BY ANDREW SANTELLA
PIONEERING SPIRIT In the century and a half since its founding, Elmhurst has continually reinvented itself— while staying true to its pioneering roots.
The first chapter of this story is written in stone. It remains readable for anyone who takes a second to look skyward on the approach to the front door of Old Main. Halfway up the crenelated tower is an inscription: Proseminar der Deutschen ev. Synode, von NA. Most of us came to love this school as Elmhurst College, and we all now know it as Elmhurst University, but long before it was called either, it was the Proseminary of the German Evangelical Synod of the Northwest. It was established in 1871 as a secondary school for farm boys and parsons’ sons preparing to become Midwestern ministers and educators. The inscription on Old Main is in German—and all the classes, even English classes, were taught in that language—because that was the language of the church the boys had been called to serve.
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