Suomi College
Hancock, Michigan
1896-2023
In 1917 the Commercial Department had its own mixed chorus. Image from Internet archive https://archive.org/details/suomi1917suom/page/57/mode/1up
Boys gymnastic club. Image from the 1917 yearbook. https://archive.org/details/suomi1917suom/page/39/mode/1up
Note—Images are used in accordance with their terms of use as I understand those terms. Recopying or reproducing these images may be restricted or forbidden.
History
Suomi College was founded by the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, primarily to train minister that served the Finnish community, that had emigrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to work the copper mines. Classes opened in the fall of 1896 under the direction of Dr. J. K. Nikander. The Student Album shows an initial enrollment of 90 students—25 seminarians, 33 college students and 32 preparatory students. These were taught by a three-member faculty.
In 1906 Suomi opened a commercial department, which by 1917, had become the largest department of the school with 53 students.
E-Travel
Internet Archive has the 1917 yearbook. In addition, Ancestry.com has the 1906 Student Album and the 1948 Anulogue yearbook. The Ironwood Daily Globe was one of the newspapers that covered school events. Several internet sources continue to deal with issues of school closure.
The 1917 yearbook shows only a mixed chorus and boys’ and girls’ gymnastic clubs for extracurricular activities. After World War II activities increased. Musical activities drew frequent newspaper coverage with the choir heading the list, touring for the school and giving concerts. The Sampo Honor Society was the oldest school organization. Students published a newspaper, Lysings, and a yearbook, Anulogue. Konventti was the organization for promoting Finnish culture, an original goal of the school. As part of the annual Winter Carnival in 2000, students at Suomi celebrated Laskiainen Day on February 2. The day was spent in praise of “cold, snow and ice.”
From a school of fewer than 200 students, Suomi began to grow in the 1960’s. Even with the loss of the seminary in 1958, enrollment hit 225 in 1963, and 381 in 1965. After a near century as a two-year school, Suomi developed four-year programs in business, fine arts and design, so that by 2000 the school became Finlandia University with an enrollment of 650. But with increased enrollment came indebtedness in the 21st Century. Projected enrollment increases failing, the school began a fiscal policy of borrow and mortgage, so that debt reached 10.6 million dollars in 2023 with an enrollment of 354. Unable to sell mortgaged property, the school was forced to close in 2023.
Bricks and Mortar
The cornerstone for Old Main was laid May 30, 1898. Built of locally quarried Jacobsville Sandstone, the four-story Richardsonian Romanesque building was completed in 1900. Initially it provided space for a dormitory, classrooms, kitchen, offices, chapel and lounge. In January 2024 the shuttered building was purchased by Naturally Michigan Properties and is being renovated.
In 1939 Suomi College added the Eero Saarinen-designed Nikander Hall. Built on a hillside, it seems to “climb the hill,” with the main entrance at the top. Nikander Hall added a student center, administration offices, a library, laboratories, and music room. Build In 1965, the Paavo Nurmi Center provided gymnasiums. The four-story Finlandia Hall, built in 1989, provided dormitory space for 184 students. Nikander Hall was one of three campus buildings purchased by the City of Hancock in 2023.
Old Main in 1906. Image from the Student Album https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/41349_1421012668_0038-00008?usePUB=true&_phsrc=HVc112
Sports
Team name: Lions
School colors: Blue, Grey and White
The first mention I found of a Suomi College sports team was a 1913 notice in the Calumet News that a basketball had been organized. Until the end of World War II, newspapers occasionally carried notices of games against high school or independent teams. In 1948 Suomi became a member of the Upper Peninsula Intercollegiate Athletic Conference along with Northern State, Gogebic JC, Soo Tech, and Northern College of Ashland, WI. The Lions fielded basketball, track, tennis, and golf teams. Completion of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957 allowed Suomi and join with Gogebic in hosting teams from the Minnesota junior colleges.
As a means of boosting enrollment, Finlandia University increased sports offerings—fielding teams in twelve sports before closure. They began a football program in 1915. But in seven seasons, in three different D-III conferences, Finlandia teams compiled a 5-56 record. The 1922 team went 0-10 as a member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. From 2001 (men) and 2004 (women) until closure Finlandia fielded ice hockey teams.