Northwestern College's North Suites renamed to honor Heemstras

Northwestern College’s North Suites has been renamed the Jacob and Hannah Heemstra Suites in recognition of the college’s first president and his wife. The name change was announced at a ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 2, as part of the board of trustees meeting.

The suite-style residence hall was built in 2011 and houses about 68 men. The renaming honors the Rev. Jacob Heemstra, who served as president from 1928 to 1951 and is cited by many as a key person in helping Northwestern get through both the Great Depression and World War II.

Ray Heemstra of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a 1945 Northwestern graduate and the last living child of the Heemstras, recently donated $1 million to Northwestern to honor the legacy of his parents and of the Rev. Henry Colenbrander, who was president of Northwestern’s board of trustees from 1926 to 1960. In addition to renaming Heemstra Suites, the gift funded Colenbrander Plaza, an outdoor gathering space on the site where Colenbrander Hall stood from 1960 to 2024. Groundbreaking for the plaza, which will serve as a walkway toward De Valois Stadium, also took place on Oct. 2.

Jacob Heemstra was a native of Orange City who graduated from Northwestern Classical Academy in 1906 and served as a pastor in Chicago and a professor at Central College in Pella, Iowa, before becoming Northwestern’s president. Despite financial and enrollment struggles as well as two recommendations from Reformed Church in America governing boards to close the college in the 1930s, Heemstra and the board of trustees ultimately succeeded in obtaining denominational funding and approval to expand to a four-year college. Under Heemstra’s leadership, enrollment doubled to 209 and the campus was expanded. Meanwhile, Hannah founded and led the Women’s Auxiliary, which provided funds and other support such as cleaning, sewing and cooking.

“The Heemstras were legendary leaders, and we are pleased to preserve their legacies and that of Rev. Colenbrander in these tangible ways,” says President Greg Christy.

The Heemstras were previously recognized by Heemstra Hall, a dorm that was built in 1950 and razed in 2010. It originally housed women but became a men’s dorm in 1968.