Grace College plans new welcome center
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Grace College has announced plans for its new, $2 million welcome center. Located inside Westminster Hall, the college says the main floor will be renovated to serve as a hub for all guests to the Winona Lake campus, as well as the new home of its admissions office.
The Ray “Butch” and Sandra Shook Welcome Center is named after two alumni who met at the school. Butch Shook also serves on the Grace Board of Trustees, and two of their children are also Grace alumni.
The project will keep the Winona History Museum and west community banquet room of Westminster Hall intact, while the east banquet room will be remodeled for admissions offices and meeting rooms.
Grace said the welcome center will be the first stop for prospective students who come to the campus for college visits.
“This transformative initiative will repurpose Westminster Hall’s main floor to become a vibrant and welcoming entry point to our campus, showcasing many of the things that make Grace so special,” Grace President Drew Flamm said in a news release. “We are very thankful to the generous donors who have ignited this important project for Grace, and we look forward to seeing how God will continue to bless this endeavor as we steward this beloved historic building.”
Westminster Hall was built in 1905 as the Westminster Hotel. The college said the hotel housed the world’s largest gospel publishing company and featured a national recording studio.
“Since Westminster also houses the Winona History Center, which displays artifacts and research archives about the history of Winona Lake, the Bible Conference movement and the Chautauqua period, we look forward to having many more campus visitors enjoy the rich history and learn about the distinguished pedigree of this delightful little town of Winona Lake,” said Terry White, town historian and former docent of the Winona History Museum.
Grace plans to break ground on the new welcome center this winter. The school has raised $1.6 million for the project, and donations made for the project through Dec. 3 will be matched up to $200,000.
You can learn more about the project by clicking here.