Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The former Hancock High School building, last used by the Hancock School District in 2009, began a new chapter in its role in education on Saturday, with Finlandia University’s grand opening of Hirvonen Hall, the new home for the university’s College of Health Services.

HANCOCK — Finlandia University celebrated the grand opening of its Hirvonen Hall, on Quincy Street on Sat., July 23. Hirvonen Hall houses the College of Health Sciences, which is Finlandia’s Nursing and Assistant Physical Therapists Program. Hirvonen Hall was constructed in 1923 as the Hancock High School.

Kailee Laplander, executive assistant to the president and advancement at the university, said the grand opening was in conjunction with the Hancock Alumni All-School reunion.

“That is because Hirvonen Hall is the former Hancock High School,” Laplander said, “which was part of an acquisition of Finlandia University, and we have renamed it Hirvonen Hall.”

Laplander said that the hall was named in honor of Ray and Peg Hirvonen, who were donors. Ray was a longtime board member and board emirate of the university.

What is now Hirvonen Hall had served as Hancock High School until 1999, when the school district opened its new facility near the Quincy Mine, just off of U.S. 41. From 1999 through 2009, the former high school on Quincy Street became the Hancock Middle School for students in grades 6-8

Finlandia University subsequently acquired the Quincy Street property in 2009. Through a strategic and creative exchange of resources with Hancock Schools known as Campus and Community: Together For Good, Finlandia renamed the building to recognize the Hirvonen family’s legacy of extraordinary leadership and generosity.

Finlandia University’s website states that renovations on Hirvonen Hall began in 2019, following a joint venture between Finlandia and Mike Lahti, who has served on the University’s Board of Trustees since 2011. Together, the pair are committed to preserving the building’s historical character, enhancing its community spaces and creating inspiring learning environments. Hirvonen Hall is now home to Finlandia’s College of Health Sciences programs and also serves as the location of the Finlandia Lions Esports Arena, in addition to multiple local businesses situated on the fourth floor.

“As my wife, Sharon, and I are both graduates of Hancock High School,” Lahti is quoted on the website as saying, “I am pleased that I was able to be a part of the renovation to make the building, once again, a viable place of learning in the center of our town,” Lahti said.

Ray Hirvonen served on a number of community and corporate Boards, according to his obituary, published in the Jan. 4, 2022 edition of the Maquette Mining Journal, and he particularly enjoyed serving as a director of Wis Pak, Inc., the First of America Bank of Marquette, Finlandia University, and Superior Extrusion, Inc.

Hirvonen retired in 1989 and he and his wife, Peg, spent winters in their second favorite place – Stuart, Florida, and enjoyed traveling the country in their motor home. Together they saw a need to help out the many great, local organizations and formed the Ray and Peg Hirvonen Charitable Foundation, which continues to serve the Central U.P. of Michigan and the Treasure Coast of Florida, his obituary states.

Additional funding for the renovation of the hall’s interior spaces and state-of-the-art technology was provided by many other friends and alumni whose support is recognized with named classrooms, labs and offices.

Two foundations, the Towsley Foundation and Portage Health Foundation, continue to provide generous, annual major gift funding for technology and student scholarships.

“The new spaces have fundamentally changed the educational atmosphere. The open floor concept is so welcoming,” Associate Professor of Nursing and RN to BSN Program Coordinator Irina Sergeyeva is quoted on the Finlandia website as saying. “Each cohort has its designated floor where classrooms, labs, and instructors’ offices are clustered. The design strengthens instructor-student interaction.” Sergeyeva was the spring 2021 recipient of Finlandia’s 2021 Board of Trustees Rising Star Faculty Award.

Finlandia University’s history dates back to the 19th century, when it was founded as Suomi College in 1896, by the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The cornerstone of Old Main, the first building erected at Suomi College, was laid on May 30, 1898. Jacobsville sandstone, quarried at the Portage Entry of the Keweenaw waterway, was brought here by barge, cut, and used to construct Old Main. Dedicated on January 21, 1900, it contained a dormitory, kitchen, laundry, classrooms, offices, library, chapel, and lounge. The burgeoning college quickly outgrew this building, and in 1901 a frame structure, housing a gym, meeting hall, and music center was erected on an adjacent lot. The frame building was demolished when Nikander Hall, named for Suomi’s founder, J. K. Nikander, was constructed in 1939.