Olivet Nazarene University

OLIVET NAZARENE UNIVERSITY

Est. 1907

Here, at one of the nation’s premier Christian universities, we believe higher education should have a higher purpose.

With accredited programs, award-winning academics, and a faculty touting degrees from a wide spectrum of world-class educational institutions, Olivet stands committed to integrating faith and learning.

Nestled in the historic village of Bourbonnais, Illinois, Olivet students gain knowledge and wisdom, and secure degrees that place them ahead of the pack, with portfolios and experience as evidence of an “Education with a Christian purpose.”

A RICH HISTORY

Olivet Nazarene University traces its roots to 1907, beginning in Miss Mary Nesbitt’s grammar school in a house in Georgetown, Illinois. In 1908, the school’s founders acquired 14 acres in the village of Olivet and moved the grammar school to the proposed campus and a Wesleyan-holiness community developed around it.

In 1909, the liberal arts college was chartered and named Illinois Holiness University, with A. M. Hills from Texas Holiness University as its first president. It was then given to the Church of the Nazarene in 1912, with E. F. Walker as president, it was renamed Olivet University in 1915.

In 1939, the main building on the southern Illinois campus was destroyed by fire and prompted the school to move onto the previous campus of St. Viator’s College, in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The school’s name was changed in 1986 to Olivet Nazarene University (ONU), to express the advanced academic offerings.