Concordia College - Spire / Concordian Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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COLLEGE l939 5525552 A- .'-Emi? g:5:--3211: ,, -..- ..., G .xessills Wig...-QC 'x MARTIN LUECKE S10,000.00, but Synod did not see its way clear to close the deal. In 1863 two residences were con- structed, which are in use still today. One was a single residence for the director, into which Di- rector Saxer moved. and the other was a double house occupied by Professors Schick and Lange. The director's home cost S4.082.00. Excavations for Hanser Hall were begun. but the stream of funds flowed too sparingly during the Civil War. Con- struction was resumed in 1869, but the building was not completed and occupied until 1872. In 1869. or possibly earlier, a Commissary building was erected. and in the same year the present bakery was added to the physical assets of the college. Two more residences were built shortly after- wards on West Lane. one in 1870 and the other in 1879, but otherwise no building operations on the part of Synod followed until the turn of the cen- tury. About 1877 a brick gymnasium was built from funds collected by the students. It stood just south of Sihler Hall. This is the old gym about which the older alumni reminisce with gusto when they recall the many happy moments spent in it. It served its purpose as a gymnasium and social center for some thirty years. It was torn down at the time when the new gymnasium was built in 1907. On December 28, 1869, while the students were away on their Christmas vacation. a fire destroyed the entire center portion of the English Academy. leaving only the bare walls. The east wing, too, was almost completely ruined. The loss to the building was reported to be 35,000.00 and about 854,000.00 worth of property of the students was destroyed by the flames. There was no insurance. but the students were reimbursed for their loss through the generous donations of fellow Luth- erans. The work of the school was not interrupted. The students were crowded into the other build- ings and about 100 were housed in the private homes of Lutheran families in Fort Wayne. Han- ser Hall was under construction and had been covered with a roof, but the interior was not suf- ficiently advanced in construction to be of any use during the emergency. Page 21

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CONCORDIA - x t-- qi, THE HTABERNACLE' that the private lives of the students had changed for the worse. The Synodical convention of 1863 spent considerable time discussing this situation. Though a committee had conducted an investiga- tion and found the charges unfounded, the matter appeared regularly on the docket of the conven- tions for over a decade before the minds of all were set at ease. Another matter which injured the school was the charge that the site of the college was unhealthy. Nonetheless, there was progress. A class of 22 was graduated in 1862, but no gradu- ates followed in the next two years. Beginning with 1865 there have been annual classes of gradu- ates with the exception of 1868. In 1862 and 1863 the two upper classes were returned to St. Louis, since the conscription laws in Missouri were more liberal than those of Indiana, Where boys of 17 years of age were subject to call. The greatest material progress in these early years was made by the extension of the grounds JOSEPH SCHMID if Q' 5' ggi fl ., and the construction of buildings. The campus was enlarged by the purchase of four lots from Samuel Hanna and wife for 3900.00 on April 15, 1863, and of one lot from Robert P. Lawson and wife for 3240.00 on April 27, 1863. These lots were located on the north side of the grounds. In the same year, Mrs. M. J. Lewis and Ira Lewis sold Oak Grove to the Synod for 352,400.00 This was a wide strip on the west side of the campus on which a frame house was situated. The house stood where Schick Street now is. Prof. Achenbach lived in it before it was moved a short distance to the rear of the second home now on Schick Street. Here it was occupied by the baker, Mr. Sahner, and later by his successor, Mr. Joseph Schmid, until it was razed. At about this time, seemingly in 1862, mem- bers of St. Paul's congregation took an option on the plot extending from Schick Street to Harmar Street between Washington Street and Maumee Avenue, consisting of 39 acres. The price was OLD AND NEW DINING HALL Page 20

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'.-. . 13 3 9 'E EEE.-Efilll-if Vw W ' x CONCORDIA SIHLER HALL The fire caused further criticism to be heaped upon the faculty. Disheartened, the entire faculty, with the exception of one, resigned during the next two years and accepted calls into the ministry or followed other vocations. Professor Achenbach resigned in 1871. Director Saxer and Professors Schick and Lange resigned in 1872. And Prof. Robert Engel, a nephew of Dr. Walther, who had joined the faculty in 1868, left the school in 1873. SIHLER HALL Q. S. Page 22 Student T. Stiemke assisted in 1871-2, taking the place of Professor Achenbach. Professor Saxer resigned as director on account of the illness of his wife and continued for one year as regular pro- fessor. He left in May, 1873, for Boston. Then he became engaged in a cigar making business in New York City and later disappeared, never to be heard of again. Rector Schick, who was prevailed upon to reconsider his action, remained with the school, even though the Synodical convention of 1872 had already adopted a resolution to call suc- cessors to him and Professor Achenbach. Synod now faced the problem of assembling a new faculty. The new director was Prof. C. J. Otto Hanser. who served in this capacity from 1872 until 1879, when he accepted a call to Old Trinity in St. Louis. He died at St. Louis on Janu- ary 10, 1910, and was buried eight days before the golden anniversary of his service in the ministry. All alumni agree that his was a most lovable character. His life reads like a page from an excit- ing drama, since he spent many of his earlier years as a soldier and then as a sailor on the high seas. Memorial services were held in his memory at the college at the time of his death although he had been away from the school for thirty years. The second man to join the new faculty in 1872 was the Rev. Rudolf Adam Bischoff, who was called from his pastorate at Alexandria, Va. In 1881 he assumed the duties of director. In 1886 he accepted a call to Bingen, Ind., but in 1889 was called back as professor and taught until 1904. He died at Bingen in 1916. Prof. Henry W. Died- erich was the third man to be called in 1872. Courses in English language and literature were assigned to him, and for that reason he received much sympathy. He continued to serve until about