North Wisconsin Academy, founded in 1892 by the Congregational Churches, provided the first high school education available to young people from the small, isolated lumber camp, sawmill, and farm communities of the Great Lakes Pinery, a region stretching across the northern third of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota and commonly referred to as “A God-forsaken Waste.” The Academy was established as a co-educational school with a program of classical studies, intended to train both mind and character and to fit the resources of the pioneer families it served. The laying of the cornerstone of the Academy Building on July 14, 1892, marked the advance of educational and cultural opportunities into northern Wisconsin. In 1906 the Academy expanded its program to become Northland College, and on March 7, 1907, the Academy Building was renamed Wheeler Hall in tribute to the Rev. E. P. Wheeler, first president of the Academy. The building, diagonally across from this site, remains a landmark of progress to area citizens and a revered place to students who attended the Academy or College.