a town they named Orange
City, after the royal family in the Netherlands. Two years
later, the Rev. Seine Bolks arrived in Orange City to serve
as pastor of the First Reformed Church—in part to pursue
his dream of founding a Christian college. That
dream, however, was delayed by plagues of grasshoppers
that decimated crops until, in 1882, local banker Henry
Hospers donated land and led in pledging funds for
“Northwestern Classical Academy.”
Orange City businessman Henry Hospers, shown here with his
family, donated land and led in pledging funds for the academy.
18 ▲ Fall 2007