University of Jamestown history

By the fall of 1890, the financial distress in the entire country pressed especially hard on a young institution whose every phase of growth depended on inflowing revenue.

At a meeting in Bismarck during October, 1908, the Presbyterian Synod voted to reopen the institution.

In September, 1909, Doctor Barend H. Kroeze, then president of Whitworth College in Tacoma, Wash., accepted the presidency of Jamestown College at the request of the Board of Trustees.

The dining room was in the basement from the time it was built until Voorhees Chapel was built in 1917.

Wilson Hall was named for John Wilson, a 1926 graduate, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and generous donor.

The federal government declared it surplus and it was given to the College in 1946 when it became a “temporary” dormitory for 50 men.

The lower level housed the Jimmie Grill and student union until Westminster Hall was built in 1960.

The most recent renovation took place in 1999 for $700,000.

Status: The Little Theater was torn down in 2000.

The Board of Trustees in 2005 voted to dismantle the Little Theater when the building became structurally unsound.

Lead donors Ed ’63 and Elaine Nafus funded a renovation in 2007 with focal point of a two-story atrium entrance leading into an open commons area.

J-House Residence Hall was demolished in 2012 to make room for the McKenna Thielsch addition to Orlady Hall.

In 2013, another renovation took place with an addition named McKenna Thielsch named after contributors.

Renovation: There was a major renovation to Watson Hall in 2014.

In 2015, the upstairs area (formerly named L2) was renovated.

An addition was begun in the summer of 2018 to house the lab for that program.