Calvin College started because of a pulpit shortage. A severe shortage. After splitting from the Reformed Church, a group of Dutch settlers in West Michigan calling itself the True Holland Reformed Church (eventually renamed the Christian Reformed Church) found itself with a pulpit supply of two people. Desperate for more leaders, the young denomination appointed the Reverend W.H. Van Leeuwen to groom some new pastors in his parsonage. 

And so in the fall of 1864, on the outskirts of what is now Grand Rapids, Michigan, Van Leeuwen opened the doors of his study for crash courses in Greek, Dutch, and theology. One student showed up. Just one year later he handed the job over to Jacob VanderWerp, for whom a dormitory on the current Knollcrest campus is named. Ten years after that, the Reverend G.E. Boer (another dorm namesake), was appointed as the school’s first full-time teacher. He rented out the second floor of an elementary school on what was called Williams Street to make room for a student body of seven young men. Boer was installed as head of what the denomination called the “Theological School” on March 15, 1876, a date Calvin now celebrates as its birthday. 

By the 1890’s, the Theological School had nearly 40 students, and the Christian Reformed Church ordered the construction of a building on the corner of Franklin and Madison for the school’s first building to itself. A nationwide fundraising tour was done by Jacob Noordewier, whose name now also stands above the door of a Calvin dorm. The cathedral-like building, which no longer stands, was dedicated in 1892. By the turn of the century, the CRC took the drastic step of opening the school to future teachers as well as ministers. Soon the school would establish a separate college, the John Calvin Junior College. One of the first teachers of English and deans of Calvin was A.J.Rooks, for whom a current dorm is named. 

The unmistakable icon of Calvin’s history is the front building of the school’s first full-sized campus, down the road on Franklin Street. The grand building, with its signature steeple tower and front pillars, was dedicated in 1916. It still stands today, used for offices for the city’s public schools. By this time, the school offered courses in science as well as theology, philosophy, history, and English. Calvin also appointed its first president, J.J. Hiemenga, for whom Calvin’s current main classroom building is named.

Another new development in the school was the approval of athletic teams in 1920. One of the first competitions was a basketball game between Calvin and Hope College. After just three games the series was discontinued because of the hostility between students of the two schools. By mid-decade the schools were playing again, and today the Hope-Calvin rivalry is known as the best small college basketball rivalry in the country.

In 1951, the unenviable job of taking over the presidency from Henry Schultze (for whom another Knollcrest dorm is named), who confidently guided Calvin through the World War II years, fell to young professor William Spoelhof. It was a pivotal time for higher education – the student population was tripling at Calvin, to 1500, as soldiers returned from war and began to focus on training for careers. And soon the Soviets would launch Sputnik, prompting the government to give generous grants to urge students to get their degrees. 

By the end of the 1950’s, Calvin College needed more room yet again. The CRC helped purchase the Knollcrest Farms, acres of rolling farmland belonging to business baron J.C. Miller in what was then the deserted southeast corner of the city of Grand Rapids (Miller’s mansion is now the residence for the Calvin president). The seminary on the Knollcrest campus was dedicated in 1959, and the first classrooms and dormitory (Beets-Veenstra) opened in 1962. The 60’s were a decade of uncomfortable transition as classes and dorms gradually moved to the Knollcrest campus, while offices and other classes remained at the Franklin campus four miles away. The move to Calvin’s current campus would not be complete until 1972.

The 60’s provided for some rough sailing for Calvin, because of the move, and because of the reasons the 60’s were rough sailing at campuses around America. Student protests disrupted the quiet of the new campus, and in 1970 another icon of Calvin’s history, “The Bananer,” was distributed by the Chimes staff (some of whom now teach at Calvin) as a spoof of the CRC’s magazine, The Banner. At the time the spoof generated controversy because of its irreverence, and in the context of the decade gone by, some saw it as a sign the college was going off course.

But the college stayed rock solid, thanks in large part to the vision of Spoelhof, who served as president until Calvin’s centennial anniversary in 1976, making his the longest administration in school history. Spoelhof, now 90 years old, remains a vital part of the campus, still walking, with the help of a cane, to his office in the library lobby each morning before most Calvin students wake up. 

Thousands of students, dozens of professors, and nine presidents since Reverend Boer was installed in 1876, Calvin College devotes this school year to remembering its journey from tiny 19th century seminary to thriving 21st century liberal arts college. This year also marks another chapter in the college’s expansion, as Calvin breaks ground on its first classroom building east of the Beltline. Today, under President Byker, the college continues to develop a dynamic vision and advanced Calvinist worldview with the same earnest of Boer a century and a quarter ago.

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