Hope College

Hope College is a Michigan historical marker in Holland, Ottawa County, dedicated 2019.

College Avenue, Holland

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

In 1851, four years after settlers from the Netherlands founded Holland, the Pioneer School was established to meet some of the educational needs of the young colony. This school, the predecessor of Hope College, received direction and financial support from the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The school evolved into the Holland Academy, which in 1862 enrolled its first college class. On May 14, 1866, the institution was chartered as Hope College, and on July 17, 1866, the first class of eight students was graduated. The college’s name, seal, and motto are derived from a statement of the founder of Holland, Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte, who said of the Pioneer School, “This is my Anchor of Hope for this people in the future.” In the decades that followed, a strong college of arts and sciences was developed which continues to serve the church and the community.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1849 · Illinois (Mitchell/Cowperthwait, 1849) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1852 · Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1853 · Map of the surveyed part of Michigan (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1854 · A map of the surveyed part of Michigan / by John Farmer ; engraved by S. Stiles & Co. (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
[Road map of southwestern Michigan, Grand Haven and Grand Rapids to Benton Harbor and… (University of Chicago Library, Mapping Chicagoland · CC BY-NC 4.0, used by permission)

Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering the location of Hope College, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker data: Michigan History Center
TreeAlive is an independent project. The State of Michigan and the Michigan History Center are not responsible for maintaining the information on this site.

More markers nearby

Western Theological Seminaryunder 1 mi
Van Vleck Hall / Van Vleck Hallunder 1 mi
Ninth Street Christian Reformed Church / Ninth Street Christian Reformed Churchunder 1 mi
Central Avenue Christian Reformed Churchunder 1 mi