Jackson Michigan News and Information, News for Jackson MI
Three area institutions of higher learning: Albion College, Hillsdale College, and Spring Arbor University all had their beginning roots here in some form. To commemorate SAU’s sesquicentennial, a new book was recently published by Arcadia Press as part of their “Campus History Series” entitled “Spring Arbor University.” ISBN 978-1-4671-0931-4. It is co-authored by the University’s archivist Susan Panak, and librarian Robbie Bolton.
This pictorial is 128 pages long, and is filled with photographs and descriptive captions representing each era of SAU’s history under its various names: Spring Arbor Seminary, Spring Arbor Seminary and Junior College; Spring Arbor Junior College and High School; Spring Arbor College; and Spring Arbor University. Ample space is devoted to the various buildings (past and present) around campus, biographies of the personalities for which they are named, and the development of the University from the beginning up to the present. The reader will enjoy the inclusion of identifications with the group photographs, as well as a separate chapter devoted entirely to athletics.
The cover features a 1974 dedication scene of the Centennial Gardens, which followed earlier commencement ceremonies that day. The Gardens is still in existence today in front of Ormston Hall. This photo caught my attention as it includes two of my Spring Arbor College Class of 1975 classmates in the foreground. Yours truly graduated from Spring Arbor College in 1975 and I remember this event.
The back cover provides an overview of the book and reads as follows: “In 1873, Spring Arbor Seminary, founded by early pioneers of the Free Methodist Church, opened to meet a distinct need for a school that would teach sound Christian doctrine. Students that attended this school were enriched by the values of the Free Methodist Church. Originally, Spring Arbor Seminary was a private school for elementary and secondary students. In the 1920s, Spring Arbor Seminary added a junior college. In 1963, Spring Arbor High School and Junior College became Spring Arbor College, which attained university status in 2001.”
“One hundred fifty years after the school’s original conception, Spring Arbor University maintains its original dedication to impart the sound Christian doctrine of the Free Methodist Church to its students. This dedication is embodied by the University’s mission statement, which is better known as “the Concept.”
This book would make an excellent addition to anyone’s area history library. In Albion, it is available on-the-shelf at Stirling Books and Brew bookstore at 119 N. Superior St., if you would be interested in obtaining a copy. The book should also be available at other venues in our region. We congratulate Spring Arbor University on their 150th anniversary.
From our Historical Notebook this week we present the cover of “Spring Arbor University.” How many of our readers ever went to Spring Arbor University/Spring Arbor College/Junior College/High School? I also wonder if Albion College should come out with its own book like this for Arcadia’s “Campus History Series?” For your information, my Arcadia book “Albion” (2013) featuring historical postcards, has 43 Albion College postcards in it which form the first chapter of that book, pages 9-30. That book is still available locally.
