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Page 7 text:
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RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRESIDENT EMERITUS by Albert H. Schwermann Concordia College, Edmonton, 1921-63 Concordia College was born on October 31, 1921. The opening service was held in the school of St. Peter ' s, at that time our only congregation in Edmonton. Thirty-five stu¬ dents answered the roll call. We had leased the Caledonian Temperance Hotel at 10875- 98th Street. Here were the living quarters and the classrooms. Another building at 9529- 110th Avenue provided space for the college dining room, kitchen, infirmary, and the living quarters for the family of the president. During the first year Mrs. Schwermann had charge of the meal service. In the successive years, with a respective enrollment of 52, 48, 65, and 68, grades ten, eleven and twelve were added. Rev. Alfred Rehwinkel, pastor of St. Peter ' s church, assisted during the first year. He joined the teaching staff in 1922, as did Mr. John H. Herreilers of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, whose career as an outstanding mathe¬ matics teacher in Alberta extends to this day. Rev. Walter A. Baepler of Winnipeg joined the staff in 1923. For an enrollment of 65 in 1924 we found additional space in a residence at 9522-llOth Avenue. The following year this was relinquished in favor of the second story of the Vinegrove Apartments at the south east corner of 96th Street and 109th Avenue. (Note: Anyone interested in these historic places is advised to view them soon. One of these years they will be torn down to make way for new structures. ) The students led a rather Spartan existence. Three times a day they had to walk to the dining hall, a distance of four blocks, rain or shine or sleet or snow. Good exercise! We arose at 6, had morning devotion at 6:20, breakfast at 6:40, study period from 7-8, 45 minute class periods from 8:45 to 12 and from 1:45 to 4, study period from 7-9, then evening devotion, and lights out at 9:30. Students paid about $130 per year: $80 for board, $5 for medical fees and a re¬ pair fund, $2 for athletics, and some $40 for mattress, books, electric lamp, etc. ; no tuition fees for students preparing for work in the church. With such low fees we had to rely heavily on the support from the members of our churches. And this came in great abundance. Every fall the members in the Stony Plain area sent us a carload of vegetables and victuals. Throughout the years supplies for our larder came in from many congregations. Dr. Schwermann was born on June 13, 1891 at Jefferson City, Missouri. After his graduation from Concordia College, Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 1910 and from Concordia Seminary in 1913, he served the Mellowdale, Alberta parish as travel¬ ling missionary from 1913 to 1916. Then he was active as pastor in the Wetaskiwin- Brightview parish from 1916 to 1921. In 1916 he was married to Miss Hilda Hintz of Chicago. He became a Canadian citizen in 1923, and since 1942 he has been an alumnus of the university of Alberta. Dr. Albert H. Schwermann
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Page 8 text:
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We completed our stay in rented quarters on December 23, 1925. A short thanksgiving service was held in the old administration building, where we had spent four years and two months and where a total of 126 had been enrolled. A class of 13 was graduated from the high school department on June 29, 1925; at which occasion Jacob L. Ulmer delivered the salutatory and Albert F. Reiner the valedictory. Of their number Walter Rosnau, later a River Forest graduate, was the first to enter the service of our church as Christian day school teacher in Stony Plain (1927) and Philip Unterschultz became the first graduate pastor, at Rochester, Alberta (1930). Of our first students (1921) 12 entered the ministry or teaching profession, and 8 are still active in the church today. Plans for New Buildings, 1924 When in 1920 the Synod at Detroit resolved to establish a college in western Canada and empowered its Board of Directors to select the location, it also appropriated $50, 000 for a building, exclusive of $22, 000, which the churches in Canada had promised to gather for the purchase of real estate. But these plans were delayed. For many years our members in Saskatchewan and Manitoba had taken a keen interest in the founding of a college. Convinced that a college would serve the church more adequately in Saskatchewan, these brethren addressed a petition to the Synod at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in 1923, that the institution be moved from Edmonton to Saskatoon. The Synod referred the matter to its Board of Directors for adjudication. The Board made its final decision on September 10, 1924 - in favor of Edmonton. President Dr. F. Pfotenhauer and Mr. Henry Horst arrived in Edmonton on November 20, 1924, to advise the local Board of Control in building matters. (Mr. Horst was a con¬ tractor who at one time built a sub-division, complete with utilities and 460 well-appointed homes, in 117 days; and later the Philadelphia subway. ) As soon as they had left the train, they were taken to about a dozen sites. Without doubt the most beautiful property they saw that day was Summit Point at the McKinnon Ravine near 98th Avenue and 142nd Street. This would have been a magnificent location for the college. But it was several miles from the nearest utilities, more miles from St. Peter ' s church, and without transportation facilities. So the Board agreed to buy another excellent property, the Fraser estate (together with several lots owned by the city) covering in area 9. 11 acres, at the cost of $13, 800. This price included mineral rights, ownership of which prevented coal companies from mining underneath the property. Situated on Ada Boulevard and Seventy-first Street, this location is reputedly one of the finest in the city. It lies high above the beautiful valley of the North Saskatchewan River, borders the scenic Highlands golf course, and adjoins the Exhibition Grounds and Borden Park. At present the city is planning to build a bridge across the river several blocks east. Several smaller buildings were included in the purchase and also a large eight-room house said to have been erected in 1908. This was remodelled at a cost of $1939 and served from August 28, 1925 to December 1957 as the home of the president. It was situated immedi¬ ately south of the present Guild Hall. In 1948, 1. 86 acres of land on the west side of our property was bought at a cost of $5580. Laying of Cornerstone, July 5, 1925 After the Board had chosen the well-known architectural firm of G. H. MacDonald and H. A. Magoon to take charge of building operations, the beginning was made May 20, 1925. In a bi-lingual (German and English) service led by Pastor John C. Mueller, the ground was broken by the president of the college. For the cornerstone laying on July 5, 1925, also the pastors and lay delegates of the Alberta-British Columbia District were present. From their convention at Stony Plain they, together with fellow Lutherans, were conveyed the 25 miles to Edmonton and return by special train. A copper receptacle in the cornerstone contains the following: English Bible, German Bible, Book of Concord, English-German Catechism, June 1925 copy of our church papers, Catalog of Synod ' s Educational Institutions, Synodical Reports of the Missouri Synod, the Manitoba-Saskatchewan District, and the Alberta-British Columbia District, from 1920-24, containing chief dates and resolutions in the development of Concordia College, Statistical Yearbook, Lutheran Annual, Rules and Regulations governing students. History and Con¬ stitution of the Missouri Synod, pictures of old college buildings used as temporary quarters from 1921-25, The British North America Act 1867, The Alberta Act, The Edmonton Charter, Booklet Edmonton 1877 - 1920, map of Edmonton, copy of The Edmonton Journal, greetings from Mayor K. Blatchford, and the Order of Service for the Cornerstone Laying.
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