HOPE COLLEGE, HOLLAND, MICHIGAN.

By CHARLES SCOTT, D. D., President of Hope College.

Traders from the Netherlands began to locate their posts upon the Hudson in 1614 and were followed soon after by farmers and other permanent settlers. Thus, from Manhattan as a center a colony of increasing promise fixed the name of the "New Netherlands" upon the fair region between the Connecticut and the Delaware. After 50 years this Holland plantation came under the sway of England, but the old Dutch settlements spread with the usual thrift of that nation, until, in 1789, their 20,000 families, mainly in New York and New Jersey, added a most valued quota to the population of the American Union.

These immigrants were the best educated that came from Europe to the colonies. True, they did not begin a college like Harvard, for their ministers were called from the grand universities of the Netherlands, but they failed not to plant the church and the school in every suitable locality where the Dutch language had predominated. The oldest school in the United States is probably that of the Collegiate Church in New York, and in the same city a "Latin school" was long fostered with the object of making it a provincial college or university, after the model of Leyden. Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey in 1753 chartered said college (now Columbia), as "Episcopal," and thus forced the Reformed or Holland congregations, or a part of them (for they were divided on the subject), to establish institutions of their own. As a result Queens (now Rutgers) was chartered by the governor of New Jersey in 1766, and again in 1770, followed by a theological seminary in 1784, and thus the oldest in the United States.

After the lapse of 183 years began another era of Dutch colonization in America. In 1847-'48 many from the Netherlands settled in western Michigan and in parts of New York, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and their settlements have greatly multiplied and become a population of over 75,000 souls. It is said that the city of Grand Rapids numbers 20,000 of Holland birth or origin.

And have these people lost the religious and educational spirit of the older knickerbockers? By no means. Erecting the same banners they seek in the same way the welfare of the republic. As early as 1850

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the Michigan colony desired a classical academy-a "seminarie" for the training of their ministers. Dr. A. C. Van Raalte, their leader, donated, in the village of Holland, a fine tract of five acres as a campus for the purpose, and deeded it to the general synod of the Reformed Church in America. In 1851 the school was opened and in 1855 was placed under the care of Rev. John Van Vleck, A. M., an appointee of the board of education, R. C. A., and an excellent scholar. He gave it the name of "Holland Academy," and in 1857 moved to what is now Van Vleck Hall. This was a new edifice of brick, 40 by 50 feet on the ground; three stories high above a finished basement of stone, finely situated upon a hill of the five-acre campus and costing over $13,000. The state of his health caused Mr. Van Vleck to resign in 1859, and he was succeeded. by Rev. Philip Phelps, jr., who carried on the academy most efficiently until 1865-'66, when the catalogue showed 3 teachers and 48 students in the academy. Meantime the campus had been enlarged to 16 acres, much beautified with a good two-story dwelling, and a gymnasium added to the buildings. Up to this date no endowment funds had been raised, nor did any incumbrances rest upon the school.

In 1863, the idea of a college first began to assume form. The general synod appointed a "board of superintendents" and suggested an endowment of $30,000. The next year a "plan" was referred to and adopted by the synod with a proposed endowment of $85,000, The work of raising funds went on through 1865, mainly by the agency of Dr. Phelps, resulting in cash, notes, and promises to the amount, less expenses, of $48,346.93. Of this sum $30,000 were donated to the superintendents of the academy for the purpose of securing a college incorporation, while $18,346.93 continued to be held in trust by the synod. "Articles of association" were duly filed in May, 1866, and thereafter the "Council of Hope College" had its record among the corporations of Michigan. The council held its first meeting in July, 1866, appointed and inaugurated Rev. P. Phelps, jr., D. D., as president of the college, and added a faculty of four professors and one tutor. A commencement was held July 17, when the first class of eight young men received the degree of A. B., and Holland Academy, as such, came to an honorable end. The following steps were taken:

(1) The council was composed of nineteen members, viz: The presi dent of the college, the secretary of the board of education, R. C. A., one permanent member (Dr. A. C. Van Raalte), and four members each from the four classes of presbyteries of the particular synod of Chicago. The regular meetings were to be biennial, in April and June.

(2) Holland Academy became the primary department of the college. A theological department was also to be added as soon as the general synod should authorize the same and provide for its instruction.

(3) The course of study as adopted was distinctly classical, but general and complete. In the opinion of many it became most truly the expression of a liberal education, and has so continued.

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(4) Besides the $30,000 already mentioned, the free use of the grounds and buildings of the synod at Holland, valued at $25,000, was vested in the council.

The history of the institution since 1866 may be sketched briefly under the following heads:

THE SEMINARY.

Theological instruction began with the opening of the college in September, 1866. A professor of systematic theology was elected by the general synod in 1867, and provision made for four "lectors" from the college. This arrangement continued until 1877, when the department was suspended. The suspension being removed in 1884, the seminary has since been conducted with a professor and a lector or with two professors, and under a distinct board of superintendents. A theological professorship was endowed 1875-1884.

ORGANIZATION.

In 1869 the Department of Theology was regularly organized and committed to the council. In 1871 a constitution was adopted and printed in full somewhat changing the corporation. Each department had its own faculty and dean, while the president of the college exercised a general oversight. In 1869, another constitution was adopted, changing the structure of the council and making the president head of all the faculties and leaving his election to the general synod. Women have been admitted since 1878, and in 1887 a normal department was opened.

FACULTY AND STUDENTS.

Dr. Phelps resigned the presidency in 1878, and was succeeded by Rev. G. H. Mandeville, D. D. of New York, for 2 years the administration be ing in the hands of Prof. Chas. Scott as vice-president. Rev. Charles Scott, D. D., has held the office since 1880. The catalogue of 1888-'89 gives 2 professors in the seminary, 8 professors in the college, 1 tutor in the grammar school, 1 lady assistant and matron. All the depart ments of study are in charge of experienced instructors, but there is not space for their names and chairs. Two of them have been in the institution since its incorporation in 1866.

In 1866-67 the number of students was: theological, 7; collegiate, 19; preparatory, 38; total, 64. In 1888-'89 the number became-theologi. cal, 8; collegiate, 39; preparatory, 100; normal, 93; total, 240. The current year, 1889, brings 47 into the college classes.'

In all, 37 have graduated from the seminary, 134 from the college, 89 of whom have studied for the ministry, and 351 from the grammar school. In active life the alumni of Hope honor their citizenship and reflect credit on their alma mater.

In the year 1890-'91 the college catalogue shows 44 students in the collegiate department, and 205 in the grammar school department, the latter including 105 summer normal students.