50 Years at Knollcrest for Calvin

May 31, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Calvin College will celebrate 50 years on its Knollcrest campus this summer
with a variety of events, the first of which is slated for mid-June as part of
the annual Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.

On Monday, June 12, 2006, at 5:30 pm, Calvin will host a picnic for Synodical
delegates on the lawn of DeWit Manor (an original building to the Calvin
campus).

After the party on the lawn the delegates will return to the Calvin Fine Arts
Center for an 8:45 pm Calvin-sponsored presentation that will include
historical pictures and brief remarks by two of Calvin's three living
presidents: Dr. William Spoelhof (president from 1950-1976) and Dr. Gaylen
Byker (president of Calvin since 1995). Former Calvin president Dr. Anthony
Diekema (president from 1976 to 1995) will be traveling and cannot attend the
event.

Calvin's purchase of the Knollcrest campus was authorized by the CRC Synod of
1956 on June 22 of that year.

A week later - on June 29, 1956 - Calvin and Knollcrest property owner J.C.
Miller signed a formal sale agreement.

The $400,000 price included 166 acres of land, what then was called the Manor
House (Miller's personal home, since renamed DeWit Manor), two smaller
furnished homes and several out buildings.

The only provisions which Miller wrote into the agreement were that the
Knollcrest name he had given to the estate be retained in some manner and that
the Manor House and the surrounding area be left as it was. Calvin agreed and
on August 1, 1956 the college took physical possession of the property.

Byker says Miller would have gotten a chuckle out of the picnic party for
Synodical delegates, noting that the millionaire businessman was associated
with some of the grandest parties in Grand Rapids during his time at the corner
of Burton and the Beltline. An annual day-long event was said to have cost
Miller some $30,000 each year.

"Ours will cost a lot less than that," Byker says with a smile.

Byker says too that Calvin, Dr. Spoelhof and the Christian Reformed Church
were visionary in purchasing the property from Miller a half century ago.

At the time, he says, some people thought both Calvin and the CRC Synod were
foolish for purchasing such a large parcel of land at such a significant price.
Just 50 years later Calvin has over 4,000 students, has more than doubled the
acreage of its Knollcrest campus - including an Ecosystem Preserve of almost
100 acres - and the price that once seemed a princely sum pales in comparison
to property values surrounding the Calvin campus.

"It's hard to imagine how Calvin would have grown as it has," says Byker,
"without this campus. We are thankful to God and thankful to those who had a
vision for Calvin that we have been able to prosper on the Knollcrest campus
these last 50 years. And we hope to be here for many years to come."

-end-
Received on Wed May 31 09:34:44 2006