Northwest Nazarene University Begins Centennial Celebration Next Month

Northwest Nazarene University will begin a year-long centennial celebration next month, according to the source. The institution, in Nampa, Idaho, is now a fully accredited, co-educational Christian comprehensive university of the arts, humanities, sciences and professions. NNU turns 100 next year.

The school began on September 13, 1913, when the Idaho Holiness School started classes with 13 students in elementary, high school and Bible. It met in a church building of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, on the corner of 8th Street and 13th Avenue, which the school rented.

In 1915 the school changed its name to the Idaho-Oregon Holiness School. That year Eugene Emerson purchased four city blocks across from Kurtz Park and deeded them to the school. On July 4 a groundbreaking ceremony began work on the administration building, which is now named after Emerson, and the first women’s residence, Hadley Hall, was built.

In 1916 Gideon Hall was constructed, and the school took the name Northwest Nazarene College. The college’s first degrees were conferred on a class of four graduates: Ira Shanks, Hilma Shern, Marion Benton and Marcus Cook.

In 1937 the college was accredited as a four-year institution, the first Nazarene college to receive accreditation at that level. The John & Orah Brandt Fine Arts & Convocation Center was built in 1996 on the site of what was previously Kurtz Park. The following year the NNC Lady Crusaders won the NAIA Women’s Division II National Basketball Championship.

The institution’s history of passing its story from one generation to the next is reflected in its centennial plans (Psalm 78:4). In 1999 the college was renamed Northwest Nazarene University.

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