Bible College Memorial Center, Reunion Planned for April
The dedication of a memorial center will highlight an all-school reunion for Northwest Bible College alumni on April 24 and 25 in Minot, N.D. The Church of God operated the college for 53 years, before the doors were closed in 1987.
Northwest’s original campus was located in Lemmon, S.D., but was moved to Minot in 1950. The college was closed to focus more of its resources on its university and seminary at its headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn. The church eventually sold the campus in southeast Minot to Trinity Health.
Since the school ceased operations, the creation of a memorial center has been a dream of Minot’s Franklin Huwe. Huwe, a Northwest Bible College graduate, gave 28 years to the school, serving as business manager, teacher and was the last president of Northwest.
When Eagle’s Wings Community Fellowship of Minot acquired the former Eagles Aerie near Arrowhead Shopping Center in Minot, Huwe requested and received space in the building for a memorial center. College alumni have donated about $75,000 toward heating, plumbing and electrical work as well as shelving, cabinets and other improvements. Huwe said about $20,000 more is needed to complete the project. He expects the center to be largely finished by the April 24 reunion.
Additional space is available in the building for future expansion of the center. The center currently consists of a large room with bookcases, display areas and a table and chairs. Plans are to add an audio and video multimedia equipment and study carrels.
“This will be a learning center not only to commemorate the past but to provide an ongoing learning center for young men and women who want to train for the ministry,” Huwe said. Eagles Wings already is using the center for training ministerial students through a distance education program. The first seven graduates will receive degrees during the reunion.
Huwe said alumni are invited to donate memorabilia for rotating displays in the center. Former students who have written books or music also will be donating to the library.
Huwe estimated the college sent out 3,000 to 4,000 graduates. He hopes to see a few hundred return for the reunion.
“There’s a lot of excitement from alumni over all the United States and from all over the world,” he said.
The reunion committee’s plans include an alumni talent showcase Friday and Saturday afternoons. The dedication service is scheduled for April 24 at 6 p.m., along with the graduation. Tours of the former campus will be offered.
After the dedication, the memorial center will be available to the community as a meeting place or for study.
“We want to open it to the community so if somebody in the community wants to research or study, they can,” Huwe said. “Minot was a very, very strong supporter of the college. We want to certainly extend to the Minot community the offer to utilize this facility.”
Northwest Bible College was established in Lemmon, S.D., in 1934 as Northwest Bible and Music Academy. Looking for a more accessible location, the Church of God relocated the campus in 1950 to a 10-acre campground that it owned along the Souris River in southeast Minot. The Minot operation served as a six-month general church training program. It later expanded to a junior college and then to a four-year program. The first three bachelor-degree students graduated in 1963. The college offered bachelor degrees in Bible and Christian education and minors in missions, music, speech, Greek, social science and English. The college offered an associate of arts degree that provided transferable credits to other four-year schools.
The college grew from about 40 students in 1950 to 150 when it closed in 1987. In 1985, the school had students from 31 states and two foreign countries. Students from a number of foreign countries had attended over the years.
A 1969 flood and the low percentage of students from North Dakota led the Church of God to consider relocating the college to another state, but the campus stayed and continued to grow.
Construction highlights were new dormitories in 1953 and 1972, a new administration building in 1966, a president’s house in 1968, a mobile home court for married couples in 1970, a fountain project in 1973 and a new learning center in 1979. A 9.7-acre campus addition was dedicated in 1976.
For more information or to register for the reunion, please contact Franklin Huwe via e-mail at fhuwe@srt.com
