Northland College - Wedge Yearbook (Ashland, WI)

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HISTORY OF NORTH LANDhCominued mately forty delegates met in the gospel tent of the Wisconsin Congregational Conference. Mr. Wheeler described the location of the tent as high on the brow of a hill overlooking the great valley. The door of the tent was covered by a huge bear skin, the bear having been killed and skinned only a few days before. Mr. Ellis told of a 321 pound rutabaga in the tent which was presented as evidence of the great fertility 01 Pratt tor a location. This dele- gation heard numerous addresses by old settlers, ministers, and educators from other schools. Their one aim was to establish a thoroughly Christian academy in order to develop the highest type of young manhod. While they DR. J. D. BROWNELL wished to prepare young people for a thorough college course, they also wished to incorporate industrial and commercial features into the proposed program. The institution was to be co-educational and open to all races. Thus these men prepared the way which led to the Articles of Incorporation, which, signed on October 1, 1891, and recorded on October 8th, made the North Wisconsin Academy a legal entity. The location had not been decided on, however. Mr, Pratt wished it to be located at Pratt, but that invitation seems to have been dropped as tact- fully as possible. The site at the head of Ellis Avenue across a great ravine was finally selected and a sum of $30,000 for buildings was to be provided as well as the site by May 19, 1892. The tirst-year classes were held in the old Ashland bank building which is now occupied by the Lake Superior District Power Company. By Septem- ber, 1893, Wheeler Hall was ready for occupancy The next seven years were hectic ones. The panic of 1893 had hit Ashland, then a great center of lumbering activity, and the surrounding region so badly that the contributors to the Academy could no longer keep up their subscriptions. In 1899 M. 1. Fenenga was installed as principal of the Academy faced by a deficit of $21,000, which he cleared up by 1900. A great Jubilee was held that year to celebrate the burning of the mortgage. The enrollment had been down to six men when Mr. Fenenga had come to the rescue and now it was all of 70.

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HISTORY OF NORTHLAND In the middle of the 19th century the mid-western states were flooded with settlers who, after building homes, establishing churches, and organizing into some form of government, began to dot the prairie states with colleges. But up here among the huge pine forests were few settlers. It was the devel- opment of the lumbering industry that brought settlers and industry to the great North region and along with them men for leadership like Charles H. Pratt, Rev. Wa1ter Ellis, and Missionary E. P. Wheeler. By the 90's this north region was mature enough in its organization to think of its education. PRESIDENT M. J. FENENGA Charles H. Pratt of Grandview, which was then known as Pratt, was promoting the idea of a school to educate the youth of this new region. Walter M. Ellis, pastor at Tomahawk, made a statement that he had talked with E. P. Wheeler of Ashland and Mr. Pratt about the possibility of a school. Mr. Wheeler wrote to A. W. Burr of Beloit in the spring of 1891 stating that Mr. Pratt had sug- gested the founding in the river bottom of the White River a school in which students might earn most of their way. Mr. Burr made a trip to that place in the summer but returned home shortly feeling that it was not a very pos- sib1e project in the Bay region. Mr. Wheeier was undaunted and continued to promote the idea of establishing an academy 1ike the one at Beloit. On August 5, 1891, a committee appointed by the Northwestern and Winnebaga Conventions ot Congregational Churches to canvas the matter, met at Pratt in response to the enthusiastic invitation of C. H. Pratt. Approxi-

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HISTORY OF NORTHLAND-Continued The Academy offered four years of high school work as well as a prepara- tory year. The tuition was $30 a year. Board was $2.50 a week it you did not drink coffee and $2.75 if you did. Rooms were from 60c to $1.00 a week. There were two literary societies and a Christian Association which guided the religious activities of the students. In 1903 W. C. Hitchcock was called as a teacher of Greek and mathe- matics. 1n Ianuary, 1904, a campaign was started to raise $8,000 to build a gir1s' dormitory. That same year Mr. Fenenga was invited by the Education Society to speak in New Eng1and on behalf of the work being done and thus the series of Northland Visits to New England were started. On August 4, 1906, Mr. Fenenga expressed the wish of M. T. Dill, an enthusiastic contributor to Northland, to install co1lege work. At the state conterenec Mr. Fenenga gave a report in which he convinced the delegation that this would be a strategic venture. The convention appraised the work of the Academy and endorsed the establishment of Northland College. In 1907 the trustees sanc- tioned the establishment of college work and Mr. Fenenga was named the first president. As the Academy had begun existence confronted by the panic of 1893, the college likewise began confronted by the even worse depression of 1907. In 1914 Mr. Fenenga resigned and I. D. Brownell was appointed his suc- cessor. Mr. Fenenga had first found Dan Brownell working in a lumber camp. He had finished his Academy course at Ashland and, because of his outstand- ing work, he had been retained as an instructor. Later he had gone to Ripon and Amherst and had then been recalled to Northland as teacher of English. He was selected as the man most able to carry on the work done by President Fenenga. The burning of Wheeler Hall in 1915 caused a great loss. Academic work was carried on by utilizing all available building space on the campus and at the high school. The building was rebuilt in conformity with the design of the original structure. During the World War there was a great decline in enrollment. At one time not one man was enrolled in the college. On February 17, 1919 Woods Hall burned. That same year brought a constructive event as well. George Lewis came as teacher of history and librarian, and began the work of building a college library from the small room of uncatalogued books. Northland had a third great tire in April of 1926 when the girls' dormitory, Dill Hall, burned. In true Northland spirit the crisis was met, and within twenty-tour hours all the girls were settled in Ashland homes to remain for the duration of the year. The cornerstone for Memorial Hall was laid during the commencement activities of that some year. The Craft Shop was established in 1930 to aid in Northlandls financial struggle. In 1932 the Academy was discontinued. Somehow Northland got through the last depression. In fact, it even managed to grow in size and fame. The year of 1939 brought a great stir in the routine of Northland. The drive tor the new library was started. The summer of 1940 saw the breaking of ground for the building and this commencement will see its dedication. On March 14, 1941, there were many heavy hearts at Northland for on that day Northland lost one of its truly great, W. C. Hitchcock, Dean Emeritus. The Choir left that same day on its tenth anniversary tour which was dedi- cated to Dean Hitchcock to whom it owed so much. And so, we find Northland today still perpetuating the ideals on which it was founded. This may be the end of this particular history of Northland, but in reality it is only the beginning of what is to come in Northland's his- tory. RUTH BIOIN, '42.