General Information History and Heritage
In 1861 Dakota Territory was created by the Congress of the United States to include the present states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and the northern half of Wyoming. Homesteading began in 1868, and Texas cowmen moved longhorn cattle to great open-range spreads in that portion of the territory known as “Little Missouri Country.” By 1872 the Northern Pacific Railway had reached Jamestown. In the part of the territory that is now western North Dakota, a French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores, ranched and built a meat packing plant; another Frenchman, Pierre Wibaux, started a ranching operation that was to become the largest in the United States; and a young man from New York, Theodore “Old Four Eyes” Roosevelt, began a career that was to take him to the White House. Amid this excitement and growth, dedicated Presbyterian settlers met to discuss the founding of a college. The first liberal arts college in the area, Jamestown College was incorporated in 1883 and chartered in 1884 under sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church, which recognized its responsibility to “promote the progress of our divine religion and to maintain and improve Christian citizenship, believing that these objects cannot be attained without the proper education of our youth under Christian influences.” The first classes at Jamestown College began in September of 1886, three years before North Dakota became a state. By the end of the College’s second year, eighty-two students were pursuing degrees under the tutelage of five professors. Physical facilities were meager and circumstances difficult on the open prairie. The college hill had only one building and a barn for horses. Wood stoves furnished heat and oil lamps provided light. 10
The extremely cold winter of 1886 contributed to the onset of economic problems. After closing during the financial panic of 1893, the College was reopened in 1909 by the North Dakota Synod under the leadership of President Barend H. Kroeze. Dr. Kroeze was to set in motion forces that would allow the College to grow and prosper as it “encouraged the development of an educated Christian citizenship” and sought “to offer a liberal culture combined with moral training.” The current 110 acres of wooded land the campus now occupies bears little resemblance to the bleak site upon which the founders stood and pondered the future of their own lives and that of a fledgling college. Today, Jamestown College overlooks a progressive city of sixteen thousand people which offers a variety of recreational facilities and warm hospitality. Modern facilities now grace “College Hill,” including the architectural prize-winning Raugust Library, which houses more than 150,000 items; Larson Lifetime Sports Center; Seibold and Prentice residence halls; Lyngstad Center, a modern classroom facility; the Reiland Fine Arts Center, with its exceptional concert/performance hall; the state-of-the-art Unruh and Sheldon Center for Business and Computer Science; the Ed and Elaine Nafus Student Center; the Foss Fitness Center; and the newly remodeled Liechty Center-Taber Hall. Only the College’s objectives have remained unchanged. These are reaffirmed in our goal of academic excellence in a Christian environment and in our determination to equip our students to face new problems and challenges in a changing world. Those objectives are realized not only through a quality faculty and curriculum but also through outstanding facilities and co-curricular programs, such as athletics, choir, and drama.