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

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COLLEGE I 1 Q 3 Q 'rffiliz-'T-Essay -..W L , . . ... . Qggzrizgz.-ME ' ::g'E2,.!4gE3m E ,222 i:-1-'T' : U :f ,...-X ii ...f gf CRULL HALL 1887. Later he entered the consular service of the United States in Germany and was stationed in Belgium during the World War. In the following year, 1873. Prof. August Crull was called to take charge of all instruction in German. Professor Crull had come to Fort Wayne with the first stu- dent body in 1861 and been graduated here in 1862. In 1865 he assisted at a congregation in Mil- waukee, but soon after resigned because of a throat ailment. After returning from Germany in 1868, he was the head of the Lutheran high school in Milwaukee for two years. From 1871 to 1873 he served in the ministry at Grand Rapids, Mich. He remained at Concordia for 42 years. resigning on May 23, 1915. He died in Milwaukee on February 17, 1923. His Lehrbuch and Gestenlehre are well- known to hundreds of alumni. The faculty was again increased, this time by two, in 1974. Prof. Herman Duemling, called from the Teachers' Sem- inary at Addison, began his work in the depart- ment of science at Easter. He continued on the faculty until 1899, and died on March 11, 1913. He is also known as the editor of the Abendschule and Germania. The second man to come in 1874 was Prof. F. W. Stellhorn, who had held a professor- ship at Northwestern College, Watertown, Wis. He resigned from his position as teacher of Greek and Hebrew at Concordia in 1881, accepting a position at Columbus, Ohio, where he was president and dean of the college and seminary for many years. He died on March 17, 1919. While in Fort Wayne. he built his own home, later purchased from him by Synod. The home is still in use, being the first house off Schick Street. The year 1872 is memorable for another reason. At this time the campus assumed the size and shape it has today. At that time Washington Street ran some distance north of its present location from Schick Street eastward, The street was now straightened. On July 24, 1872, Synod purchased parts of three lots south of Washington Street from James B. White and wife for 33,000.00 and on August 1, Mr. White purchased the strip north of the new Washington Street for 83,000.00 with the proviso that no saloons or disreputable business ......Li..-..--- sh 45:1-.ng .441 4 ci -:?f43w: gf -ig ' T 1 1: -,5gHsl'S1aif- A 1125 .-C2 -449355349 Page 23

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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

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-2 Y 18 3 9 'SEEEE T'-I- EEE T it T T T few?-if e e .- 3Q1iDIA WILLIAM C. BURHOP enterprises be established on this property. This left the campus as it is today. Judged by our standards, college life in the sixties and seventies would appear drab, but the alumni of that day assure us that such was not the A. H. SCHROEDER Business Manager Page 24 case. There was the Wabash-Erie canal which in- trigued every newcomer. Interest in it grew as the student became acclimated to college life. Near the present Kroger warehouses were the Fort Wayne locks of the canal. Every student knew Mutz, the caretaker of the locks, although no one seems to remember his first name. In the fall, the canal brought the winter's supply of wood. The three or four upper classes, being dismissed from lessons, spent two or three delightful days storing the wood in the basement and erecting a high wall around the building. When winter came, the canal was again a source of pleasure. The boys skated down town regularly to do their shopping, and on Satur- days they took their lunch and skated to New Haven and points east. An alumnus of the seven- ties gives the assurance that they frequently went as far as the second pair of locks several miles be- yond Defiance, Ohio. There were also many societies to interest the boys, such as the Cimbria, a dramatic club, the Urania Society, a cornet band, an orchestra, and singing organizations. The Buck- ingham Society, composed of members of the class of 1879, and other groups spent pleasant Saturdays in the caves which had been excavated along the