1914, Ferris Institute, Big Rapids, the Future
By Nate Clark
Graphic Designer/Copywriter
In 1914, thirty years after Woodbridge and Helen Ferris founded the Big Rapids Industrial School, which later became the Ferris Industrial School, the population of Big Rapids was about 6,000 residents. The people of our fair city were honored to boast that Big Rapids was home to the governor of the state. The G.R. & I. and P.M. Railroads connected the city to other metropolises such as Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit.
The Muskegon River provided power for the many manufacturing facilities in the city, as well as electricity for most residents’ homes. The city had an excellent system of sewage, water works, fire and police departments, local and long distance telephone facilities, a public library, an opera house, a court house, first-class hotels, paved streets, two banks and three newspapers. Construction of the still-operating post office began that year.
Collage from the 1914 Crimson and Gold Yearbook showing images
of classrooms at the industrial school and downtown Big Rapids.
At the time Big Rapids had a central high school, three ward schools and the Ferris Institute. According to the 1913-14 Ferris Institute Catalog, the institute was known throughout the country for the excellent teaching of the courses it provided and the wide geographic and demographic range of students that attended.
The president of Ferris Institute in 1914 was Woodbridge Ferris. Ferris was also elected to his second term as Michigan’s governor that same year, and many of the university’s day-to-day needs were handled by Vice President Gerrit Masselink and others while Ferris was at the State Capitol. However, Ferris still liked to be kept up to date on all matters of importance and was present for many major events such as commencement. Of Ferris, the 1913-14 Ferris Institute Catalog states the following:
Loved by his students and respected by all who know him, he stands as a type of success, won by untiring energy, intense devotion to a noble purpose, and a clean, straightforward life.
The factor of factors, however, the one that stands above all others, is the President, W.N. Ferris, a man whose personality attracts and holds, whose untiring energy wrings success from defeat, and whose boundless enthusiasm permeates the very walls of the institution that stands as a monument to his labors. This man, now a national figure, is blessed above many teachers in that he has a power to win the esteem, the confidence, the love of young people… Long may the President and his noble wife, through the Ferris Institute, continue to make the world better.
Ferris showed an unwaivering devotion to the institute. From its humble beginnings in an upstairs apartment downtown to a prestigious new building furnished throughout with specially designed modern equipment, Ferris always made sure his school had whatever was needed to ensure its students received the best education possible. In 1894 the school moved into its new building on the corner of Oak and Ives Streets, where the Prakken Building is now. You can see the 1914 ad for the industrial below. That building burned in 1950. However, while it was standing, many students benefited from the great instruction, and then-state-of-art resources the building provided.
Today, we are proud to carry on Ferris’ mission to enhance the lives and educations of those who come to Ferris. This fall semester, we opened the doors of the North Residence Hall to first year students, and the Now & Always campaign will ensure that Ferris State University will remain an institution built to make the world better.
Ad for the Ferris Institute in the 1913 Big Rapids Directory. “Normal” schools were schools or colleges for the training of teachers.