Houghton College history

In 1899, the first few college classes were offered.

On June 10, 1914, the grave site was moved to the Houghton College campus, where a boulder now marks the grave of the last Seneca American Indian to live in Caneadea.

Eliza Burdick-Risser ‘18, took Recent American History, 1920 to Present, with Doezema.

Houghton College received its provisional charter from New York State in 1923 and awarded its first 19 baccalaureate degrees two years later.

In 1924, the yearbook was founded, and The Boulder was chosen as its name.

Stephen Paine was appointed president in 1937.

Willard J. Houghton, after Wesleyan Methodist Church leaders in central New York decided, “the village was the ideal site for a denomination school because it was free from the evils of the larger towns and cities,” according to Arch Merrill’s 1950 work, The Southern Tier.”

When the former Buffalo Bible Institute merged with Houghton College in 1969, the West Seneca campus was created.

When asked if the school has changed over the years in terms of hiring both men and women as professors over the years, the Howard’s explained that the college has employed married couples since they started back in the 1970’s and has been willing to work with couples and their complex schedules.

Stephen W. Paine succeeded Luckey and served as president until 1972.

Doezema joined Houghton College’s history department in 1979, and has been teaching at Houghton for almost forty years.

The college initiated its first master’s degree program in 2004 and currently offers nine such degrees.

In February 2005 he announced his retirement during a chapel service.

The Gillette Boulder has only been on campus since the spring of 2008 and was donated by the outgoing class of that year.