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

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CONCORDIA COLLEGE Historical Sketch Concordia College, a residental high school and junior college of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, was officially opened on October 31, 1921, with a Grade IX enrolment of 35 students. The Caledonian Temperance Hotel at 10875 - 98th Street, now called Fraser Lodge, was the first administration building. A boarding house at 9529 - 110th Avenue served as dining-room, kitchen, infirmary and principal’s residence. Grades X, XI and XII were added in the next successive years, and in 1926 the first of two junior college classes was organized. In the fall of 1924 the Fraser estate (together with several lots owned by the city), covering in area 8.11 acres, was purchased at a cost of $13,800. Building operations began on May 20th, 1925, and were completed on the day of dedication, January 10th, 1926. The total cost of land and buildings at that time was $147,000. Four professors’ residences were erected in 1930 at a total cost of $39,446. In December, 1948, an additional plot of ground, covering 1.86 acres and lying west of the administration building, was purchased from the city at a cost of $5,580. LOCATION AND GROUNDS Concordia College is situated in Edmonton, the capital of the Province of Alberta, a city of over 200,000 inhabitants (including the suburbs), 801 miles west of Winnipeg, 771 miles east of Vancouver, and some 350 miles north of the Montana boundary. The city dates its origin from the year 1795, when a fur trading post was established here by the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was incorporated as a town in 1892, and as a city in 1904. It lies in the centre of one of the most prosperous farming communities in Western Canada. In addition, Edmonton has become the “oil capital” of the country, for thousands of oil wells have been developed during the past seven or eight years and three large refineries have been established on the outskirts of the city. The pro¬ duction of oil has brought with it the construction of huge industrial plants, such as the plant of the Celanese Corporation of America, which alone cost $55,000,000. Edmonton is also at the “Crossroads of the World” so far as air travel is concerned, and is the gateway to the fertile Peace River empire and to the valuable mineral deposits in the far north. All this has made the city an unusually progressive com¬ munity. With its University of Alberta, eleven other colleges, and three public libraries, the city offers excellent educational and cultural facilities. Concordia has its home in a quiet residential district in the eastern part of the city. It lies high above the beautiful valley of the Saskatchewan River, borders the scenic Highlands golf course, and adjoins the Fair Grounds and Borden Park, in which are situated the Edmonton Zoo and municipal swimming pool. The distance from the college to the heart of the city is a 10-minute ride on the Highlands bus line. BUILDINGS The administration building contains five classrooms, laboratory, girls’ commons, library, office, faculty room, chapel, vault, and heating plant. In addition to the dining-room, steward’s quarters, storage rooms, and lavatories, the boys’ dormitory contains 15 suites of rooms, the larger of which are designed for five and the smaller for four students. Each suite has a study and a bedroom, the latter being equipped with a built-in dresser and sufficient lockers for the occupants. All floors in these rooms are covered with battleship linoleum. In the service building are located the kitchen, refrigerating room, storage rooms, living space for maids, and the second storey the sickrooms. A beautiful new gymnasium-auditorium, with a seating capacity of about 1,000 people, was dedicated on April 19th, 1953. CO-EDUCATION AND ACCCREDITATION Co-education was first introduced in 1925, but temporarily discontinued in 1931. Girls were again admitted in 1941. Twenty are enrolled at the present time. The Alberta Provincial High School Course of Studies was introduced in 1939. At that time Grade IX was eliminated since it is no longer part of the senior high school course in this province. Concordia is fully accredited with the Department of Education. 2

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Our Neiv Altar in the Gym-Auditorium Vo pador J. E. HERZER who this year is completing fifty years in the service of the Church this 1954 Concordia Yearbook is respectfully dedicated. Vic VjcarU Sl4 Gymnasium - Auditorium Administration Building Dormitory

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In these lines we desire to pay tribute to a truly great pioneer of our church in Western Canada, the Rev. John E. Herzer. Born August 26, 1880, at Plymouth, Wisconsin, he received his early education at Walther College in St. Louis, Missouri, and at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1904 he graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and thereupon served congregations at Dix and Durango, Colorado, until 1911. From 1911 to 1913 he was pastor at Vernon, B.C., serving at the same time a large mission field in British Columbia, and even Alaska. During the next sixteen years, until 1929, he was pastor of Jehovah congregation in Calgary. From 1929 to 1943 his activity extended over a wider field as immigrant missionary and organizer for Young People’s work in Western Canada, with headquarters in Winnipeg. From 1943 to the present he has served as intsructor in religion and German at Concordia College. Always a systematic worker, Pastor Herzer concentrated his chief attention upon the study of the Bible, and as a result he acquired a brilliant working knowledge of this Book. He was thoroughly at home in all parts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, ever ready to quote Biblical reference for any topic under discussion. To him the Bible was not a dead volume written only for people of by-gone ages, but rather a living, modern volume with information as pertinent and up-to-date as that of today’s newspaper. Consequently, all his presentations of Biblical truths, whether in sermons, lectures, or classroom instructions were intensely fascinating, constantly applying its lessons to the twentieth century and emphasizing that in its chapters was to be found the only salvation through Jesus the Crucified for sinners living in a dying world. Pastor Herzer is an extremely humble man. And yet in his congenial, quiet, and unassuming way he exerted in his long pastoral activity a tremendous influence upon scores of pastors throughout Western Canada. Many a pastor became a better preacher because Pastor Herzer led him more deeply into a knowledge of Holy Scriptures. Far- reaching was his influence upon young people. In Bible institutes, Walther League camps, young people’s conventions he was, and still is, a highly popular lecturer; and no lectures of his were more interesting than those dealing with explanations of chapters from the Bible. For the students here at Concordia during the last eleven years his classes in religion were always a daily delight. The sound Biblical foundation, laid in the pioneer age of our church in Western Canada we owe, by the grace of God, in a marked degree to the humble and quiet services of this noble man of God. Pastor Herzer, we join our hearts with yours in praise and thanks to our Heavenly Father for having graciously permitted you to complete fifty years of eminently blessed work in the service of our Saviour’s kingdom. We salute you as a prince in Israel! May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace! A. H. SCHWERMANN. 3