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

Page 10 text:

CONCORDIA COLLEGE 1839-1956. | | h sory wou be se fantastic ae | — | g-range. planning an bevinnaar and blueprints of any s cn sort — 4 io nf eel Saag ee te actos 1 Concordia College’i into ) being as-an unnotices ‘fron — et s SR ee Searhces ain epceariamnncncaneumetiant school on December %, +1839, some ‘eight yaors-before t the Missouri Synod was io) re ee ape: sedis fledgling had | no name, for RAL otcoee years | of its” Shc teen beme pean: SA Seat hy anemia: ne. in nstitution (Anstalt),. as if its oe . =; ee i ey ae ial ey | founders were ‘somewhat 3t apologetic dent the whole. matt itfer. sneer : : ommians i ve The building was a ough a log cabin, measuring cpproxi- Seren mene t Oe eae was ake in eae oved, and is now rest- “This was the beginning ee $ ers oe oes ee ‘‘ $ 8 2 of « a 2 great collegere ont in nh se primi ye days, can hardly be iegineal

Page 9 text:

...and in special dedication to Julius A. Fredrich, D. D., who is, as closely as can be determined, our oldest living alumnus. His subsequent life history in the service of the Lord began in 1887, when, in an aban- doned chapel which had been used as a chicken stable, he was ordained and installed as missionary to the Chatanooga, Tenn. area. He was installed as pastor of the First Lutheran Church at Knoxville, Tenn., on June 7, 1892, which at that time belonged to the Holston Synod. From 1901 to1923, he was pastor of Immanuel Church at St. Charles, Mo., and after that at Creighton, Mo. ‘ As Director of Foreign Missions, he made the first inspection of our mission in India, 1912-1913. f From 1924 to 1928, he was student pas- tor at the State University of lowa and insti- tutional missionery at lowa City, lowa. Dr. Julius A. Friedrich is in many ways a remarkable person. He was born in St. Peter’s Lutheran parsonage, Huntington, Indiana, where his father was the minister, on Janu- ary 9, 1862. Malaria in Indiana caused his father to move to Illinois, and then to Lancaster, Ohio, where Dr. Friedrich had his first schooling. He attended school for a half a day for only three or four months a year. He had the equivalent of five grades of schooling when he entered Fort Wayne in 1877, at the age of fifteen. While here at Ft. Wayne, he lived in what is now the ad- ministration building. He ran errands for Di- rector Hanser, who rewarded him with an il- legal supply of cigars. He remembers Rector Schick and also Professor Crul. (He later mar- ried Rector Schick’s daughter!) In his day, the Spring Turnfest, resembling our “play days”, were held along the Maumee River, with the local brewery supplying the refreshments. It was here that Director Hanser threw Dr. Fried- rich into the river, but he never learned to swim. Upon graduation from Concordia Col- lege, Fort Wayne, Ind., he entered Con- cordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., in 1884. During his second scholastic year, he was Walther’s private secretary. He was grad- vated from the Seminary on April 20, 18- 87, with the unique distinction that his di- ploma bears the last signature of Dr. C. F. W. Walther, then on his deathbed. A man who has lived under nineteen United States’ Presidents, and through fourteen major wars in the world, our old- est living alumnus is in amazingly good health. He has every chance of outliving his Alma Mater. 1880— ‘‘to”’ Dr. Friedrich while a student at Fort Wayne.

Page 11 text:

| | | | The first building at St. Louis, Mo., 1850. The first students were a motley group of boys and girls that cannot be classified in accordance with any system of grading. The oldest was a little over fourteen years and the youngest scarcely five. The total number of pupils at some time or another dur- ing the first schoolyear was ten, seven boys and three girls. It has been argued that this was not co- education in our present sense. Whatever the situa- tion may have been, the fact remains that three girls were enrolled and attended classes just like the rest. All of these girls became wives of ministers and thus exerted a great influence on our early synodical his- tory. Much could be said about the life in the early years and about the subjects offered for study. There were no dormi- tories; all students lived at home or boarded out with some relatives or members of the Altenburg congregation. There was no student life in our modern sense whatsoever. One by one, as calls came in for them, the founders left the school to enter the holy ministry throughout the coun- try. The last one to leave did so in 1843. Here then, there was a school and no teachers. The man chosen by God who saved the school from utter extinction and who carried it through on wings of prayer was the Rev. Gotthold Loeber, pastor of the Al- tenburg congregation. He was aided by the members of Trinity Church in St. Louis. Moving was the next order of events when the college said fare-thee-well to Altenburg and occupied new quarters at St. Louis. The poor foundling was now housed in comparatively luxurious quarters. Cinderella had become a fairy princess! The official transfer was not accomplished with ease. There were bitter words, both pro and con, and for the Altenburg people there were tender ties of affection. Nevertheless, the new seminary and college building at St. Louis was dedicated with great promp and splendor on June 11, 1850, with three speeches (one in Latin—and for whom?) and a grand processional consisting of an orchestra, several choirs, and local organizations. ‘‘The Knights of the Cross’’ (Kreuzritter), with a red cross emblazoned over their hearts, were a special attraction. These knights were a group of young people organized for the purpose of helping the students. St. Louis, Mo., as it later sprouted new buildings.