Wartburg College - Fortress Yearbook (Waverly, IA)

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Honoring a Historian ♦ In ihis century yea.! of Warlburg College, we wish lo honor a facully member who has been pari of ihe Warlburg Iradilion for more lhan forly years. Il is wilh ihe highesl pleasure lhal we dedicale ihis Cenlury FORTRESS wilh ils historical iheme lo ihe head of the division of social sciences, Dr. Gerhard Ollersberg. Dr. Ollersberg will be long remem- bered by his colleagues and by gen- erations of students as a man who loves history and makes il live. He will be remembered as a scholar who loves his teaching and his God. Il is largely through his efforts that we celebrate this centennial year. Through tireless and diligent research, he established the year 1852 as the be- ginning and published a book on the History of Warlburg College. Yes, we owe much lo this man and lo others like him who have served our college in the perilous years of the past.

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FOREWORD In this century yearbook we commemorate the 100 years of progress that are past, and now Wart- burg College looks forward to another century, a second century of progress. We have a story to tell. A memory-filled story of this year and the story of the past 100 years. A story of THEN and NOW, But you, only you, will write the story of the future Wartburg. Contents ♦ CENTENNIAL DREAM page 4 look back al our hislory ♦ ADMINISTRATION page 17 observe ihe guiding group ♦ CLASSES page 31 gaze at the studious faces ♦ ORGANIZATIONS page 59 watch the moving progress ♦ ATHLETICS page 95 view the stirring action ♦ CAMPUS DIVERSIONS page 109 see the carefree moments HI ' Meet Nicky, the Knight, your guide throughout this Century FORTRESS. NICKY is a symbol of the average Wartburger, who studies sometimes, goes to classes other times and enjoys himself all the time.

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our Men Who Dreamed In 1852 a party of eight people left from the old port of Hamburg, Germany, on a ship bound for America. Pastor Wilhelm Loehe, the found- er of a Lutheran missionary organization in Ger- many, was sending the small group to establish a school for the training of teachers for parochial schools of the Missouri Synod. Members of the group were Grossmann, his wife and six students. The school which they founded in Saginaw, Mich., in 1852 was the beginning of today ' s Wartburg College. During that year, however, the followers of Loehe decided to migrate to Iowa to begin mis- sionary activities independently from the Mis- souri Synod. They took their little school with them and reopened it at Dubuque late in 1853. For two years the curriculum here consisted primarily of secular subjects with limited ele- mentary religious instruction. But in 1854, with the founding of the Iowa Synod, the school at Dubuque began to assume the character of a seminary. By 1856 two stu- dents had completed their requirements for the- ological instruction and were graduated from wha t was now primarily a theological seminary, serving the newly born Iowa Synod. By this time the school had already devel- oped a dual character. In 1854 Loehe sent Sig- mund Fritschel to America to open a Latein- schule at the seminary. Fritschel, at that time without German university training but later to become a noted theologian, assumed the task of organizing a department at the seminary like that of the German Gymnasium, which would prepare students for the later theological course. Entrants in the preparatory department were boys from both America and Germany, the lal- ter supplied by Loehe. Grossmann continued to serve as sole theology instructor. Top left — Wilhelm Loehe, the man who orig- inated the idea which was to become Wartburg College. Top right — George Grossmann, founder of the college at Saginaw, Mich., in 1852. Upper center left — Sigmund Fritschel, a profes- sor who opened the pre-theological training for students at Dubuque in 1854. Upper center right — Fredrick Lutz, an early instructor, he was later in charge of the college during its years at Galena, 111. Center— In 1857 Wartburg Col- lege was transferred to St. Sebald, near Straw- berry Point, where it purchased this building as well as a farm for support. Lower center — In 1868 an abandoned monastery was purchased at Galena, 111., for the training of pre-theological students. The college was housed in the se- verely plain brick structure. Bottom — The school from Galena was merged with the the- ological school at Mendota, 111., in 1875.