Concordia College - Corona Borealis Yearbook (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)

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vice. In the ensuing meetings arrangements were made with the city land department to exchange on even terms the eleven lots at the north end of our property (along a street car line) for eleven more serviceable lots along Jasper Avenue immediately to the east of the college grounds, across Seventy-first Street. The contract for four houses, designed by architects MacDonald and Magoon, was let to Thomas Ingram on June 24, 1930. This building program was completed in the fall of the same year at a cost of $39,466. The Tax Case in 1930 The Edmonton Charter exempts the following lands from municipal and school taxes: “The land not exceeding four acres of and attached to or otherwise bona-fide used in connection with and for the purposes of any university, college, high school, public or separate school, seminary of learning or hospital owned by a corporation ... so long as such land is actually used and occupied by such institution but not if otherwise occupied”. Before proceeding with any plans for new residences, our Board addressed a letter under date of August 3, 1929, to the city assessor with the question: “Are teachers’ residences considered to be ‘buildings used in connection with and for the use of colleges’ and therefore exempt from taxation?” The assessor referred the question to the city solicitor with the statement: They wish to have full assurance on the matter of exemption before proceeding [with an extensive building program]”. The solicitor gave it as his opinion that land occupied by residences used by instructors of the college are exempt, and this opinion was communicated to our Board by the city assessor. It came, therefore, as a rude shock when, after the residences had been erected in 1930, our Board of Control received notice from this same city assessor that these houses had been placed on the list of taxable property. Our complaints and arguments resulted in the decision of the city’s legal department to place the matter before the Supreme Court in the form of a test case. The case was presented on September 20, 1932, before the trial judge, and his judgment was in our favor. He held that residences occupied by our professors are used “for college purposes” and therefore entitled to tax exemption. In an appeal on June 8, 1933, the appellate division reversed the judg¬ ment of the trial judge. Their contention was that ‘‘the land on which these pro¬ fessors’ residences are located is used and occupied by men who are in the employ of the institution, which does not constitute occupation by the institution”. There¬ upon the case was submitted to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, where on February 6, 1934, our appeal was lost, three of the five judges upholding the decision of the local appellate division. Go-education Introduced in 1925 On August 11, 1925, our Board was confronted with the request to enroll a Lutheran girl who had the intention to become a Christian day school teacher. The request was granted, and as a consequence three girls were admitted in the fall of 1925. During the years 1925-28, when they numbered three, four, and seven respectively, lodg¬ ing was given them in the homes of our teachers. Two old houses, bought with the property in 1924, were then joined west of the adm.nistration building and converted by our teachers into a girls’ dormitory. In the fall of 1928 twelve girls moved in, and the following year there were nine. Miss Melanie Lange of Claresholm, Alberta, oc¬ cupied one of the rooms as matron, 1928-30, and taught music and domestic science. The school-year 1930-31 opened with only four co-eds present. Coeducation, except 13

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Beginning of Building Operations in 1925 After our architect had made a trip to our colleges in St. Paul, Milwaukee, and River Forest for the purpose of acquainting himself more thoroughly with Missouri Synod architecture, plans made rapid progress. On May 18, 1925, Synod ' s Board of Directors approved of the tenders which had been submitted bv the Poole Construction Co. for the construction of buildings, $97,384; C. R. Frost for plumbing and heating, $19,417; and H. H. Depew Co. for electrical work, $2,598. Materials to be used were tapestry brick, reinforced concrete, and building tile. In a bi-lingual service on May 20, 1925, led by Pastor J. C. Mueller, ground was broken by Principal Schwermann. For the cornerstone laying on July 5th, 1925, also the pastors and lay delegates of the Dis¬ trict were present. From their convention at Stony Plain they, together with fellow- Lutherans, were conveyed the twenty miles to Edmonton and return by special train. Vice-President Fr. Brandt of St. Louis delivered the German and the Rev. C. T. Wetzstein of Regina the English sermon. The cornerstone was laid by President A. J. Mueller and the offering of $215 was designated for equipment. Dedication on January 10, 1926 And then came the day of days—January 10, 1926—the day of dedication. The weather had hitherto been unusually propitious for building operations. Would it hold? Saturday night it began to rain, and on this basis it was safe to predict snow and sub-zero temperature for the following day. But on Sunday morning the sun arose in all his splendor and in a cloudless sky graciously smiled on us till dusk. Forty- three above zero was the maximum for the day, one that the Lord had made! The festive celebration began at two o’clock. President A. J. Mueller, Mr. H. A. Magoon, Mr. Hy. W. Horst, and the Rev. J. C. Mueller took part in a brief opening ceremony. Since the chapel offered room for only 200 people, accommodation was found for more than 800 other guests in all available rooms of both buildings, where a public address system—quite a novelty for those days—had been set up. The first pioneers of Western Canada had been chosen as speakers. Pastor E. Eberhardt, for the German and Pastor H. Buegel for the English sermon. Cordial felicitations were con¬ veyed to the assembly by Vice-President J. Lucht of Saskatchewan. Joyousness was added to the dedication by the presence of some seventy pastors and several teachers of the four western provinces, who held a pastoral conference from Thursday to Mon¬ day. The day’s offering of $335 was used for equipment of classrooms. On the fol¬ lowing night pastors and students assembled in the chapel for an academic celebration in which only the Latin language was used for the address as well as for the hymns and prayers. Prof. W. A. Baepler had chosen as his theme, “The importance of a know¬ ledge of classical language for a minister of the Gospel”. A banquet in the dining hall brought the festivities to a happy conclusion. Nothing was more fitting to close this chapter in the history of our school than a letter written for the dedication by Mr. John Burkhart, a layman of the congregation at Hoffenthal, Saskatchewan, which extolled the goodness of the Lord in a marvellous symphony of praise and thanksgiving taken from pertinent prayers of David and Solomon. (Cp. “Unsere Kirche”, March, 1926). Building of Residences in 1930 In 1929 a building committee composed of Pastor E. Eberhardt, Prof. M. W. Riedel, and Mr. John Armbruster began to plan the erection of residences for our teachers. Mr. Hy. Horst, as the representative of the Board of Directors again made a trip to Edmonton the end of March, 1930, and assisted the committee with expert ad- 12

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for day students only, was then discontinued in the year 1931, and the badly delapid- ated dormitory buildings were sold for $300. It had become evident that girls pre¬ paring for the teaching profession did not receive adequate training in a school in which the curriculum had been designed for ministerial students only; and a limited staff did not permit the introduction of a number of courses required as prerequisite for normal training. After the introduction of the provincial high school course, however, co-eds enrolled again. Five appeared in the fall of 1941, and then their number grew to thir¬ teen in ’42, fifteen in ’43, twenty-two in ’44, and twenty-eight in ’45. They receive me als in the college dining room and lodging in homes near the school. During the year 1945-46 eighteen had residence in the homes of our professors. Provincial High School Course Introduced in 1939 Already in the early thirties serious thought was given to accreditation, and various surveys were made by the faculty. However, since Synod was contemplating a reorganization of its educational system and the provincial Department of Education had in mind to make far-reaching changes in the high school courses, no action was taken until the latter part of the thirties. Encouragement to seek such accreditation was given by the fact that some of our ministerial graduates were refused admission to universities because they had not received their training in an accredited school, and also by the fact that the synodical Board for Higher Education had suggested in 1937 that “each institution should meet the state or regional requirements for graduation from high school”. Accordingly, the provincial course of studies as prescribed for the high school of Alberta was introduced in 1939. This necessitated the introduction of textbooks prescribed by the Department, reduction of forty-five to thirty-five minute periods, and for our teachers four to six courses at the University of Alberta for the purpose of ultimately acquiring the degree of Bachelor of Education, or its equivalent. All members of our staff have met this requirement or are in the process of meeting it. In order to obtain 100 credits for a high school diploma, students of grades ten and eleven must be promoted by accredited teachers, and they must pass the prov¬ incial examinations set for grade twelve by the Department of Education and corrected by them. Students are promoted by subjects, not by grades. When this course was introduced in 1939, grade nine (sexta) was at least temporarily eliminated, because its retention would have required an additional accredited teacher. And furthermore, grade nine is no more part of a provincial senior high school. The former division of eight and four grades has been replaced by the six-three-three system, which makes grade nine part of the intermediate school. Since the introduction of this new division many parents prefer to keep their boys and girls home until they have completed the intermediate school. The college is visited annually by provincial inspectors and in¬ variably receives words of commendation from them. Its students have done good work in their final examinations and in achievement have held second or third place among the hundreds of provincial high schools. Junior College Department Added in 1926 Since by resolution of Synod in 1926 the scope of our school was enlarged to a junior college, the freshman college class was organized in the fall of 1926 and the sophomore class in 1927. On June 19, 1928, the first college class was graduated, and of its nine members eight proceeded to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and later en¬ tered the ministry. The present writer cheerfully pays well-deserved tribute to the 14