The Gathering Place:
A History of North Idaho College
In conjunction with NIC’s 75th anniversary, the college is publishing a book titled The Gathering Place: A History of North Idaho College written by NIC English instructor and author Fran Bahr.
Travel through seven decades of NIC’s history, including photos and sidebars of students, instructors, staff, and community members.
Books are $29.95 before August 1, 2008 and $39.95 after August 1. Five dollars from each book sold will be donated to a student scholarship fund through the NIC Foundation.
More information is available by calling NIC College Relations at (208) 769-7764.
Excerpts From the Book
Foreword: “The Gathering Place is an attempt to picture the evolution of the college from its extraordinary beginning to its present position as a vital element in thriving North Idaho. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s part in this story reveals its remarkable role in providing the physical and spiritual foundation upon which the college stands.”
Order Your Copy Today!
Online ordering will be available soon. To purchase your copy early, please print our order form and return it to the NIC Bookstore.
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August 1, 2008.
- Order Form [PDF]
75th Anniversary
Chapter 1: The Gathering Place
The spit of land on which the college now stands was for untold centuries Yap-Keehn-Um, the gathering place of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. They particularly loved this point of land at the Spokane River’s genesis, where they hosted regional tribes each summer to hunt, fish, gather food, play games, share stories, dance, feast and swim.
In 1878 Camp Coeur d’Alene, later named Fort Sherman, was established, encouraging the growth and development of the city of Coeur d’Alene, as it serviced the garrison’s needs for wood, meat, dairy products, and flour. Although the Fort was abandoned in 1900, the city continued to grow along with the school system which served over two-thousand students by 1933. However, the Great Depression dashed dreams of a post-secondary education for high school graduates. However, the vision of one passionate educator with the support of key community members brought about Coeur d’Alene Junior College.
Chapter 2: The Beginning 1933-1935
Forged in the heart of the Great Depression, Coeur d’Alene College became a reality because of the unlikely accident of a stranger who came to town with a great idea. Only in America could a textbook salesman convince an economically stressed community to embrace a new-fangled notion and in three months’ time open a junior college.
Chapter 3: The College Comes into Its Own: 1935-1939
Coeur d’Alene Junior College might have perished had it not been for the perseverance of Orrin E. Lee, the last president of Coeur d’Alene Junior College and the first president of North Idaho Junior College; the last president to preside in City Hall and the first to bring NIJC to its new home on the Tribe’s ancient ground, the gathering place.
Chapter 4: A Home for the Junior College
By early 1940, the college building committee and board of trustees focused their search for a permanent campus on either the city-owned Coeur d’Alene Mill site near Tubbs Hill (now McEuen Park) or county-owned Winton Park, the former gathering place of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.
Chapter 5: NIC Comes of Age: 1950-1962
Goodbye to the old. Hello to the new!” This sentiment reverberated across the U.S. in the five years following World War II. North Idahoans, like the rest of the nation, focused on rebuilding their lives. At NIJC, students prepared to bid farewell to the cramped quarters in Coeur d’Alene City Hall and move to historic Fort Sherman, site of the new campus.
Chapter 6: The Times, They Are A Changin’: 1962-1968
NIJC changed in step with the national trends of the sixties, nearly tripling in size and benefiting enormously from the federal aid flowing to community colleges in the form of building monies, student loans, and vocational programs.
Chapter 7: The Junior College Grows Up: 1969-1986
The next fifteen years saw North Idaho College grow from a teenager to an adult, from a small local college to a promising state institution. To accommodate new students, President Barry Schuler and the board of trustees decided to construct three large classroom buildings: Seiter Hall, Hedlund Vocational Building, and Boswell Hall.
Chapter 8: Building Bridges, Extending Opportunities: 1986-1997
Under the leadership of President Bob Bennett the college forged a deeper relationship with the business community and state leaders. The success of the NIC Foundation enabled the opening of the Workforce Training Center in Post Falls. The NIC Alumni Association was founded and Molstead Library was built.
Chapter 9: Gathering In the New Millennium: 1998-2007
With the approach of Y2K, students flooded North Idaho College as more and more out-of-staters moved to North Idaho. Whereas in 1939, fall enrollment numbered one-hundred five students, by the new millennium it was over four thousand. The college signed the Nine Point Agreement with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to bring the Gathering Place around full circle. Outreach centers in Sandpoint, Bonner’s Ferry, and the Silver Valley extended the college’s reach, and the development of distance education enabled the college to make higher education available to students near and far. The Meyer Health and Sciences Building opened in 2005.
Chapter 10: Cardinal Pride: NIC Athletics
Athletics have played a key role at North Idaho College, even in 1933, its first year of operation. Since then, successful athletic programs continue each year as integral to campus life, a source of pride for the Coeur d’Alene community.
Chapter 11: Arts and Culture
From the college’s earliest years, drama, music, fine arts and creative writing have been at the heart of NIC’s spiritual identity. Today’s symphony, concert choir, plays, art exhibits, campus newspaper, and literary journal all got their start from the efforts of the college’s first faculty and student body.
Chapter 12: The Gathering Place
An auspicious group gathered on Yap-Keehn-Um beach in late July 2007 to celebrate the college’s thirty-year ownership of the land situated at the junction between Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River. To the sounds of traditional drumming and singing, Coeur d’Alene tribal members, community members, current and former students, and NIC employees rejoiced in the knowledge that this land will exist in perpetuity for public use.