‘Gathering Place’ chronicles history of NIC

“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,” according to the soon-to-be released book – “The Gathering Place: A History of North Idaho College.”

“Only in America could a textbook salesman, Mortiz A. Brakemeyer, convince an economically stressed community in 1933 to embrace a new-fangled notion and open a junior college,” writes NIC English instructor and the book’s author Fran Bahr.

The brainstorm of former North Idaho College trustee and retired 16-year English instructor, Sheila Wood, the history book explains the birth of NIC and documents the college’s 75-year history.

“This book is an attempt to picture the evolution of NIC from its extraordinary beginning to its present position as a vital element in the North Idaho community,” says Bahr.

The nine-year project was spearheaded by Wood, former trustee Rolly Williams, and a committee comprised of retired librarian Mary Sorenson; retired business instructor, division chair and board trustee Betty McLain; retired English instructor, George Ives; librarian Denise Clark; executive assistant to the president, Donna Ward; and public relations director Erna Rhinehart.

Additionally, Robert Singletary, longtime music and history instructor and local history expert, volunteered many hours of research and rough drafting of the first six chapters; and alumni coordinator Sara Fladeland collected and prepared photographs.

Wood’s hope is that “The Gathering Place” is central to the Diamond Jubilee celebration – 75 years of people helping people.

“The community makes it possible for students to acquire affordable, accessible, high-quality education that gives them the skills to give back to the community. Truly this is the spirit of Coeur d’Alene and the NIC experience,” says Wood.

Brakemeyer, who fervently believed in the junior college movement, began lobbying for a possible junior college soon after settling his family in Coeur d’Alene in 1933.

With the help of community members, Brakemeyer managed to transform the third floor of Coeur d’Alene’s Old City Hall into classrooms and offices, write a college catalog, hire instructors and draft articles of incorporation – all in three months.

Coeur d’Alene Junior College classes began Sept. 18, 1933, with 55 students, growing to 74 students in the first semester.

“Even in its infancy, Coeur d’Alene Junior College began building the college’s tradition as a public forum for the expression of diverse ideas and opinions,” says Bahr.

College finances were tight in the early years and it was because of the sheer determination of community members that CJC survived.

“In 1935, a group of community women organized a Coeur d’Alene Junior College Sponsors Club of parents, teachers and alumni – anyone interested in the college’s welfare – to raise money,” says author Bahr. “Their efforts boosted local morale by broadcasting the college’s benefits to the public.”

CJC President Orrin E. Lee also battled for three years to save the college by campaigning successfully for an Idaho State Legislature bill designed to provide tax dollars for junior colleges in 1939 – hence the name change to North Idaho Junior College.

“North Idaho Junior College had finally come into its own,” writes Bahr. “The ideas of textbook salesman Moritz Brakemeyer, backed by determined community members and successive presidents had snowballed into an institution that in the new millennium …will mean much to the community – educationally, culturally, financially, and socially.”

By early 1940, the search began to find 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) according to Bahr.

Winton Park was a 32-acre tract in the old Fort Sherman military reservation that had been donated to the city by Winton Lumber Co. with the caveat that it be used for either a hospital or educational institution.

Relocation was delayed after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, throwing the United States into World War II. NIJC began losing students to the military and academic enrollments slowed.

NIJC survived once again by focusing on defense-related programs like shipwright training, first aid, international code and pilot training. With the defeat of the German and Japanese forces in 1945 and postwar euphoria, NIJC began to fill with WWII veterans armed with the G.I. Bill.

In 1950, with unprecedented growth, NIJC moved its campus to Yap-Keehn-Um, the gathering place of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. For untold centuries, the people of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe gathered to hunt, fish, play games, dance, feast and swim in this area where Lake Coeur d’Alene feeds into the Spokane River.

In 1997, NIC and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe joined hands to formulate the Nine Point Agreement. The history of Yap-Keehn-Um came full circle as NIC and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe honored the history of the land and recognized NIC not only as the educational center of North Idaho, but as a gathering place for all people.

With new discussions about expansion and the educational corridor a current hot topic, Wood and Bahr see many parallels between the growth of the college in the past and the growth of the college in the future.

“We are at a crossroads once again,” says Wood. “Do we gather in more people as has been the tradition in the past?”

Wood and Bahr both say that writing the book has “enlarged” their view of the college beyond their teaching roles.

“The book has given me a panoramic view and has helped me to better understand the college’s role in the community,” says Bahr. “The college is a living organism that will continue to grow.”

Perhaps Ives summed it up best in the book’s afterword.

“There is a continuity of vision reflected in the campus …the buildings have multiplied and the technology continues to spread, but the human links are the silly putty that holds it all together. It is, after all is said and done, the people who remain in memory and in actuality who unfold the experience that is NIC.”