Programming at Hillsdale College’s new Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut is scheduled to start this spring.
In 2019, the late Friendly’s Ice Cream co-founder S. Prestley “Pres” Blake and his wife Helen offered their property at 732 Hall Hill Rd., along with $25 million, to the Michigan-based Christian college to establish an educational center consistent with the values of the school. Their now-repurposed home is modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and sits on about 100 verdant acres.
An academically competitive college, Hillsdale is known well beyond its Southern Michigan main campus for its lecture programs and publications celebrating and explicating America’s founding, its constitutional-republican government and its Judeo-Christian heritage. The Blake Center will commence its role in that mission with educational events on April 29 and 30 as well as May 20 and 21 titled “Religious Liberty and the American Founding.” The seminars will be led by Hillsdale government professor Matthew Spalding and politics professor Khalil Habib.
Hillsdale College’s Monticello replica at the Blake Center donated by Prestley Blake in Somers, CT in on September 23, 2020.
“The Blake Center shares the mission of Hillsdale College, founded in 1844 by Free Will Baptists to provide sound learning, improve the hearts of its students, uphold the essentials of the Christian faith and religion, and perpetuate ‘the inestimable blessings resulting from the prevalence of civil and religious liberty,’” Hillsdale spokesperson Emily Stack Davis told The Connecticut Star via email.
Davis said a major component of the institution’s purpose going forward will be holding training programs and lectures for K-12 teachers. Other ideas being considered include a community blood drive and Independence Day festivities. Labin Duke, who most recently was an executive vice president at the Nashotah, Wisconsin-based Anglican seminary Nashotah House, has been hired as the center’s executive director.
The center’s road to full operation hasn’t been an easy one. Zoning initially proved challenging, insofar as some Somers residents reportedly had worries about a new educational center’s impact on traffic and lighting as well as a likely $100,000-per-year municipal revenue loss as a result of the site no longer being residential.
Hillsdale College’s Monticello replica at the Blake Center donated by Prestley Blake in Somers, CT in on September 23, 2020.
Though the Blake Center was eventually approved as a tax-exempt religious institution, some local officials pressed for the school or its local benefactors to relieve the municipality of Somers for its future revenue loss. The Blakes considered making an additional gift to do so, but ultimately decided against it.
Hillsdale has consented to some conditions on the facility’s use. The Somers Zoning Commission requires annual reporting by the center and fewer than 50 attendees are expected to be admitted for most of its events. Nonetheless, Hillsdale has expressed optimism for its new institution’s role in the community.
“No new formal complaints or concerns have been raised with Hillsdale College concerning the land use, parking or traffic,” Davis said. “As has been said in many conversations in the community, the college is committed to being a good neighbor and to maintaining the natural beauty of the rural setting on Hall Hill Road. … Hillsdale College contributes to the public good in many different ways, and we look forward to doing so in this exciting new venue.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Connecticut Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
