St Olaf College - Viking Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

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:dh I' Him: Z N XL, 41-L .Z if? X13 'X'-1' '.f7-5-,Rf ,-e... by -2 -... A ... -G: f xys '- ,, .- -T:?A Y- 4, -7 I '4-,Tiff The Greater St. Olaf OR those who are yet unacquainted with St. Olaf College and into whose hands this volume may fall g for those who know something of our college and desire to learn more g for those who are interested in our college and enjoy watching her growg for those who have attended and graduated from our college and who hold her dearg and for us who now frequent her halls and enjoy her fruits, this de- partment is especially gotten up. Within these pages We have crowded a brief his- tory of our collegeg we have set down the principles on which our college restsg We have pointed to the opportunities that our college affordsg and we have shown what our college needs that she may be able to continue in her field of noble ser- vice. Reader, if you would know St. Olaf College, do not pass this depart- ment by, but rather study it, ponder over it, with one accord, heed the clarion call for The Greater St. Olaf. -EDITOR. 8

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Sf, -sf ass! -.-...c:- ..Q.-.. ,..,..:- ..-,.. -tg,-'L-. -'.,- : av.,-, -.5-ci-,gy ,--A . ,. The Story of St. Olaf College By PROP. O. G. FELLAND. ,N'I'2 E celebrate annually the birthday of St. Olaf College on the sixth of November. On that day, in the year 1874, a clergyman, a merchant, and three farmers formed themselves into a corporation by adopting a charter un- der the laws of Minnesota for the purpose of establish- ing an institution of learning in Northfield under the name and style of St. Olaf's School. By virtue of this charter St. Olaf was officially recognized as an institution of learning, although it had no real estate or building, no president or faculty, and no students. It was somewhat like Lichtenberg's famous knife, Messer ohne Klinge, wo der Stiel dran fehlt. But it was not to remain long in this condition. The very first official act of the board of trustees was to issue on the same day a call to Reverend Thorbjorn N. Mohn to be the principal of the new institution. That call meant success. Mr. Mohn promptly accepted, and within a month he had arrived and taken up the work of arranging for the opening of the school. The first requirement was to secure rooms, and on the seventeenth of December the trustees bought the old Pub- lic School property, including the four lots on which the Congregational church now stands, and which were then occupied by two school buildings. These were furnished and fitted up to receive the students. Two thousand and five hundred dollars was the amount paid for the property. January the eighth, 1875, had been fixed as the opening day of the school. At ten o'clock the students and others gathered in one of the class rooms for the dedi- cation service, which was conducted by Rev. B. I. Muus, of Holden, Goodhue county, the father of the new institution. In the afternoon another meeting was held in the same room, on which occasion the principal, Reverend Mohn, delivered his inaugural address, and in the evening they gathered once more for divine ser- vices, conducted by Rev. H. G. Stub, now president of the Norwegian Synod. At the first roll call there were 38 students present, and the total enrollment for the first year was 50, of which I2 were girls. The arrangements thus made were looked upon as only temporary. To secure a permanent location was the next step, and naturally the wooded 'hill west of town, now known as Manitou Heights, attracted attention. Mr. H. Thorson, a member of the board of trustees, negotiated the deal whereby St. Olaf became the owner of the twenty acre lot on which the Main building now stands, and the ten . cg- 1 - . X ,AI-j 5f,.'T23 .T -,L '-L'-:ra gbv- s ,ix X--g af , . i fw- xs- 41' Q QL 1 N' 4