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CENTENNIAL

STORY

Frontispiece: The Trinity windows in the chancel of our college chapel

CENTENNIAL

STORY

NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE, 1865-1965

By Erwin Ernst Kowalke

Northwestern College Watertown, Wisconsin

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A biography of the college such as this could be written only by a man who knows Northwestern well. Professor Kowalke does know it well, having been a part of it as student, teacher, and administrator for nearly sixty years. Even the first four decades of college history have become almost as familiar to him as his own home. Though he never saw Northwestern's original building, the so-called Kaffeemseble, he writes about it with an affection and nostalgia that would have warmed the hearts of students for whom it once was their campus home. Erwin Ernst Kowalke was born at Kaukauna, Wisconsin, on August 31, 1887, the son of Ferdinand Kowalke and his wife, Sophia, nee Kansier. He received his elementary school education in Kaukauna and also attended the high school there. He matriculated at Northwestern as an eleventh grader in September, 1903. Upon his graduation from Northwestern in June, 1908, he enrolled at the Seminary in Wauwatosa. Three years later he was assigned to the parish at Tomahawk, Wisconsin. After serving there briefly, he accepted the call to be an instructor at his alma mater. Since January, 1913, he has taught uninterruptedly in the classrooms of Northwestern College. For forty of those years, from 1919-1959, he also served as the president of the college. During his long association with Northwestern, the college has come to mean many things to him, but above all he cherishes its ministry to the Church. To him it is first and foremost God's gift to our Synod. Hence he commends it to Him who has kept it well these one hundred years and will not fail it in the years to come. CARLETON TOPPE

President, Northwestern College

PREFACE In wrrting this chronicle of the first one hundred years of Northwestern College I have drawn heavily, for the story of the earliest years, on Professor John P. Koehler's invaluable History of the Wisconsin Synod and on the history of the college written on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary by Dr. Arthur Hoermann and Pastor Hans K. Moussa. For the rest I relied very little upon memory, but had constant recourse to the minutes of the faculty and of the college board and to the Proceedings of the Synod. The Black and Red, the periodical published by the students of the college, was a rich source of information regarding student life, both in current accounts and in reminiscences contributed by students of long ago. The Gemeindeblatt and the Northwestern Lutheran could be relied upon for obituaries and for accounts of celebrations and college events of general interest. The college catalogs, a private diary, the Northwestern Lutheran Annual and Continuing In His Word were combed for bits of information or for confirmation of accounts found in other sources. A digest of the faculty and college board minutes, largely translated from the original German, and notes covering material taken from other sources have been deposited in the college library for possible reference. I am particularly indebted to Professor E. C. Kiessling for his advice, for his careful reading of all the material as it came from my hand, for corrections and for seeing the book through the press, and to President Toppe for reading the final draft of the manuscript and offering many useful suggestions. To my wife I am grateful for her constant encouragement. The graduating class of 1965 was helpful in compiling lists of faculty members and of enrollment figures and in making an index. To Mrs. Florence Herold, a former student, for typing the copy for the printer, to Mr. Herbert Schaefer of the Northwestern Publishing House and his staff for bringing out the book, and to the Alumni Society for assuming all financial obligations of publication, I wish also to express my thanks. ERWIN E. KOWALKE

Christmas, 1964

CONTENTS Foreword Preface I The Background_________________________________________ II Growing Pressure_______________________________________ III A Decision____________________________________________ IV The Debate____________________________________________ V The StarL_____________________________________________ VI On the Way___________________________________________ VII Money Troubles_______________________________________ VIII Teacher and StudenL_________________________________ I~ End of a Phase________________________________________ ~ low Ebb______________________________________________ ~I A ~ew Era___________________________________________ ~II Firstfruirs -_____________________ ~III life in the KafJeemuehle_______________________________ ~IV The 1875 Dormitory__________________________________ ~V Rules and Regulations__________________________________ ~VI The Fire ~VII The End of an Era ~VIII Faculty, 1865-1965 ~I~ Domestic Troubles, 1895-1905 ~~ A New Dormitory, 1905 ~~I Faculty, 1900-1919 ~~II The Inspectorship ~~III Interim, 1919-1923 ~~IV The Curriculum X~V Stormy Weather X~VI Depression and WaL ~~VII Rebuilding ------~VIII Athletics ~~I~ The Military Company X~~ The Black and Red

V VlI

1 10 15 19 24 31 38 45 53 61 68 73 79 85 93 102 109 120 132 141 148 153 163 171 180 188 199 211 223 230

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XXXI SocietieS-_______ XXXII Our Property XXXIII Odds and Ends XXXIV Four Anniversaries XXXV The Last Few Years Appendices Enrollments, 1865-1965__________ Faculty Members, 1865-1965 Tutors, 1915-1965_ Instructors and Assistants, 1865-1965 Inspectors and Deans, 1866-1965 Stewards and Managers, 1866-1965 Graduating Classes, 1872-1965 Pictures _ Index

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239 248 257 264 269 277 ___ 277 280 281 282 282 283 283 285 309

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STORY

CHAPTER I

The Background When John Muehlhaeuser met with Pastors John Weinmann and William Wrede in Granville, Wisconsin, in December, 1849, to form the "First German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin," they could not then realize that they were at the same time taking a long step toward founding a theological seminary and a college at \Vatertown. Their immediate purpose in joining forces into a Synod was to provide more adequate preaching and teaching of the Word of God to the hosts of Germans who were at that time streaming into Wisconsin. When these three men met again in May, 1850, to adopt a constitution, they were strengthened by the addition of two others, Pastor Pluess of Sheboygan and Pastor Meiss of Schlesingerville (now Slinger). These five men were already serving eighteen congregations, and every day more immigrants were pouring into \Visconsin through the ports of Sheboygan and Milwaukee. By 1850, when the Wisconsin Synod was founded, there were 38,064 German-born people living in Wisconsin. Those who were already here urged friends and relatives to follow. A steady flow of books and pamphlets, containing more or less accurate accounts of conditions and opportunities in Wisconsin, circulated widely in Germany, and whatever glowing accounts appeared in them were strongly underlined by the many industrious real estate agents. Though the whole country was open to immigrants, Wisconsin was consistently pictured to the German farmer as the territory that had the soil and climate best suited to his way of life. The land-hungry and largely poverty-stricken people believed what they heard and read, and crowded upon the ships that left Bremen for the promised land. By 1860 there were 123,879 German-born in Wisconsin alone.

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These people had so little money that they could not afford the more expensive prairie land and the oak openings that lay west and northwest of Racine and Milwaukee toward Waukesha and Whitewater and beyond. They had to be content with land that was covered solidly with hardwood forest and could be had for the going price of $1.25 an acre. This was the land that lay close to Lake Michigan all the way from Milwaukee to Manitowoc. They had no money, but they were not afraid of hard work, and they had determination. After the hardships and sickness and hunger during the three months' voyage over the Atlantic, followed by the long, slow journey up the Hudson river and then over the Great Lakes to Sheboygan or Milwaukee, they were glad to strike off into the woods and face whatever awaited them there. This was home. Those who had friends or relatives with whom they could spend a few days or weeks until they provided a shelter of sorts for themselves were the lucky ones. One group that immediately upon arrival headed eagerly into the woods west of Sheboygan built shelters of boughs, hoping that the rains would hold off. But they did not. The newcomers were most concerned about keeping their bedding from being soaked and managed that by rolling it into as small a bundle as possible and sitting on it till the rain stopped. That was a minor embarrassment. The really hard work of clearing the land for the planting of grain and potatoes was yet to come. Although not much money was needed, the new settlers could not exist entirely without it and managed to acquire a few precious dollars by cutting firewood for city dwellers, by wielding pick and shovel on the railroad, or by hewing shingles out of oak or white pine blocks. Although they had not expected a paradise, life did prove to be a great deal harder than they had expected. And yet there is very little evidence of discouragement among them. It was obvious that if they worked hard, the land would reward them, and reward them it did.

A Dearth of Pastors To appreciate the great need of pastors among the thousands of Germans who were coming into \Visconsin by 1850 and in the years following, it must be remembered that there were very few settled communities in the state by that time. Outside of the somewhat larger concentrations of immigrants in Racine, Mil-

THE

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waukee, and Sheboygan, the Germans were living scattered in the woods or in very small communities. Milwaukee, the largest town, was not incorporated as a city until 1846. The first settler did not arrive in the Watertown area until 1836. In 1842 Madison was only three years old. It did indeed have a capitol building with a tin dome, about forty dwelling houses, and a population of 300. A traveler who visited Madison in 1842 describes the pigs that roamed the streets as being half rat and half alligator. Of course, not all of the Germans in Wisconsin could be looked upon by the pastors of the new Wisconsin Synod as constituting a field for their labors. There were Catholics among them, members of Reformed groups, a liberal sprinkling of free-thinking Turners, and a number of so-called Latin farmers, who were rationalists and looked upon religion with disdain. But the greater number of those who came to Wisconsin came from the agricultural districts of northern Germany and had been under the care of the state church, in which a combination of Reformed and Lutheran confessions had been established by royal decree. Among these people Missouri Synod pastors were already very active, as were also the followers of Pastor Grabau, who considered themselves the strictest of the Lutheran bodies. Extremely active were the Methodists, who called themselves the Evangelicals and thus won over many Germans who recognized the name as being that of the church they had belonged to in Germany and thought that the two were the same. Among the throngs of immigrants crowding into Wisconsin in the years following 1848 very few men qualified to serve as pastors. The educated among them had left Germany for political reasons and were not interested in the church. The others had been accustomed in Germany to being cared for by the state church and to having pastors and teachers supplied for them by the church authorities. Thus, although the need for pastors was very great, the cry for help rarely came from the people themselves but from the pastors and from the mission societies in Germany. These societies were the one bright and shining spot in the drab church life of Germany in the mid-nineteenth century. State control of church functions and state dictation had taken away from the congregation and from the individual Christian the dignity and the responsiblity of the priesthood of the believer. So it was hardly to be expected that people who had been

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regimented into state-dictated forms at home would in a new country be very active about providing pastors and teachers for themselves. It took time for them to learn that they needed to help themselves if they wanted their children baptized and taught the Way of Life and if they themselves wanted spiritual care.

The Langenberg Society The group that most directly concerned itself with the Germans in Wisconsin was the Langenberg Society, which had been organized for the specific purpose of serving the Germans in America. Their aim, they said, was "to preserve their distant brethren and sisters from falling away from the faith, to lead the erring back to the way of truth, to instruct them in the way to life, and to gather them into congregations, so that the treasure of the teachings of the Gospel might be secured to them and their descendants." Rationalism and indifference had made terrible inroads in the churches of Germany, but there were still many that had not bowed the knee to Baal, and they were all the more devoted to the spread of the Gospel because of the unbelief that surrounded them. Mission societies and mission houses devoted to the cause of training men for missionary work in Africa and the Far East flourished in Basel, Switzerland; in several cities in the Rhineland in the neighborhood of Cologne; in Hermannsburg, Hanover; and in Berlin. Their brethren in America, they realized, were being neglected, and the societies in Barmen, Elberfeld, and Langenberg in the Rhineland formed a special society, later called the Langenberg Society, to recruit men for the work in America. Volunteers who offered their services to the Langenberg Society were usually mature young men who had been learning a trade and who more or less by accident came into contact with one of those sincere groups of simple Christians who were trying to keep alive the faith of the fathers. Muehlhaeuser, the founder of the Wisconsin Synod, had been a baker; Reim, a shoemaker's apprentice; Koehler, a weaver; Bading, a wheelwright. When such a newly converted candidate showed interest in mission work, he would be sent for intensive schooling to one of the mission houses, to Barmen or Hermannsburg. When he was considered ready to be sent overseas to begin his work, the Langenberg Society would make arrangements for his transportation and

THE

BACKGROUND

would send him to a field in America that had appealed for help. John Muehlhaeuser was one of the first two men sent out by the Langenberg Society. He and a man named Oertel were sent to New York in 1837, Oertel to serve as pastor of a congregation, Muehlhaeuser to teach in a German elementary school. Expenses in the amount of $600 were paid by the society for their equipment, clothing, fare, and first living costs in New York. In the circumstances, the theological training these men received at the mission houses could not be very thorough; but though they were not trained theologians, they were devout and sincere men. Besides Muehlhaeuser, the other two founders of our Synod, Weinmann and Wrede, were Langenberg emissaries. Between 1850 and 1867 this society had sent seventeen men to serve in the Wisconsin Synod. In the early years the Synod had several sad and humiliating experiences with ministers who proved to be wholly unfit for the work into which they had been called. But whatever can be said about some of the recruits from this country, there is no stain on the record of the Langenberg missionaries. They were without exception faithful and reliable men who had come to this country to serve their Lord Jesus Christ and who continued to do so with all the talents that had been given them.

Makeshift Pastors But the Langenberg Society, having also assumed obligations toward Reformed groups and Lutheran Synods in the East, could not possibly supply all the men that were needed in Wisconsin. For a continuing supply of pastors, our Synod therefore was forced to depend also on the material available in this country. As was remarked above, the men thus procured proved often enough to be both unfit and unworthy. The two new pastors who were present at the 1850 meeting, when the constitution was adopted, were already out of the .Synod by 1852, Pluess because of some irregularity in the handling of money in Sheboygan, and Meiss at Schlesingerville because of unbecoming conduct. On the other hand, there was also present at the 1850 meeting a young book salesman by the name of Jacob Conrad, who wished to prepare for the ministry. He was examined then and there, was found to possess enough education to make the study of theology possible, and was assigned to Pastor Wrede

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for instruction. In 1852 he was licensed to preach, and in 1853, ordained. Conrad, the first candidate for the ministry to be instructed, licensed and ordained within the Synod, justified the confidence that had been placed in him and became one of its mainstays. Others like Conrad - salesmen, farmers, schoolteachers - approached the Synod with offers of their services. If they were found to have some preliminary education, they were assigned to such men as Bading, Sauer, Koehler, and Conrad for intensive instruction. This was a far cry from a theological seminary, but it was the only course open to the Synod besides depending on the uncertain supply from Germany. The men so instructed were at first just licensed to preach and were required to continue their instruction during a probationary period of two years, after which they were examined by the ordained ministers of the Synod and, if approved by a twothirds vote, were formally ordained. The practice of licensing was abolished by resolution of the Synod in 1857, but in the meantime every applicant was given an opportunity to prove his worth and usefulness. One man applied for a charge that was located in a high, well-drained locality, with a comfortable salary, in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood. Muehlhaeuser gave him a piece of his mind and offered him a charge that met none of these conditions. Another young man with no schooling whatever thought he would like the ministry better than trying to make a farm out of a forest. He said he had had a dream in which he saw the large letters P. C. in the sky, which he took to mean "Preach Christ." "No, my son," the pastor said, "the letters mean Plant Corn." The list of names of men who came and went is a long one. Some appear in the records for a year or two and then vanish. Even though the constitution provided that any capable ordained minister could offer to instruct an applicant who wished to enter the ministry, few were ready to take advantage of such a course. Others, like G. Weitbrecht, made contact with the Wisconsin Synod and then drifted into other bodies. Weitbrecht had studied theology in a German university and served a German Methodist congregation in this country for a time before coming to Wisconsin. Here he thought he would like to have charge of a Lutheran congregation and was accordingly assigned by Muehlhaeuser to Sheboygan. But he became a Methodist before ever

THE BACKGROUND

joining our Synod. W. Buehren, on the other hand, a former Methodist, became a faithful pastor in the Synod. Daniel Huber, a Catholic priest in Kenosha, left his church, became a lutheran ana accepted an assignment to the lutheran congregation in Kenosha, where he seems to have served acceptably enough before transferring to a country congregation in Washington County. University-trained men from Germany did not as a rule find it possible to adapt themselves to pioneer conditions or to lutheran theology. The first university theologian to come to the Wisconsin Synod was Dr.}. G. Reichmann, a graduate of leipzig. He served congregations in Port Washington and the surrounding countryside. Dr. Reichmann was personable and well educated, but his theology was thoroughly confused. Confused Theology

Confused theology was, indeed, more likely to be the rule than the exception in the 1850's. One pastor in Washington County served two congregations, in one of which he used the Reformed catechism and administered communion in the Reformed style; in the other he used luther's catechism and followed the lutheran liturgy. Pastor Pluess, who was one of the five to sign the original constitution in 1850, served a lutheran congregation in Sheboygan and was also pastor of a Reformed congregation in what was known as Franklin Settlement, west of Sheboygan. It was this Reformed congregation, made up of immigrants from Lippe-Detmold, that established Mission House, the Reformed Church's college and seminary for the training of its pastors. Mission House was named after the well-loved mission houses in Germany. Northwestern College students of a generation past knew Mission House well; students of today also know the school well, but under the name of lakeland College. In fact, Watertown had even been considered as a location for Mission House because George Toerris offered ten acres of land there as a gift. But since Watertown already had two colleges, Northwestern and Sacred Heart, the offer was declined. An incident in the life of Pastor Pluess throws some light on the conditions and on the character of the people among whom the pastors of the 1850's worked. In Sheboygan, as in Port Washington, Milwaukee, and most cities of any size, there was an active group of free-thinking Germans. Their antipathy

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toward religion was not always restricted to their inner convictions. A band of them planned to waylay Pastor Pluess and give him a beating some night when he returned from Sheboygan on horseback to his home in Franklin Settlement. So, one Sunday night, just as he was passing a saloon at a crossroad, a young scoundrel pounced on him. Pluess was no weakling and before the melee was over he had given the young fellow a thorough drubbing and in parting told him that, if he ever felt like thrashing a preacher, he would be made welcome at the Settlement parsonage. What happened to Pluess after his connections with the Wisconsin Synod were severed in 1852 has not been recorded. There was no very sharp line drawn in our congregations in those days between the Lutheran and the Reformed confessions. In Germany the two were combined into one United Evangelical Church, and all of our pastors had come from those circles. Indeed, the Langenberg Society, which looked upon the Wisconsin Synod as one of the chief beneficiaries of its bounty, took it very ill of our pastors when they showed a positive trend toward stricter confessional Lutheranism in doctrine and practice. Muehlhaeuser himself was a kindly, pious man, a most faithful and enthusiastic missionary, but he was not at all sympathetic to the rigid Lutheranism of the so-called old Lutherans and of such men as Stephan, who was close to being a fanatic. And yet, all of these men, Muehlhaeuser, Weinmann, Wrede, Sauer, Goldammer, Streissguth, all honored names in our Synod, wanted to be Lutheran. Otherwise, why should they have inserted a paragraph in the original constitution of the Synod that required all who wished to become members of the Synod to pledge themselves to teach according to the Lutheran Confessions, particularly the Augsburg Confession? Need for More Sofid Training Some of the more influential men, like John Bading and Philip Koehler, had, however, come under clearly Lutheran influence during their periods of preparation in Germany. Bading had studied in Hermannsburg at the time when Louis Harms was director of that institution, and Harms was perhaps the staunchest Lutheran teacher in Germany at that time. Koehler too was fortunate in having studied at Barmen at the time when Inspector Wallmann headed that mission house. Wallmann was

THE

BACKGROUND

Lutheran by conviction, and he also believed, as Martin Luther had believed and taught, that a theologian should have a thorough grounding in the original languages of the Holy Scriptures. And so it was that Koehler was one of the few pastors of our infant Synod who had a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Muehlhaeuser had no knowledge of the ancient languages, nor did Weinmann; but Wrede must have known Greek and Hebrew because he had had a full training for the ministry in Germany before offering his services to the Langenberg Society. It was perhaps due to Wrede that the constitution contained a paragraph making it a requirement for ordination that a candidate be acquainted with the ancient languages, have a good command of the language in which he was to preach, and also be well grounded in the usual branches of theology, such as exegesis, dogmatics, church history, ethics, apologetics, and homiletics. The cautious addition was made, however, that the ministerium could waive these requirements if the candidate otherwise showed obvious fitness for the ministry and promised to devote himself to faithful study of theology. But the requirements were there in the signed constitution, and even though they could not be enforced, they gave evidence of the conviction of the founders of the Synod that a well-educated pastorate was necessary if the church was to be taught the truth of Scriptures and kept in the right way. Even though most of those first pastors were not highly trained, they knew their own limitations and were determined that the thing that they were building should stand on a solid foundation. That foundation would have to be something more firm than enthusiasm and pious emotion. It would have to be a faith founded in the knowledge of the truth gained from an intelligent study of the Holy Scriptures.

CHAPTER II

Growing Pressure In the very first meeting of the Synod, after the adoption of a constitution, the chief matter of business had to do with the shortage of pastors. The need was so great that the methods employed to meet it look pitifully weak. Yet they could hardly have been otherwise because the Synod had no school, no money, and almost no young men who were willing to prepare for the ministry. The few who did offer their services were assigned to an older pastor or to a small committee for a short course in the barest essentials, but this method of tutoring was considered unsatisfactory. A few pastors came to us from other synods and denominations - one from the Ohio Synod, one from the Catholics, one from the Methodists, one from the Episcopalians, and so on; but that source was obviously undesirable and uncertain. There is on record an offer from the Methodist Church to supply pastors to help out the Synod in its desperate need, but that offer was politely declined. In the meantime the Albrecht Brothers, a German version of the Methodists, were gathering up the German Lutherans into their congregations, particularly in Minnesota. The most reliable source of pastors continued to be the Langenberg Society and, to a lesser extent, the Berlin Mission Society. Help from Gettysburg

In 1857 the Wisconsin Synod added a special paragraph to its constitution in which it solemnly committed itself to the obligation of supplying the congregations belonging to the body with pastors and teachers. If that resolution was to be taken seriously, it now behooved the Synod to seek out a more regular source of pastors than those that had until then been available. President Muehlhaeuser directed the attention of the pastors to

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the theological seminary of the Pennsylvania Synod located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. While he had been in the service of the General Synod in the East, he had become acquainted with Dr. C. F. Schaeffer, a professor at the Gettysburg institution. The bond between the two men was a leaning toward Lutheran confessionalism, which, though mild in both cases, was nevertheless sincere. Dr. Passavant, who became the founder of the Passavant Hospital in Milwaukee, later to be named the Milwaukee Hospital, was another such defender of the Lutheran confessions and a close friend of Muehlhaeuser and Schaeffer. It was to these men that the Wisconsin Synod, at the suggestion of President Muehlhaeuser, now turned for help. And that help was given in a most generous and selfless spirit. At the 1858 meeting of the Synod in St. John's Church in Milwaukee, John Henry Sieker, a member of the congregation at Newtonburg, near Manitowoc, declared his desire to prepare for the ministry. President Muehlhaeuser was instructed to present Sieker's case to Dr. Schaeffer, who offered to accept him at Gettysburg free of all charges. Since the young man was entirely destitute, Dr. Schaeffer also came to his assistance with gifts of money. Sieker was then assigned to Pastor Reim at Helenville for some necessary instruction until October of that year, when he enrolled at Gettysburg. Sieker thus became the first child of the Wisconsin Synod to receive a regular theological education. He completed his studies at Gettysburg a few years before the seminary served as Lee's headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg and became a very active and trusted member first of the Wisconsin, then of the Minnesota, and then of the Missouri Synod. He served America's oldest Lutheran church, St. Matthew's of New York city, from 1876 to 1904. Three of his sons later graduated from Northwestern - Adolphus and Otto in 1891 and Henry in 1896. Dr. Schaeffer's offer of free schooling for J. H. Sieker was not an isolated instance of financial help that came to us from the Pennsylvania Synod. For almost twenty years it sent from $200 to $400 each year to help our Synod in its missionary work. It also offered to send a man to serve as traveling missionary, and if such a man could not be supplied, it offered instead to give $500 a year for mission work in Wisconsin. What such sums meant to our Synod at that time becomes clearer when we read in the treasurer's report that at a Synod meeting a collection for

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the student Sieker amounted to $8.07, and that the entire amount collected for him in the congregations for one year amounted to $44.30. No Solution in lIIinois Gettysburg's help, welcome as it was, still was not the solution of our problem. At every meeting of the Synod the president's report dealt with the shortage of pastors, and more and more time was spent discussing it. In 1858 and again in 1859 the Synod seriously took up the question of establishing schools of its own for the preparation of pastors and teachers. For a time in 1858 and 1859 it looked as though a plan to establish a theological seminary in Illinois for all Lutherans not belonging to the Missouri Synod in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota would offer a solution to the problem. The Missouri Synod already had its own seminary in St. Louis. As early as 1853 President Thuemmel of the Illinois Synod had suggested to Muehlhaeuser that the two synods work together. Muehlhaeuser expressed willingness to join hands with President Thuemmel, but that is where the proposal ended. In 1852 a small college had moved from Hillsboro, Illinois, to Springfield, Illinois, and adopted the name Illinois State University. There is no connection whatsoever between this school and the university which was opened in 1868 in Champaign under the name of the University of Illinois. The school in Springfield was being conducted by Lutherans, and when Dr. Reynolds took over its presidency, he conceived the plan of developing it into a theological seminary. There were at that time three synods in Illinois connected with the General Synod. They were the more conservative Northern Illinois Synod, the Illinois Synod, and the very liberal Southern Illinois Synod. President Reynolds himself was one of the more conservative Lutherans in the General Synod, a man of the type of Dr. Schaeffer and Dr. Passavant. He had been a professor at the Gettysburg Seminary and also president of Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio. When Dr. Reynolds became president of Illinois State University in 1857, he at once began working on his scheme to make the school the theological seminary of the Northwest. The two conservative synods of Illinois were easily won over to the plan, which was to gather a faculty that could serve the three different

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PRESSURE

language groups in the territory. Dr. Reynolds was already serving as professor for the English group; the Norwegians sent Lars Esbjoern to join the faculty in 1858; and Muehlhaeuser and his friends Schaeffer and Passavant worked on the problem of finding a suitable man to take over the German work. The three men kept up a lively correspondence on the matter and considered numerous candidates, without ever being able to convince themselves that they had found the right man. The one they considered was a professor at the seminary of the Missouri Synod, but Missouri at that time had the reputation of being too strictly orthodox, and they were afraid to put a Missourian on their faculty. Dr. Schaeffer had also had experience in the East with a faculty that tried to preserve the German language over against the English, and he was very much afraid that, unless exactly the right man were chosen, the faculty would break up into factions and ruin the school. In 1859 President Muehlhaeuser and Pastor Streissguth attended a meeting in Springfield and discussed the problem with Dr. Reynolds and other men interested in the school. The two Illinois synods granted the Wisconsin Synod two seats on the board of trustees and the same representation to the Swedes and Norwegians. In the meantime the Wisconsin men had been investigating the confessional position of the Illinois synods and were not pleased with what they found. The elements that made up the organization supporting the school were much too diverse. The lack of unity was obvious to any observer; for that reason the Synod in its meeting in Fond du Lac in 1860 decided to break off negotiations with the Illinois State University. It was well that we did not become more deeply involved in the scheme, because the school soon collapsed. Later the buildings in Springfield were sold to the Missouri Synod, which established its practical seminary there under the name of Concordia Seminary. Our Own College and Seminary Needed The breakdown of negotiations with the Illinois people gave very strong support to a sentiment that had been growing steadily firmer at each meeting of the Synod. Hardly any doubt was left in the minds of the members that the only solution of their problem was the establishment of their own seminary and college. The possibility of joining with either the Iowa or the

CHAPTER

III

A Decision Although the people who would have to support the school, once it was founded, were still busy clearing the land, laying out homesteads, building small churches, and doing their best to support pastors, and although the Civil War was beginning to take an ever larger toll in men and money, the Synod in its annual meeting in Columbus, Wisconsin, in 1862, unanimously resolved to establish a theological seminary and with it a college. A committee, consisting of Pastors Muehlhaeuser of Milwaukee, Fachtmann of La Crosse, Goldammer of Burlington, and Mr. Kieckhefer of Milwaukee, had handed in a brief report recommending this action, and the report had been accepted wholeheartedly after a very thorough discussion. Steps were immediately taken to incorporate the Synod, so that there should be no difficulty about acquiring title to land that would have to be purchased for the institution. After that meeting in Columbus the seminary and college no longer lay in the future as a possibility. They were now a reality that required action. Looking to Germany for Help The Synod began by adding up the resources from which it could draw help. It was altogether natural that eyes should turn first to Germany because the Synod was still to a large extent a mission field of the German societies. The Langenberg Society and the Berlin Society had not slackened their interest in the Wisconsin field. The Langenberg Society had, for example, invited Pastor Muehlhaeuser to come to Germany for the observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his selection as the Society'S first emissary to the American field. Muehlhaeuser accepted the invitation and, while there, stirred up interest in the Synod's plans. He also was instrumental in having John

CENTENNIAL STORY

Brockmann, who was recommended by Pastor Harms of Hermannsburg, sent to the Synod as missionary, and when he returned to this country at the end of November, 1862, he brought with him four other emissaries of the society: Pastor C. G. Reim, who for many years was an active and influential pastor in the Synod, and candidates Waldmann, Kunz, and Philip Brenner. Missionary Kunz, however, died of tuberculosis, even before he could be installed in his congregation. The Langenberg Society had also consistently urged the Wisconsin Synod to found its own school for pastors, and had even promised to send students from Germany to prepare here. It also sent theological books to build up a synodical library for our pastors. But the pastors did not draw books very freely. Of the 1264 volumes in the library, only twenty-six had been drawn in 1862, and nine of those had not been returned by the end of the year. But the gifts of books showed that Langenberg's interest was very much alive. In 1862, together with the Berlin Society, it also established an itinerant mission in the Synod for which the two societies promised an annual subsidy of $200 and provided a man for the work in the person of Pastor E. Moldehnke, who became the first professor of the theological seminary. From these societies also came the suggestion that the Gustav Adolf Society would be willing to help with gifts of money. The consistent friendliness of the mission socienes in Germany warranted the Synod's confidence that it could look in that direction for help in founding a school. Wisconsin's Confessionalism Is Suspect It was also suggested that some help might be expected from the Pennsylvania Synod, since it had been so generous in offering the facilities of the Gettysburg Seminary and had sent gifts of $200 to $500 a year for mission work in Wisconsin. Collectors who were later sent to the eastern synods met with very little success, possibly because it was already becoming apparent that the Wisconsin Synod was showing a definite trend toward more strict confessional Lutheranism with an inclination toward the position of the Ohio and Missouri Synods and away from that of the General Synod of the East. The societies in Germany had some inkling of the trend in Wisconsin toward confessionalism, but some of the leaders in

A DECISION

Germany were themselves strongly inclined toward a purer Lutheranism, and others hoped that the ties between them and the congregations in Wisconsin could be continued. Although the societies in Germany made no effort to exercise control over the work of the Wisconsin Synod, they were asking for an annual report on the mission work that was being done, and such reports were being required of the missionaries by the president of the Synod and were being forwarded to Germany. Since the Berlin Society was apprehensive that the Wisconsin Synod might drift away from the principle of unionism as practiced in the United Church of Prussia, it kept pressing the Wisconsin Synod to affiliate with the liberal General Synod and finally asked directly why it refused to do so. The Synod's answer is not on record, although it made no attempt to conceal its dislike of the General Synod's laxness in doctrine and practice. Later, when Wisconsin took a definite step away from unionism, the United Church in Prussia refused to allow the money that had been collected for the new Wisconsin school to be paid out to the Synod. Our Modest Resources When the pastors turned their eyes toward their own Synod to see what help might be expected from that source, they were not discouraged, but neither were they greatly cheered. In 1862 the body had only twenty-six voting members. But the signs of growth were encouraging. By 1863 that number had grown to thirty-one voting members with fourteen more pastors being seated as advisory members, making a total of forty-five. More important than the increase in numbers was the addition of one man of singular gifts, Pastor Adolf Hoenecke, who also came supplied with the thorough education that so many of the emissaries had lacked. Sent out by the Berlin Society, he arrived in Wisconsin in February 1863, and was assigned to the parish in Farmington, a few miles south of Watertown. The outlook for financial help at home was not bright, if expectations could be based on contributions that had so far been made toward the work of the Synod. In 1862 there had been contributions from the congregations of $369.12 for missions among the heathen, $96.54 for inner missions, $46.32 for support of a student, and $112.16 for general synodical

CENTENNIAL STORY

purposes - a total of $620.14. That was not much, but still it was an increase of $148.91 over the previous year's income. There was a little encouragement in that. Perhaps it meant that the farmers were making a little more off their farms than just a bare living. And perhaps it meant that the war was forcing wages up, so that a workman could bring home a little more than the eight or ten dollars a month that some of them had been getting in the 1850's for pick-and-shovel work on a canal in Illinois. When the decision was made to build their own school, the pastors had little doubt that they could attract plenty of students to prepare for the ministry, particularly if a college were connected with the seminary. As it turned out, they were sadly mistaken, but it was only in this one point that they were overly hopeful. They were determined to start with what they had, very modestly, since, so far at least, the Lord had not seen fit to put wealth into their hands. They would do with what they had and get a blessing with it. At first they thought no further than just to rent a house to serve as living quarters for students, teacher, and housemother, and also as library and instruction hall. There would be only one professor in charge of all instruction, at a salary of perhaps $500 a year. They estimated that $5000 or $6000 would be needed to get the school in operation. Encouraging Words In the opening address of the meeting of 1863 in Grace Church in Milwaukee, President Bading spoke these encouraging words to his brethren: The wish to have a school was expressed long ago; the plan to establish one was discussed with great thoroughness at the preceding Synod meeting; it is now necessary to carry out that plan with energy and great courage. We must take into account faith in the almighty Savior, who gives strength to the weak and blessings to the lowly. Yes, we must place Him at the head and then confidently make our modest beginning with the means and strength at our command. Therefore, have courage, and at this meeting let us get on with the founding of our institution; the Lord will provide and will carry out to a glorious end the work that we have here begun.

CHAPTER IV

The Debate On the afternoon of June 1, 1863, at the meeting being held in Grace Church in Milwaukee, the debate on the location of the new institution began. There was no longer any question whether the Synod should have a school of its own nor any suggestion that the time for such a venture had not yet arrived. The question now was where to build. The debate was introduced by the presentation of the reports of two committees that had been appointed to make recommendations concerning the new seminary and college and to examine memorials prepared by conferences. The first committee was made up of Pastors Sieker of Granville, Quehl of Centerville, Goldammer of Jefferson, and the delegates Daniel Kusel of Watertown and G. Meyer of Manitowoc. Members of the second committee on conference memorials were Pastors Meumann of Platteville, E. Moldehnke of Germany (a small community west of Fort Atkinson), Dammann of Milwaukee, and the delegates Theilig of Mosel in Sheboygan County and Kitzerow of Columbus.

Watertown vs. Milwaukee The first committee recommended that the Synod as a body decide on the location of the institution, that a country town be chosen in preference to a large city, and that Watertown be favorably considered because it was situated nearer the center of the Synod and of the state than Milwaukee was. It recommended further that the project be begun with the least possible expenditure and that extreme care be taken to choose the right man to head the institution. The report closed with the admonition that the Synod consider it its sacred duty not only to work for this project but to pray for it.

CENTENNIAL STORY

The second committee's report contained but the one recommendation that the school be located in Watertown - because of its favorable situation with respect to other congregations of the Synod, because land could be had there at low cost, because it was surrounded by farming communities that would furnish food for the tables, and finally because conditions in a small town were more favorable to education than those in a large city. That started the debate. The first to speak was Pastor G. Fachtmann, at this time pastor in St. Paul and member of the Minnesota Synod, but formerly pastor in La Crosse and before that, a most energetic missionary in the territory between Milwaukee and New London and beyond to St. Paul. He impressed upon the body the great importance of choosing exactly the right location for an institution that was to be the Synod's seminary and college. Dammann of Milwaukee granted that Milwaukee needed a college, since as yet the city had no higher institution; still he favored Watertown for the reasons given in the committee's report. Moldehnke of Germany held that the school should be located in the city that would offer the strongest support. Muehlhaeuser of Milwaukee argued that Milwaukee should be chosen because it would furnish more support than any other city, especially if a college were connected with the seminary, since Milwaukee had no college, and many parents in the city would give our college a glad welcome if it were located there. Pastor Streissguth supported Muehlhaeuser. Bading of Watertown favored Watertown because costs of all kinds would be less there than in Milwaukee. Daniel Kusel, the delegate from Watertown, had no doubt that suitable property could be asquired there at no cost to the Synod. Sieker of Granville said that first consideration should be given, not to the support that might be expected in terms of money, but rather to the effect that the surroundings of the college would have on the morals and habits of the students. The influence of a large industrial city, he believed, would be harmful. The Watertown atmosphere, he believed, would be more wholesome, and besides, living costs would be lower there. Reim of Helenville supported him. Heyer, an advisory delegate from Red Wing, Minnesota, remarked that the Pennsylvania Synod was considering reloca-

THE DEBATE

tion of its seminary from Gettysburg, a small town, to Philadelphia to give their students the opportunity to hear more good preachers. Streissguth of Milwaukee agreed with Heyer and said that in Germany pastors usually received their training in larger cities. Hoenecke of Farmington disagreed and said that there was a growing feeling in Germany that their seminaries were not properly located and that there was a trend toward smaller localities. Fachtmann and Muehlhaeuser, however, stood their ground and argued that pastors should have a well-rounded education and that a small town could not supply that. Besides, in the long run Milwaukee would be far better able to bear the burden of costs than Watertown. Meumann of Platteville doubted that Milwaukee could. lend more support to the college than Watertown, because Milwaukee had already put itself under obligation to support the new hospital that had just been opened. This was the Passavant, later called Milwaukee, Hospital, to which Wisconsin Synod congregations had pledged their support. He believed that a seminary, a college, and a hospital in one city would be too great a burden for that city. Muehlhaeuser did not believe that there was any need to fear that the hospital would drain off any support from the college. We Must Start Now At this point the discussion took a different direction. Moldehnke was the Synod's itinerant missionary working out of Watertown and the community of Germany. In the course of his travels through the country round about Watertown he had learned to know well the conditions in which the people were living and was inclined to be very cautious about predicting what support might be expected from our congregations. He earnestly urged that the Synod start in a very small way, perhaps by renting a modest house and engaging one professor to take one or two students into his home and instruct them there. Streissguth was somewhat more hopeful that the congregations would come forward with the needed money, but he did urge that the pastors themselves take hold of the work with energy and set a good example for their congregations with their own liberal gifts.

CENTENNIAL STORY

Bading stressed the necessity of starting at once because it would be of very great help to him in his forthcoming trip to Europe to collect money from our friends there if he could say that we ourselves had made a start and were going ahead with faith and vigor. Bading had already been delegated by the Synod to represent us in Europe and to collect funds for the new seminary and college throughout northern Germany and in western Russia, wherever he might gain permission from the church authorities. He would have the support of the Langenberg Society, which had long been urging establishment of our own seminary. To Pastor Bading it was important that a beginning be made, even though the Synod might not be able to agree at once on a permanent site for the school. He therefore at this point made the motion that Dr. Moldehnke be relieved of his work as itinerant missionary, that he move to Watertown and there begin instructing as soon as possible. 45 to 19 for Watertown

Before acting on this motion by Pastor Bading, the Synod decided to vote by ballot on the motion to locate in Watertown. The vote was 45 to 19 in favor of Watertown. The next day, June 2, Pastor Fachtmann expressed a doubt that the Synod had acted wisely in choosing Watertown before giving more thorough consideration to the availability of money, and he moved for a reconsideration. Muehlhaeuser too thought that the vote had been taken too hastily and seconded the motion. Reim did not object to a reconsideration but thought that the vote should be postponed till near the end of the sessions in order to give everyone time to think the matter over. It was so decided. On the last day of the meeting the motion to locate in Watertown once more came up for debate. Mr. Waegener, a delegate, thought that the original vote should stand unaltered and said that most of the lay delegates believed that a correct decision had been made. The second debate added little to what had been said before. Fachtmann and Streissgurh again spoke of Milwaukee's need of a college and said that the people there would still have to build a college of their own if this one were located elsewhere. The answer to that was that it was not even desirable to have a college as large as the one the Milwaukee contingent contemplated, and that parents would be interested

THE DEBATE

first of all in good teaching and low costs and would send their sons where these could be found. Muehlhaeuser feared that Watertown would do little in support of the college and thought that action should be postponed until Watertown had proved in a tangible way its interest and its willingness to support the school. Now the Synod again voted on the proposition. The result of the second balloting was identical, 45 for Watertown, 19 against, but with the provision that Watertown should furnish at least $2,000 toward the building. If the people of Watertown failed to produce that amount, the resolution was to be rescinded. In due time Mr. G. Gamm produced a list of contributors. The Synod was satisfied that the $2,000 had been raised in Watertown, and that ended the argument. Bading had already been delegated to go to Germany to collect money there. Then Dr. E. Moldehnke was selected as the first and only professor for the first year, and he accepted with the understanding that he be granted three months' time to complete certain mission journeys that he had planned. The last item of business was the appointment by the president of a committee to examine and eventually recommend applicants for admission to the seminary. These were the first concrete acts that led to the founding of the Wisconsin Synod's seminary and college in Watertown. After one hundred years the college is still there. If after these one hundred years the debate should be resumed whether to locate in Watertown or Milwaukee, it is likely that the modern arguments would sound much like those of a century ago.

CHAPTER V

The Start At its meeting in Grace Church in Milwaukee in 1863 the Synod took two steps that definitely set the seminary and the college on their way to becoming firmly established institutions. The first step was to call Dr. E. Moldehnke out of the mission field and to make him the head and sole professor of the new school. The second was to call Pastor Bading away from his pastorate in St. Mark's of Watertown to make a trip to Europe to collect money for a building. Pastor Adolf Hoenecke, who had arrived in Wisconsin as an emissary of the Berlin Society in February of this year, was immediately drawn into connection with the school which he was to serve for so many years. Appointed to be Bading's substitute in St. Mark's pulpit every second Sunday, he was also frequently active in the seminary. During one period while Moldehnke was away on a collection tour, he took the professor's place three days in the week. His own parish was at Farmington, just a few miles south of Watertown. On Sundays when Hoenecke did not preach at St. Mark's, other near neighbors occupied the pulpit during Bading's absence. Fund-raising in Europe Pastor and Mrs. Bading left very soon after the meeting in Milwaukee. There is no record of the means of travel that they employed, but the Synod's allowance of $75 for traveling expenses was a guarantee that the pair did not travel in style. For living expenses in Europe Bading had an allowance of $42 a month, later increased to $50 a month. Quite fittingly he began his tour at Hermannsburg because, although he had been sent to Wisconsin by the Langenberg Society, he had begun his preparation for foreign mission work under Louis Harms in Hermanns-

THE START

burg. He was very well received by the Lutherans of Hanover, partly because he had prepared for missionary work in their own schools, had been sent to America at their expense, and had now returned out of that distant wilderness with the strange name of Wisconsin, that for most of them meant dark forests and savage Indians. Pastor Bading's trip became a kind of triumphal journey becausehe was welcomed everywhere, in Mecklenburg, in Latvia, and even in Moscow and in Nizhni Novgorod. He had not yet collected in Prussia because he had had some difficulty in getting permission from the church authorities to preach in the churches and take up collections. The Wisconsin Synod was at this time tending more and more strongly toward clear confessional Lutheranism, and the Prussians were none too ready to permit a critic of the Union to collect money from them. There had also been strained relations between the Synod and the Langenberg and Berlin Societies,but after considerable correspondence, cordial relations were resumed, and Langenberg, Berlin, and Basel agreed to continue sending men as missionaries and young men as students, and not to require anything of the Wisconsin Synod in return that might conflict with its confessional stand. Prussian consent to a collection was rather grudgingly given. Bading raised $7500, but this sum was never released because in the meantime the Synod was more and more dearly taking a position hostile to the Prussian Union. That money was kept in Europe and the interest was used for the support of African missions. The total sum collected elsewhere and deposited to the credit of the Synod was $10,215 in American money. It was not easy to determine what disposition should be made of this money, which was all in the currency of the states where it had been collected. Some feared that if it were changed into American paper money, inflated prices caused by the Civil War would greatly decrease the value of the collection. There was fear of still greater inflation. Others suggested depositing it in a bank in Frankfurt in Germany and drawing on it as needed. Others suggested investing it in this country. Finally it was decided to approach Imbusch and Mitchell, Milwaukee bankers, and to deposit it with their bank. As it turned out, that was a sensible decision because every dollar of the collection was needed for the building that was erected to house the school.

CENTENNIAL STORY

The School Opens Dr. Moldehnke had been instructed to take up residence in Watertown, to rent a house there and at once begin instruction of any students who might present themselves. He rented a house on the west side of North Fourth Street at the intersection with Lincoln Street. It was later known as the Gardner house because a lawyer, C. H. Gardner, lived there for a number years. It still stands at 814 North Fourth Street and has been identified by a permanent marker. Here Dr. Moldehnke instructed his first students. They were housed in St. Mark's parsonage, which was unoccupied during Pastor Bading's absence in Europe. But they ate with the Moldehnkes, the meals being prepared and served by the professor's wife. His salary, as reported to the Synod of 1865, was $500 for thirteen months. The first students for the ministry were A. F. Siegler and a young man named Engelhardt, who was, however, dropped from the enrollment not long after the opening of the school. Besides these two, there were two other students enrolled who had no intention of preparing for the ministry. They were Max Gaebler, a musician who later was engaged as instructor in music at the college, and August Gamm, member of a family prominent in church and business circles in Watertown. The schedule of studies that the professor submitted to the Synod for its information is an awe-inspiring list of subjects that he proposed to teach to aspirants for the ministry. The day's work began at eight o'clock in the winter, a half-hour earlier in summer, and continued with a short intermission till twelve noon. In the afternoon, again with a short intermission, the work went on till six o'clock in the winter and five-thirty in the summer. Hours like that were obviously needed if the subject matter assigned for treatment was to be covered even with greatest brevity. For example, the schedule for Monday morning included dogmatics, church history, exegesis of the Old Testament, German, mathematics, and Latin. The afternoon schedule was equally formidable: Greek New Testament, the Symbolical Books, Greek grammar, English, Hebrew, exegesis of the Old Testament, history, geography. According to the schedule submitted, this continued through the week until Friday afternoon, when only Greek and geometry were scheduled. But the slack was taken up at eight-thirty on Friday evenings by ex

THE START

tempore speeches. On Saturdays and during free time the students would be required to do the necessary work about the building or to make trips into the country to collect foodstuffs from the farmers. Summer vacations were really not a part of the program, and Dr. Moldehnke regretted that they were necessary because he feared that the students would return to their studies exhausted from their hard summer jobs. He would have preferred the summer to be spent in review of the past term's work, in reading of literature connected with the studies, and if possible in educational travel. If present-day students read this schedule with skepticism, their disbelief is justified, because the students who presented themselves were not ready for advanced work. That schedule sketched out the field that ought to be covered by a candidate for the ministry while in college and at the theological seminary. It was quickly revised to suit the modest scholarship of the boys. While Dr. Moldehnke was gallantly struggling to carry out his ambitious academic program and at the same time acting as Bading's substitute together with Pastor Hoenecke, and even carrying on part of his former missionary duties and making collecting trips, the board of trustees began carrying out instructions it had received from the Synod of 1863. It arranged for two charters - one for the Synod, the other for the college, started negotiations for the purchase of a suitable location in Watertown, cast about for a suitable professor for the English branches, and especially concerned itself with the problem of money. Appealing for Support

To stir up interest in the college and seminary among the congregations and to gain their financial support for the venture, the board prepared a circular in which the institution was presented to the congregations as a workshop of the Holy Spirit that was to produce the pastors and teachers so sorely needed. After a long wait, the circular related, some of the congregations were now supplied with pastors, and a few even had teachers; but the need for men to preach and to teach was growing greater each year because the congregations were expanding and the tide of immigration continued as strong as ever. The plight of those who had to be denied spiritual care and Christian instruc-

CENTENNIAL STORY

tion for their children because of the lack of pastors ought to touch the hearts of those who themselves had felt that lack and were now being helped. We have tried, so said the circular, to supply you through emissaries from Germany and through traveling missionaries, but this supply has proved to be altogether inadequate. We simply cannot rely on outside help but must apply the gifts and talents that God has given us toward helping ourselves. The circular referred to Pastor Bading's encouraging reports of his collections in Germany and pleaded for equally willing help from the congregations at home, begging the members to supply foodstuffs for the school, to help furnish it, and above all to send their sons to be educated for the work of the ministry. "If father and mother refuse to offer their child to God for His purposes, what will happen to the estate of the holy ministry?" "Help us to plant and water, and then when God gives the increase, you and your children after you will be able to enjoy the fruits." The appeal was drawn up and signed by Professor Moldehnke, Pastor Streissguth, and Mr. George Gamm. It was approved by the Synod; five thousand copies were printed and ordered distributed. This appeal was not notably successful. It had been hoped that with our own school in operation we might grow faster from within and that certain weaknesses that admittedly existed could be corrected. By training our own men we could strengthen our confessional position and foster firmer unity within the Synod. But the congregations were giving the Synod discouragingly little support. The war was drawing to a close, but the burden of war had not become any lighter; there had been poor crops in some sections; and in many congregations the people were finding it difficult to support their own churches. The people were so preoccupied with their own affairs that they had little energy left to support a school that was barely getting started and as yet had produced nothing that they could notice. They had very little money themselves, and the young men who had not gone off to war were needed at home to share the grueling work of doing everything by hand. Professor Moldehnke was despondent after the first full year of work. The first year, he said, had failed to fulfill expectations. In the course of the year fourteen students had applied, but three could not meet even the meager requirements and were not

THE START

approved by the board of trustees. Professor Moldehnke had visited congregations in Racine, Fond du Lac, and Oakwood to collect money. He had also paid a visit to congregations in Pennsylvania, but with so little success that he returned to Watertown in low spirits. A Pro-seminary in Germany? By this time, too, Professor Moldehnke was beginning to despair of attracting students from our own congregations who might be willing and able to study for the ministry. Costs were low, and the Synod was willing, where necessary, to bear all the costs of training a young man, including food, books, and clothing. An appeal even went out to one of the mission societies in Germany for bedclorhing, Still, only a small number of boys were being sent to the school, and most of these, unfortunately, were not qualified. In 1865 all but two of ten students enrolled had to be dropped because they were wholly unsuited for the work. In desperation Moldehnke then proposed the establishment of a pro-seminary in Germany, where boys could receive elementary training, preparatory to being sent to our school at Watertown. Wisconsin had plenty of land, but not many young men to work it, while Germany had a surplus of young men and not enough land for them. So there should be little trouble in recruiting boys in Germany, many of whom already were fired with the hope of emigrating to the land of promise. The Missouri Synod already had connections with such a school in Steeden in Nassau. When the Missouri Synod severed relations with Pastor Loehe, who had been sending young men from Germany to Missouri institutions, that Synod began to look about for other connections. Pastor Frederick Brunn in Steeden had been holding his own against the Union, had separated from it, and had sent one of his young men to study in Fort Wayne. It was through this student that Professor Craemer and then also President Walther became acquainted with Brunn's work. In 1860 Walther visited Germany and persuaded Brunn to open a preparatory school for boys willing to emigrate to America. Brunn accordingly opened the Steeden academy, which was subsidized by the Missouri Synod until 1878. In all, he sent more than 200 students to study in Fort Wayne and St. Louis. In 1864 that school in Steeden was already in

CENTENNIAL STORY

operation and may well have encouraged Moldehnke to recommend a similar plan to his Synod. The Synod fell in with his suggestion and decided to ask Pastor Lohmann in Plowitz in Pomerania to proceed to establish such a school and to start instruction as soon as possible. It asked that the school adopt a sound Lutheran position and give elementary instruction in Bible history, in the catechism, and, if possible, also in Latin and Greek. The Synod was frank to say that Pastor Lohmann could not at once expect any financial support, but that it would be given when it became possible. The Synod did, however, request the Prussian authorities to apply the interest on the money collected by Bading to the pro-seminary, likewise also the interest on the money to be raised by a general collection in Mecklenburg. Nothing came of this plan. Interest then shifted to a Dr. Wichern, who at first showed enthusiasm for establishment of the kind of school we wanted; but when the Synod in 1867 adopted a clear position in opposition to the Union of Lutheran and Reformed Confessions in Germany, Dr. Wichern declared that he would not cooperate with the Wisconsin Synod in its pro-seminary, nor would he accept the offer of the interest on the Prussian collection. One more halfhearted attempt was made to start a pro-seminary in Guetersloh, and when that fell through, the plan was dropped. It was fortunate for the Synod and its institutions that nothing came of these attempts to start a school in Germany, for the Synod's only hope of success in its plan to educate its own teachers and pastors lay in giving its whole attention and applying all its resources to the school it had started in Watertown. Events showed that the Synod had all it could do to keep that one school alive.

CHAPTER VI

On the

Way

The Synod of 1863 had authorized the board of trustees to purchase a plot of land in Watertown and to proceed cautiously with the funds that had been so far collected and that still might be collected in the neighborhood of Watertown. The board bought a plot of five and one-half acres of land from John Richards on July 22, 1864, for $687.50. The land was a pasture that lay at the corner of Western and College Avenues, and it included that part of the campus now occupied by the chapelclassroom building, abour half of the library building, and twothirds of the old dormitory.

The First Bui/ding Ground for the first building was broken August 10, 1864, and construction began at once according to plans drawn by Mr. Charboneau, a Watertown architect. Some objection was raised to the first plans as being too elaborate, but when the merely pretty details were omitted, the plan was approved. Daniel Kusel, a local hardware merchant and member of the board of trustees, was appointed supervisor of building operations. Mr. Kusel justified all the confidence that the Synod placed in his ability and good judgment, and no one man in the Synod contributed more of his time and energy, and perhaps money too, to this project than did Daniel Kusel. These were war times, and hard times, and there were periods when the whole responsibility of providing materials and labor and paying the workmen rested on his shoulders. The Synod acknowledged its debt to him by a sincere vote of thanks. The building was to cost no more than $10,000, but war prices of material and labor soon made it obvious that this limit

CENTENNIAL STORY

would have to be exceeded. There are various estimates of the total cost, the most reliable being the figure included in Dr. Moldehnke's report to the Synod - $16,900. It is possible that this figure did not include essential furnishings and miscellaneous items that always turn up unexpectedly in the construction of a building of this size. Perhaps Professor J. P. Koehler's figure of $22,000 is not very far above the real cost. Whatever the actual cost, it was far more than the Synod had bargained for, and it caused an extremely unpleasant conflict between the board of trustees and the board of visitors. By resolution of the Synod both boards had been provided for, but the Synod neglected to define the duties and powers of each precisely enough. The conflict was not confined to the meetings at which both boards were represented but was carried to the floor of the Synod, where the visitors tried to put through a vote of censure against the trustees for having exceeded their authority. Although the complaints of the visitors were not recorded, they almost certainly had to do with the expenditure of sums that went far beyond the $2000 contributed by Watertown citizens and by congregations in the neighborhood. The trustees were forced to dip into the funds that Bading had collected in Germany. Though the Synod did not give its outright approval to this action, it refused to censure the trustees, recognizing that circumstances made their actions excusable and even necessary. Eventually all the money that Bading had collected in Germany and Russia and considerably more, was used up in the building; but six months after the building was dedicated in September, 1865, it could be reported that there remained a debt of only $1400. Some energetic collecting was necessary in these years to make up the difference between the original figure of $10,000 and the final cost, and also to keep the debt from growing larger after the school was placed in operation. At one time Bading toured the Jefferson area, Moldehnke covered the Manitowoc-Green Bay territory, Goldammer collected in Racine and Kenosha, and Sieker in Town Herman and Theresa. Personal solicitation was a necessity, partly because the official synodical paper, the Gemeindeblatt, in which the Synod's needs could be made known, had not been started until September, 1865, and was not yet in general circulation.

ON THE WAY

Dedication Day The building was dedicated and Northwestern College officially came into existence on September 14, 1865. A few days previously, on August 31, 1865, the following advertisement, authorized by the board of trustees and signed by President Bading, had appeared in the Watertown Democrat: The Lutheran College in Watertown This scientificInstitution will be opened on the secondThursday of Septembernext. The aim of the Board of Trustees is to qualify the pupils who are entrusted to them for any higher position in life through the most complete and thorough instruction. It is for their interest to conduct and manage the Institution so that it can be ranked wih the best institutions in the country. It depends wholly on the inhabitants of this State to soon reach this aim which is solely for the interests of the people. The Institution shall at first consist of two classes until the number of scholars and their progress render it possible to arrange a four-year course in four classes.Although it is under the jurisdiction of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin, there is no endeavor of persuasionto this or that confession.

On September 14, the day set for the dedication, the building was ready to receive Professor Moldehnke and his eight seminary students and also Adam Martin, the sole professor and the president of the collegiate department of the institution. Adam Martin was a graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and also of Hartwick Theological Seminary of Brooklyn, N.Y. He had been recommended for this position by Dr. Moldehnke, who had learned to know him while he was pastor of a Lutheran church in Middleburgh, N.Y. The dedicatory service was held mainly in German, opening with prayer and a hymn, followed by an address in German by President' Bading. Dr. Moldehnke followed with an address, also in German, on "The Influence of Religion in History." After the singing of another hymn, Professor Martin delivered an address in English on "The College and the Man, the College and the State, the College and the Church." Mr. Ballou, editor of the local newspaper, who reported the proceedings, was not greatly edified by the hymns and the German addresses, although he did observe that Dr. Moldehnke spoke with earnestness and fervor and was listened to with

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great attention by those familiar with his language. But he responded to Professor Martin's address with admiration and warm enthusiasm. He wrote: "Professor Martin's address was an able and finished production, admirably written, eloquent and practical in its bearings. It was much above the ordinary merits of addresses on such occasions. He is a remarkably pleasant and impressive speaker and displays fine oratorical talents." Mr. Ballou's admiration of Professor Martin was sincere, and he missed no opportunity to praise the man and the school and to urge the people of Watertown and its vicinity to enroll and to give it the support that he said it so richly deserved. When Professor Martin resigned a few years later, it was hard for the editor to hide his chagrin, and it was some time before he could write about the school without letting his disappointment show through. When in another item Mr. Ballou said that only four Americans attended the ceremonies, there was nothing spiteful in his distinction between Americans and people who spoke German. The German-speaking people themselves were responsible for that distinction between Germans and Americans; that was the way they thought of themselves in relation to those about them who spoke another language. Mr. Ballou's remarks were not at all intended to belittle the school and the men who were promoting it, but he did intend a reproof to the people of the community who showed so little interest in what was a cultural adventure, and he hinted that their lack of interest might have been expected. His remarks are interesting: How many Americans were present to exhibit their interest in the prosperity of the college that is just commencing its career in their midst? We write it with feelings of mortification - just exactly four - two gentlemen, one lady, and a boy. In reality this was all the audience Professor Martin had to hear and appreciate the most instructive and admirable address ever made before any assemblage in this city. We do not know but that this neglect and ind.i1Ierenceisin harmony with other things.

Gemeindeblatt Appeals for Students In the same month in which the college-seminary building was dedicated, the first issue of the newly founded official synodical organ, the Gemeindeblatt, appeared. Of the twelve columns that made up the first number, almost four columns

ON THE WAY

were given over to the seminary and the college. The article on the seminary was a fervent plea for more students to prepare for the ministry. Where we should have had at least sixty students preparing for the ministry, so the writer continues, we have had hardly a dozen. The article points to the deplorable shortage of pastors in the Synod and to the apathy and unwillingness of the people to give their sons and their gifts in order to relieve the shortage. So it is all the more surprising when we turn the page to read the article on the college department and there find hardly any mention of students for the college who would prepare for the ministry. The first part of the article that appeared in the Gemeindeblatt was an exact translation of the Watertown Democrat article on the college. The emphasis is not at all on the Synod's intention that this school should be a preparatory school for the seminary and that it was to be a source from which the Synod might draw a constant supply of candidates for the ministry. Even the Gemeindeblatt, which was meant primarily for distribution among the congregations of the Synod, emphasized that the school was meant to serve the community and state by offering to ALL who desired it an education beyond that usually offered in high schools and academies. ALL is printed in heavy black type. The appeal for support is directed squarely at the citizens of the state, since the college was meant for them. One surely would have expected that the first editorial on the college in the first issue of the official synodical organ would remind its readers that this was to be a preparatory school for the theological seminary and make a strong plea for students willing to prepare for the ministry. The despondent tone of the piece on the seminary pardy explains the absence of a plea for such students in the item devoted to the college. It is obvious that the authors of those articles had very little expectation that parents would offer their sons to spend six or more years in preparation for the ministry. The privations that pastors so commonly had to endure would have no appeal for people whose strongest ambition was to get ahead in the world. There seemed to be some hope of finding men ready to enter the seminary directly, but the first college advertisements were addressed solely to those who wanted education and culture in a Christian environment.

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It was not only the apathy of the people in our congregations, with which the seminary had already had ample experience, that influenced the development of the college in its first few years. The first president, Adam Martin, was completely serious and honest when he advertised that "the University offers opportunities for a thorough and complete course of collegiate education equal to any in the land." The course, he added, was like that of all the colleges. It was designed, he said, to prepare the student for any business station, or for entering any college in the country. In these lofty expectations Professor Martin was enthusiastically supported by his very good friend, the editor of the Watertown Democrat. He wrote on December 7, 1865: "If successfully managed, as we have no doubt it will be, the college will soon take its place among the best in the country and be an honor to the place where it has been founded." And in the following April this appeared: "It is a work of time to build up and adequately endow a great university and give it the celebrity that will attract general attention. We have here made a good beginning, and let us carry forward this noble enterprise to a successful conclusion and make Watertown preeminent for its schools and college." These were not the outpourings of an ecstatic reporter; they represented accurately what he and Professor Martin had talked about and planned.

Northwestern University In this connection the name of the school is significant. In the first advertisement the board of trustees modestly referred to the school as The Lutheran College in Watertown. At President Martin's suggestion the name Wisconsin University was chosen; but that was soon changed to Northwestern University to avoid obvious confusion with the university at Madison. The thought of developing the college into a true university with faculties of law, medicine, the arts, and theology did not easily die. The more accurate name of Northwestern College was not adopted until 1910. The October number of the Gemeindeblatt gave a somewhat briefer account of the dedication than the one that appeared in the local newspaper. It concluded with these words: "We have now begun a great and important work; its blessed influence, if God gives His grace, will be felt in all directions. Let the

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beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." Then there followed an appeal to the parents, which again did not expressly mention that the college was intended as a training ground for future pastors but recommended the complete and thorough English and German education that was offered. "Instruction will be given in English and German, in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, mathematics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and so forth. Tuition for a term of thirteen or fourteen weeks is ten dollars for any or all of the courses mentioned. Board and room may be had in the college building for $50 for the term of thirteen or fourteen weeks." The next mention of the college in the December number of the Gemeindeblatt might be called an introduction to a troubled reality quite different from the high hopes expressed in the first advertisements.

CHAPTER VII

Money Troubles Before the very first term in the new building was completed, the college board received a severe shock. When they added up the remaining unpaid bills, they found to their horror that their sum exceeded the money in the treasury by $2700. Today a deficiency of that amount in a major building project might look like small change. But in 1865, when two dollars a day for skilled labor for ten hours of work was high wages, a bill for $2700 was a disaster. People were not accustomed to thinking in thousands, let alone millions and billions. The situation required immediate action, and Moldehnke, Sieker, and Goldammer were sent out in different directions in Wisconsin and even into Pennsylvania to collect money. The Pennsylvania venture was a failure, and the results in Wisconsin were not at all encouraging. In one congregation where Professor Moldehnke collected in person, there were three contributions of five dollars each, nine contributions of two or three dollars, the rest of one dollar or less, making a total of $77.10 collected in one of the larger congregations near Watertown. There was one bill for $1,000 that had to be paid at once, and a plea was sent out for loans of $25 each, or multiples of twenty-five, without interest. The board very frankly said that it was not offering to pay interest, because it could not afford to. The money crisis prolonged the bad feelings that had arisen between the board of trustees and the board of visitors. The visitors objected that much more had been expended on the building than the Synod had authorized, and, now that all resources had been exhausted, they felt they had good reason to blame the trustees for the fix they were in. The friction was so great that on one occasion Pastor Streissguth, a visitor, refused

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to attend one of the joint meetings, and Pastor Hoenecke was asked to prepare a paper setting forth the principles that were involved in the dispute. There never was a real settlement until the by-laws were changed and the visitors were appointed as a sub-committee made up of members of the board of trustees. This first money crisis was alleviated by some energetic collecting, and at least a little good came of it. It forced the board and the collectors to go directly to the congregations and to represent this institution as their institution, being operated for their good and for the good of the church; it was here to serve them and to provide them with the pastors and teachers that were so sorely needed. There was now no talk of a great university and of service to the whole state and of prestige that might be brought to the community. The congregations needed to be told that not only the seminary but the college and the academy too were their institution and their responsibility. That was all for the good of the school. The Scholarship Plan The school had survived this first crisis, but no one realized more clearly than President Martin that, to survive, the school would have to have steady and dependable financial support. A scheme was taking shape in his mind that was fully developed and ready for presentation to the Synod at the end of the first full school year. This was the Scholarship Plan, which was adopted by the Synod with enthusiasm in the summer of 1866 and presented to the congregations in an article in the Gemeindeblatt in the October 15 issue of that year. President Martin's plan was to establish an endowment fund of $100,000, the interest from which should be used to pay the salaries of the professors in the college. Seven percent, and even ten percent interest on loans, was not at all unusual, and according to the president's calculations $7,000 to $10,000 a year would be enough to ensure a decent salary for the teachers needed in the college section of the institution. While all costs for the seminary should be borne directly by the congregations, the money for the endowment fund was to be raised by the sale of scholarships. Two kinds of scholarship were offered, one on the payment of $100, the other for $500. The $100 scholarship entitled the holder to a full three-year course in the academy,

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or a four-year course in the college, without any further charge for tuition or regular fees. The $500 scholarship was a notable bargain indeed. The significant terms of this scholarship were these: It is hereby certified that Mr. in consideration of his note for Five Hundred Dollars to be paid in five equal and annual installments into the Endowment Fund of Northwestern University, which is held for payment by the College Treasurer, is entitled to one perpetual Scholarship in this institution, if said installments are paid at maturity.

This was called a perpetual scholarship, one that was good and valid for all time to come if only each of the five annual installments was paid when due. Not only was this scholarship good during the lifetime of the buyer, it was also good during the lifetime of his heirs forever; it could be used over and over; it could be loaned to anyone for use, could be rented out, sold, transferred in any manner that suited the owner. There were no limits, except of course that it could be used by only one person at a time, for one full course, either in the academy or in the college department. Fortunately, very few people subscribed for the $500 scholarship and kept up the payments. One or two hundred holders of such scholarships in perpetuity could have filled the classrooms of the college for years and would have had every legal right to demand a fouryear college course tuition-free. The only restrictions imposed by the college were that the holder should be suitably prepared for admission to the college or to the preparatory department and that he would abide by the rules and regulations of the college and meet the "prescribed duties." For a time the reports on the subscriptions were enthusiastic. Watertown residents quickly subscribed for scholarships in the value of $10,000, payable in five years. Pastor J. H. Sieker, whom the Synod had chosen as salaried salesman of the scholarships, soon reported sales amounting to $64,000. There was some trouble about paying Sieker's salary until it was agreed that he could take his salary out of the money that he collected for the college apart from the sale of scholarships. In the meantime, Professor Martin tided him over with a loan of $150. The sales that Pastor Sieker reported did not represent cash in hand; they were pledges, or subscriptions; and before the first

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of five payments became due at the end of the first year, letters in which subscribers begged to be released from the pledge they had signed began to trickle in to the board of trustees.

A Flood of Cancellations Beginning with May, 1867, less than one year after the Synod had authorized the scholarships, the meetings of the board of trustees were more and more given over to tussles with subscribers who wanted to have their pledges canceled. At first the board was adamant and tried to make No mean No. But it could not hold that line. It tried threats of legal action, but the subscribers countered that move by quoting a promise of Pastor Sieker's that the board would never resort to legal action to collect the amount pledged. So the board began to negotiate and compromise and arrange "settlements." A certain Mr. Jaeger pleaded that he was unable to pay his note, and the board agreed to cancel it and let his son board at the college for only $25 a year for four years if he changed his course and studied for the ministry. That was a liberal settlement, for in the ministerial course the charge for board and room was $50 a year, the tuition being free. Each request for cancellation required a different kind of settlement. A Two Rivers man wanted his note canceled, and the man's friends testified that he was unable to pay. The board decided not to release him but also agreed not to press him for payment. Some of the settlements were very interesting. Several Watertown residents who had bought $500 scholarships had made no payment but offered to pay seven percent interest on the amount quarterly, and then at the end of four years pay the whole amount in one payment, so that in the meantime they could have the use of the principal. This arrangement was approved. Another arrangement was that made with Gustavus and Son, flour millers in Neenah. The firm offered to take two perpetual scholarships if they could get a loan of $4,000 from the fund, to be secured by an insurance policy and a mortgage on their mill. The loan was granted. A year later Mr. Gustavus appeared before the board and told his story. He had bought out his partner and as part of the deal had to take over the partner's

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pledge to buy a scholarship. His request to the board was that the partners' note be canceled, since he did not think thar he ought to be burdened with the payment for two scholarships. The board finally consented, and Mr. Gustavus was so relieved and thankful that he made the college a present of $25 in cash. Two men from near Watertown pleaded to be let off because there was a movement on foot in their neighborhood to start a congregation, and if they had to pay the $1,000 that they together had pledged, it would become impossible for them to support the new congregation. In that case the plan would have to be dropped, and perhaps a Unionist pastor would be called there to start a congregation. What had been a trickle of requests to be let off now became a deluge, and in desperation the board decided to take legal action against those who refused to pay their pledges. Most of the signers were paying nothing on the principal of their notes, nor were they paying interest on the amount, so that by January 1, 1869, the amount in arrears alone was $3,528.40. The board argued that those who paid installments on their pledges had thereby acquired an equity in the institution and that the board owed them every effort to keep the institution from collapsing. There was danger of a collapse. There was, for example, no money to pay salaries, and even the collector, Pastor Sieker, had to send a pleading letter from Minnesota that his back salary of $500 be sent to him. The endowment fund was producing some revenue, but not enough to meet expenses. Professor Meumann was paying ten percent on a loan of $11 00 that he made to pay for a house that he was building. A congregation in Sheboygan and St. Mark's in Watertown were paying seven percent on loans of $700 and $500, but that income was very soon absorbed by ordinary expenses. When Pastor Sieker resigned as agent and collector for the endowment fund to accept a call to a congregation in St. Paul, Pastor Bading for a short time took his place and collected in the northwest part of the state, but he declined to accept a permanent position as collector. While he was collecting, he was to receive as salary either $1000 a year plus expenses or ten percent of whatever he collected. He did get signatures for $16,980 but he would not give up the ministry to become a collector. Finally the Synod secured the services of August Gamm of Watertown as collector at a salary of $1,000 a year.

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"Those Miserable Scholarships" There is no record to show whether the board ever did resort to the .law to force payment of interest and pledges. Several of the $500 scholarships were converted to three or four $100 scholarships; many became invalid by default of payment, but others remained in existence for many years and occasionally were presented in lieu of payment of tuition. One was being used as late as 1928. Another, owned by David Blumenfeld, editor of the Watertown Weltbuerger, was voluntarily surrendered by one of his heirs to the faculty and made the basis of a scholarship in the academic department that the faculty might at its discretion grant from time to time. It is still at the disposal of the faculty, although no longer listed in the catalog. For years Dr. Ott referred to these scholarships only as "those miserable scholarships," and it was he who finally succeeded in retiring the last one from circulation, about 1930. The plan to create an endowment fund by the sale of scholarships proved to be an almost complete fiasco. The threat to enforce payment with the help of the courts resulted in the loss of considerable good will. The board felt compelled to take this action because it was itself legally responsible for providing the kind of course that had been promised in the certificates of scholarship. Thus the scholarships were to a considerable extent determining the nature of the curriculum. Instruction was being offered through the medium of the English, whereas the boys who wished to prepare for the ministry were very weak in English and would some day do all of their parish work in German. The pledges that were paid never did establish an endowment; they did, however, make it possible to buy the thirty acres adjoining the college property to the north, to build one of the two frame dormitories needed to house the students, and to pay what was owed on salaries. Before putting the scholarship scheme into operation, President Martin made one other move that he thought might provide a solid financial foundation for the college. He suggested to the Milwaukee pastors that they take over the college department, raise $25,000, provide a building in Milwaukee and operate the college in that city, while the preparatory department remained in Watertown. The Milwaukee people were not interested.

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Another money-making scheme that got started but seemingly did not move very far was also tried while the scholarships were being promoted. Under Professor Martin's leadership a stock company was formed to buy and operate a printing press. Shares were sold at $25 each and the sum of $450 was thus raised. Each shareholder was to receive a ten percent annual dividend. After payment of the dividend, one-fourth of the profits was to be placed into a reserve fund for unforeseen expenses; the profits should be used to retire stock. When all the stock had been retired, the press should become property of the Synod, and all profits should be used for support of the seminary. There is no record of what happened to the company or the press.

CHAPTER VIII

Teacher and Student When classes convened in the middle of September, 1865, all the activities of the seminary and of the academic department were confined to the institution's one building - a structure sixty feet in length by fifty-five feet in breadth, comprising a basement surmounted by three stories. All four levels were in use, since the building contained the classrooms for seminary and college, sleeping quarters for out-of-town students, dining room, kitchen, study rooms, and living quarters for one professor. Not much dormitory space was required in the first year, because there were only six seminary students and only a few boys from out of town who were preparing for the ministry. Most of the students were boys with English or Irish names who lived in Watertown and who were enrolled for the high-school course that was being offered. Watertown did not as yet have a high school. Instructors Wanted In the first year all sixty-six students below seminary level were enrolled in first and second year high-school classes. There was no college class until the fall of 1867. Until Christmas of the first year Dr. Moldehnke and Professor Martin constituted the entire faculty, the former teaching all classes in the seminary and also helping out Professor Martin with some classes in the academy. The college board was casting about for instructors but had to decline to accept the services of the first three who were brought to their attention. Mr. Humphrey applied for a position as instructor in English, but a brief investigation revealed that he himself had hardly had a high-school education. A man by

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the name of Schmidt, who had been a captain of artillery in the German army, was recommended, but he could be of no help because he knew no English. The third was a doctor of theology who had been a professor in a Catholic school in Europe, but he could hardly be used as professor of theology in our seminary classes. At the beginning of the second term Mr. Seemann joined the staff to teach Latin and German, and Mr. John Kaltenbrunn became the instructor in English and arithmetic. Mr. Kaltenbrunn had studied at a Moravian college in Pennsylvania. Before joining our staff, he had been conducting a successful private school in Watertown. He later became the principal of the academy, as the preparatory department was called, and held the position until 1873. Mr. Seemann, however, remained only until June, after serving during the winter and spring term of the first year. During this first year Mr. Max Gaebler of Watertown taught two periods of singing each week. Mr. Gaebler had been one of the very first students of the school when it was opened as a seminary, with a college only in prospect. He was now an accomplished musician and also a builder of musical instruments. When the Helenville church was built, the congregation there installed a small organ that he had built, an instrument somewhat more than a melodeon and somewhat less than a church organ, but so satisfactory that the Gemeindeblatt recommended it strongly for our small churches. Pastor Hoenecke also came to Watertown occasionally from his home in Farmington to teach drawing. A few years later Pastor Strasen of the Missouri Synod church in Watertown was engaged to teach Bible history in German, and Pastor Adelberg of the Wisconsin Synod church to give religious instruction in English. It never became the policy of the college, however, to rely on neighboring pastors for part-time teaching help. In emergencies later on a seminary student would be called upon for help, but full-time instructors were the rule.

President Martin's Dream Fades When President Martin proposed moving the college department to Milwaukee, even after the building had been erected in Watertown, he was expressing the doubt that he had always entertained about Watertown as the proper location for the great university that he dreamed of. The economies that had to be

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practiced on every side and the constant pressure that bore down upon him and Professor Moldehnke alike to provide even the barest of necessities must have made him despair of ever seeing a college such as he had once pictured. He agreed that our church's chief interest in its college should be that it produce servants of the Gospel. But, he added, how many of our best, our ablest, most talented spirits have suffered bitterly under the feeling that they were but strangers in a strange land. That denomination, he went on to say, will be the best known and will have the strongest influence on the cultural life of the people that does the most for the education of the eminent men in the nation. The college should produce men who can without shame or embarrassment take their place alongside the best in the land. He felt it keenly that Germans in this country were being treated as inferiors, and he assumed it as his mission in this country to place them in the position in the community that their talents and abilities deserved. The first few years of operation of the college did little to encourage him in his aspirations. President Martin's resources were meager, but he was not slow in trying to remedy the lack, as witness the scholarship scheme, the printing press, the attempt to relocate the college in the richer Milwaukee territory. In January of 1866 he devised a plan to raise money for the beginnings of a library. He offered to deliver a series of lectures on literary and scientific subjects for an admission price of twenty-five cents if the citizens of Watertown. manifested interest in such an effort. There must have been some interest, for he delivered his first lecture on "The Essential Principles of Reform" in the Congregational church and announced a second lecture on a different subject on the following Tuesday at the same place. This first venture seems to have been successful enough to encourage President Thompson to arrange a similar series of lectures for the benefit of the Northwestern University library in 1870. The lecturers were: the Honorable Harlow Orton, President Chadbourne of the University of Wisconsin, Bishop W. E. Armitage, Reverend J. Allison, Reverend J. Eddy, Professor J. Butler, Reverend Wilder Smith, and W. H. Ryder, pastor of the local Congregational church. Among the subjects were: "Fifty Years Ago," "Oriental Life," "Gettysburg," "Human Frailties," "Iceland and the Icelanders," "The Coming Woman." This venture yielded $50 for the library.

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In 1867 President Martin was given permission by the board to attend a convention in Pittsburgh and to collect money for the college while there. He was to take his salary, back salary, and expenses out of what he collected, as there was no money in the treasury at the time to pay salaries. President Martin later reported to the Synod that his collection trip to the East had been a failure. The fees charged for tuition and for the various services might have been sufficient to pay the costs if all students had been able to pay. The charge for board and room and all other costs for seminary students was $100 for the year, but so few were able to pay anything that it became the rule to board seminary students free of charge. Preparatory students preparing for the ministry or for teaching in the congregations also received special consideration. Otherwise, tuition in the preparatory department was $10 for each of the three terms, $20 in the college department. The charge for board, room and fuel for those who were not preparing for the ministry was $50 a term. Dormitory students furnished all their own furniture-bed, chair, table, and lamp. At these rates the academic department was able to close the year with a small profit. Yet in 1869, according to an item in the faculty minutes, only three students had paid the full amount for their board. A Collapse of Discipline Rules and regulations for dormitory students, whether in the seminary or in the academic department, were drawn up by the college board. Students were admonished to devote themselves as Christians to their work and purpose. On Sunday they were to attend the church of our Synod, and on that day they did not need to study and were to avoid all unnecessary activities. Rising time in the summer was 5:00, in the winter 6:00; chapel was held one-half hour later. Breakfast was served at 7:00, dinner at 12:00, supper at 6:00; bedtime was at 10:00. The hours from seven o'clock till eight, from twelve till two, and from five-thirty till seven-thirty were free periods; at all other hours students had to be either in the classroom or in their study rooms. No student was permitted to leave the grounds without permission. Each week a student served as proctor, whose duty it was to waken the students, see that bedtime hours were observed, and enforce

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order in the rooms. Students made their own beds, provided firewood for their rooms and for the kitchen, and according to instructions from the board did other work in the building and in the garden. In case of a food shortage in the kitchen, seminary students might be required to make trips into the country to solicit gifts from the farmers. If nothing more were needed to run a dormitory than detailed rules and regulations, then all might have been well during that first year in the new building. But all was not well. There was very little supervision in the dormitory besides what was exercised by the students themselves, and as a result there was a sad collapse of discipline. When in the summer of 1866 the Synod heard the report of the college board on the first year's operation of the combined seminary and academy, it decided that the appointment of an "inspector" was unavoidable. At that time, and until about 1940, inspector was the title of the professor who was in charge of the dormitory and whose chief duty was to supervise dormitory students. Professor Moldehnke was not held directly responsible for the breakdown in discipline, but he could not fail to note that the unanimous agreement as to the need of an inspector at his side reflected on his administration. The committee report on this matter held that there had been far too much consideration and freedom and far too little restriction in dealing with the students. The seminary had lost two of its students as a direct consequence of the disorder in the dormitory. One of them was A. F. Siegler, one of the first students to enter the seminary in 1863. He left and enrolled at the Missouri seminary in St. Louis because he believed he had been unfairly treated. The college board seemed to agree and tried to persuade him to return to Watertown; this Siegler flatly refused to do at first. But after a year he wrote an apology to the board and was welcomed back to the fold. The other case was of quite a different character. A seminary student by the name of Denke was the cause of very much disturbance and bad feeling. Many complaints brought against him by the housemother were later substantiated by students before an investigating committee. He seems to have been a combination of pietist and rascal. He was accustomed to refer to his fellow students as "the world" in distinction from

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himself as a more righteous person; he persistently shirked the twO hours of work required of the students who paid no board, habitually attended other churches than the one specified, was arrogant and contemptuous toward fellow students, accepted pay for work to be done and then refused to do more than a small part of it. He was especially cruel toward the housemother, confronting her after she had received the Lord's Supper and accusing her of hypocrisy and impenitence. Instead of working he would crawl into the haymow and sleep and, if caught, would plead sickness. The man had excellent natural gifts and at first had given promise of being a good student; so it was with regret that the board expelled him. The Synod could do nothing in this case but to approve the expulsion and to call for immediate action on the proposal to add an inspector to the seminary and college staff. The appointment of an inspector was the first of a number of changes that profoundly affected the character of the school. Dr. Moldehnke Resigns The college board's recommendation to call an inspector who should supervise the dormitory students and also be a professor in the seminary was hardly debated by the Synod, because the need of supervision had become so very obvious before the end of the first year in the new building. Nor was there any doubt in anyone's mind that Pastor Adolf Hoenecke was the right man for the position. It is not expressly recorded that Dr. Moldehnke resented the calling of another theological professor and the appointment of an inspector, but the synodical proceedings do report that, when Hoenecke's appointment was made, Dr. Moldehnke thereupon submitted his resignation. It is possible that he felt that the seminary did not need two professors and that he could now with a good conscience devote himself wholly to the missionary work that he preferred to teaching and trying to preserve order in a dormitory. Whatever his reasons were, Dr. Moldehnke resisted all pleas to reconsider his resignation, made another missionary journey through Wisconsin and into Minnesota and on August 4, 1866. departed for Germany, where he became pastor of a large parish on the Polish border. He wrote that his parish comprised some sixty small villages with a population of 8000 Poles and 2000

TEACHER AND STUDENT

Germans, all members of his parish, besides twenty-four schools and 1300 children. In two months' time he had to relearn the Polish language, which he had forgotten while in America, and preach in Polish as well as in German. In 1869 he was back in America as pastor of a congregation in the East. He died on January 25, 1904, in Plainfield, New York. Moldehnke was a mild-mannered, well-educated man and a staunch Lutheran who had learned to contend for the faith while he was private secretary to Dr. Tholuck, one of the foremost Lutherans in Germany at that time. Tholuck's loyalty to Lutheranism was the more remarkable, since he was a professor at the University of Halle, which had the reputation of being the very seat of rationalism and unbelief in Germany. Moldehnke had been sent to America by the Langenberg and Berlin Societiesto become an itinerant missionary in Wisconsin. These societies paid the costs of establishing him in Wisconsin and also contributed $200 a year for his mission work. It is more than likely that a feeling of loyalty toward these societies accounts for the missionary journeys that he took while he was the only professor at the seminary. At one period he was absent for nine weeks, four weeks of which were during school time. He also served as vacancy pastor for Columbus and made several trips among neighboring congregations and to the East to collect money. There is every indication that Dr. Moldehnke's heart was in missionary work and not in the classroom. In the same summer that Moldehnke left the institution Seemann also resigned to take a call to another college, the identity of which is nowhere mentioned. Seemann's successor was Lewis O. Thompson, a graduate of Beloit College and of Union Theological Seminary in New York. Thompson was to teach Latin, English and history. He remained until 1871, and for one year, 1869-1870, was president of the college. Up to this time the medium of instruction in the preparatory classes had been exclusively English, except, of course, in the German class; but about 1869 there was a tendency toward a greater use of German in the lower classes, a tendency that did not at all meet with President Martin's support. Professor Meumann, a graduate of Halle and Berlin universities, who had been pastor at Platteville, Wisconsin, joined the faculty in 1867 as professor of classical languages; it was he who at this time encouraged a trend toward German in the college.

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Not the End of Troubles With the advent of Professor Hoenecke in 1866 and of Professor Meumann a year later problems of discipline no longer occupied the faculty or troubled the Synod. Financial difficulties, however, were becoming more troublesome, and the general apathy of the pastors and the congregations toward the seminary and in general toward the training of pastors was deeply discouraging. The academy was in a fairly flourishing state and was even paying its way, but there were only four students in the seminary in 1867, and only six in the college department who were preparing for the ministry. Lack of interest in preparing men for the ministry and extremely weak financial support of the college raised serious thoughts in the minds of the synodical leaders of giving up the attempt to produce their own pastors and of closing the school. The plan to operate a pro-seminary in Germany was still alive, and the Synod at this time was still looking toward Germany for men who might serve in the ministry in Wisconsin. The Hermannsburg Mission House, in particular, continued its support in terms of men and money. But just at the time when the outlook was especially dreary, events took place in the Synod that at the time they were happening seemed to increase the troubles of the college but in the end turned out to be its salvation.

CHAPTER

End of a Phase All during those years when the Synod was wrestling with problems of money, with a building program, and the establishment of its institutions, it was also wrestling with a conscience that was becoming more and more uneasy in regard to relations with the United Church in Germany and the German mission societies. All of the pastors who were members of the Synod in 1864 had, with the one exception of J. H. Sieker, come out of United Church circles in Germany. And most of them had been trained for mission work in America and had been sent to America as emissaries of the Langenberg, Berlin, or Basel Mission Societies. These societies had shown the deepest interest in their emissaries, had treated the Synod as their own mission, and had regularly sent money to eke out the salaries of poorly paid pastors. The societies had asked for reports and requested information about the progress of mission congregations in the Synod, but they had never attempted to exercise control or to dictate policies. Although these men had come out of United Church circles, their leaning was definitely toward the Lutheran rather than toward the Reformed confession. Even Pastor Streissguth, who was an emissary of the Basel Society in Switzerland and who became the first pastor of the Reformed congregation of the Swiss in New Glarus, was more Lutheran than Reformed in his confession and practice. It was not surprising that a pastor might serve a Lutheran congregation in one locality and a Reformed congregation in another. Still, the Synod tried to correct such situations, and it required of all pastors at their ordination that they pledge themselves to teach according to all the accepted confessions of the Lutheran Church. In the sharp strife between the synods in this country, typified by the contrasting positions

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of the very lax and liberal General Synod in the East and the strict Missouri Synod in the West, the Wisconsin Synod could not help taking sides, and it gradually and definitely drew toward the position of the Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri Synods. This approach toward clearer Lutheran doctrine and practice involved an increasing uneasiness over the Synod's close connections with unionistic bodies in this country and abroad. A Painful Confessional Step The growing disaffection of the Wisconsin Synod did not escape the attention of the societies and churches in Germany. They began to ask questions and demand explanations. There were some misunderstandings, but in the main the German societies made a correct estimate of what was happening in Wisconsin. As late as 1865 and 1866 they were still sending men and money, but Prussian authorities impounded the money that Bading had collected in Prussian churches. By 1867 the Wisconsin Synod had come out with a clear and unmistakable stand against pulpit and altar fellowship and all forms of unionism with church bodies with which it was not in full doctrinal agreement. That made a break with the societies and churches of the German Union inevitable. That step was not easy to take. The relation to the German societies had been one of child to parent and had been sincerely cordial and unselfish on the part of the societies. The Wisconsin Synod pastors were painfully aware that the charge of ingratitude would be made and that there would be no defense against it except that conscience had finally prevailed over the natural feeling of shame. President Bading admitted that the Synod had vacillated in its relations with the German churches and had no other excuse than that of shame over what everyone would look upon as ingratitude. The Wisconsin Synod met with little sympathy from the Missouri Synod, which in its official publications considered the Wisconsin protestations to be merely pious phrases and in one instance hinted rather broadly that Wisconsin would hardly go through with its strong Lutheran confession if that would cost it the $7500 Prussian collection. The decision to come out with a forthright Lutheran confession caused a break not only with the brethren in Germany but also with some pastors within the Synod. Pastor G. Vorberg was one

END OF A PHASE

of four who protested against the severance of relations with the German churches. He had joined the Synod in 1864 and served .it faithfully and devotedly, first in West Bend and neighborhood and then at St. Matthew's in Milwaukee. He was also a member of the first college board. At the Synod meeting of 1868 he declared very frankly that he had been a member of the Prussian United Church when he came to America and now had no intention of surrendering that membership. When he applied for membership in the Wisconsin Synod, he had declared that he accepted the Lutheran Confessions, and been admitted to membership on those terms. No other declaration than that had been required of him. He also reminded the Synod that when it had asked the Prussian authorities for permission to collect in their churches, the Synod had represented its position as being a mild, personal Lutheranism. Thereupon permission to collect had been given. He declined to enter into any further discussion with a committee because he was sure of his position and would not change it. Pastor H. Kittel of La Crosse was another dissident. He declared that in his congregation he admitted both Lutherans and Reformed members to holy communion and did not intend to alter his practice, because he saw little difference between the Lutheran and the Reformed teachings regarding the Lord's Supper. He said that he considered himself to be in fellowship with the Reformed brethren and would remain so. While the Synod was thus separating itself from sources of men and money on which it had been so greatly dependent and which would have been welcome in its need in the years that lay immediately ahead, other changes were taking place in the affiliations among the Lutheran synods in this country. They too were to have a profound effect on our Synod and on the character and development of our college. The General Council Is Found Wanting The General Synod was the one association of Lutheran Synods of any consequence in the 1860's. It had been founded in 1820 on the pattern of the German Union and had in the course of the years become very lax in practice and overtolerant in doctrine. The first break came when the southern synods seceded because of the war between the North and the South. The second, and

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more important break, came in 1866, when the Pennsylvania Synod, in protest against the General Synod's increasing laxness, extended an invitation to fifteen conservative Lutheran synods to meet in Reading, Pennsylvania, in December, 1866, to discuss the formation of a council of synods that would adhere to the Lutheran Confessions. The meeting was held as planned and was attended by delegates from the Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, and Missouri Synods, among others. There was agreement among all delegates that a new council in which the member synods would be bound together by their acceptance of the Lutheran Confessions was desirable. At this meeting it was established that there was general agreement among the attending delegates, but formal organization and acceptance of a statement of doctrine and practice was postponed till the next meeting, which was to be held in November, 1867, in Fort Wayne. All the synods that had been represented at the Reading meeting also sent delegates to Fort Wayne, with the exception of the Missouri Synod. At Fort Wayne the new General Council was formed, and the Wisconsin Synod became a charter member. The representatives of the synods at Fort Wayne were agreed that the basis of their association should be the Lutheran Confessions in their entirety, but there were four questions about which there was admittedly disagreement and which had to be discussed and answered. The first had to do with altar and pulpit fellowship with Presbyterians and with Lutheran synods which taught or tolerated error; the second concerned membership of pastors and church members in lodges; the third concerned the relation of a synod to its member congregations; the fourth question was whether or not the Scriprures taught a thousandyear reign of Christ here upon earth. No answer to these questions was given at Fort Wayne. The Wisconsin Synod delegates declared that they would retain membership until the Council had given its answer to the four questions at its forthcoming meeting in Pittsburgh and would then decide whether to remain or withdraw. At the Pittsburgh meeting the Council avoided a clear answer to the questions. As a result the Wisconsin Synod in its meeting at Racine in 1868 declared its rejection of every form of altar and pulpit fellowship with other denominations and with errorists that bore the name Lutheran.

END OF A PHASE

President Martin Resigns

In the course of the discussion about withdrawal from the Council, President Martin had declared that on the day that the Synod decided to sever connections with the General Council he would submit his resignation as president of the college and leave the Synod. He declared that he believed that pulpit and altar fellowship with other denominations was necessary in a new country where church relations were still unsettled and that this kind of fellowship was a necessary part of mission work. He considered himself to be not only a teacher but also a preacher, and he believed that he must preach fellowship wherever there was general agreement, in order thus to further the work of the Kingdom. As he taught persons in the classroom who were members of various denominations, so he believed he should also preach to them from the pulpit and join them at the altar. When the declaration about altar and pulpit fellowship was presented to the Synod, a rising vote was called for, and Martin and three pastors refused their assent. One of the three Pastor Lucas - later withdrew his objection and remained with the Synod. The two others, Vorberg and Kittel, who had already objected to the break with the German churches, now asked for their release. Both were granted honorable dismissals. The action was taken with great reluctance in Vorberg's case, since he had gained the love and respect of the Synod during his four years in its midst. Kittel too was highly regarded. He stayed on in La Crosse until his congregation had completed the building of its new church and then left the state. Neither man tried to take his congregation with him. Even before this time President Martin was having difficulties with the college board. He had been teaching the classics and objected to the board's decision that the classics should be translated into German. He was then relieved of instruction in the ancient languages. That was in the summer of 1868. A rather pathetic sentence in President Bading's opening address to the Synod of 1868 helps us to appreciate the difficulties of those years. He said: "If, before we founded our institutions in Watertown, the Lord had allowed us some insight into the difficulties that now beset us, we should perhaps never have attempted to carry out the plan."

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At the November meeting in that year Pastor Bading, the president of the board, reported that he had conditionally discharged President Martin, because complaints about him had come from other professors and from parents of students. Martin then tendered his resignation but asked that he might remain until September 1, 1869. On his assurance that he would faithfully serve the school and do his best to restore proper order among the students as long as he remained in the service of the school, the resignation was accepted on his terms. In the April meeting in 1869 Bading again reported on President Martin. He said that it had become more and more clear that Martin did not possess the necessary qualifications for his position, that especially in recent periods he had not carried out his office with proper faithfulness, and that the institution had in consequence suffered severely. For these reasons he had been dismissed. Bading also reported that Martin had accepted this decision and had only asked that his salary be paid till the end of the term. His connection with the college ceased at Easter, 1869, and his release from the Synod was given him in May of that year. Professor Martin returned to the East, where he became professor of German at Gettysburg College. His departure really marked the demise of the scholarship plan, and from now on the scholarships figured mainly in the board's attempts to buy them back or to make some kind of settlement. Martin's leaving also laid to rest, for all practical purposes, the plan to make Northwestern a real university, although the name survived until 1910. Martin's name comes up once more in connection with the college. at a meeting of his Synod in Pittsburgh someone remarked that the ideal curriculum for their college in Gettysburg was the one that was in force at Northwestern and at Concordia in Fort Wayne. Martin objected, stating that the Watertown school had never contributed anything toward community culture. That was in 1875. In a way he was right. It had been his hope to make the school a college serving the community and raising the cultural level of the German immigrants; a German-American college with a curriculum designed specifically to prepare students for the ministry was not his ideal.

END OF A PHASE

Wisconsin-Missouri Accord In 1868 the Wisconsin Synod took another step that profoundly affected the development of its college. In October of that year representatives of the Missouri and the Wisconsin Synods met in Milwaukee and achieved complete agreement in doctrine and practice. The Missouri Synod was represented by President Walther, Professor Brauer, and Pastors Lochner, Sievers, and Strasen. Wisconsin Synod representatives were President Bading, Professor Hoenecke, and Pastors Koehler, Dammann, and Gausewitz. This accord put an end to the unpleasant bickering between the Missouri Lebre und Wehre on the one side and the Gemeindeblatt on the other and also demonstrated to the unionistic synods in the East and to the German Union that where there is unity of doctrine, there also will be peace and harmony. The 1869 meeting of the Wisconsin Synod in Helenville not only ratified the Missouri-Wisconsin agreement in every point but also gave its approval to a plan that grew directly out of it. Since the two Synods were now in agreement, it seemed only natural that they should join forces in educating men for the ministry. It was agreed that the Wisconsin Synod should discontinue its theological seminary in Watertown and henceforth train its men at the Missouri Synod's seminary in St. Louis. The college in Watertown would provide pre-seminary training for trainees of both Synods. A further provision was that the Missouri Synod would furnish a professor to join the faculty of Northwestern, and the Wisconsin Synod would send its man to join the theological faculty in St. Louis. The Missouri Synod fulfilled its part of the agreement by sending F. W. Stellhorn to Watertown. He taught ethics, German, and Hebrew "with faithful industry and great ability" and remained at the college until the termination of the exchange agreement in 1874. Professor Hoenecke had been designated as our professor at St. Louis, but the Synod was at this time financially so impotent that it could not afford to pay the salary, and Professor Hoenecke remained at home as pastor of St. Matthew's in Milwaukee. One reason why our Synod could not afford to send Professor Hoenecke to St. Louis was that almost the entire cost of maintaining our students there had to be borne by the Synod. The board had even decided to furnish bedding for our students at

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STORY

the St. Louis seminary. That was not enough for one of their number, a young man named Bensen. He demanded that the Synod pay for his board, clothing, books, stationery, and oil for his lamp, failing which he threatened to ask for his dismissal, so that he might join the Missouri Synod. What action the board took was not recorded. The secretary left that to the reader's imagination. Although we could not supply a professor as had been agreed, our students at St. Louis received every consideration that was accorded to any student of the Missouri Synod. There was never any complaint on that score. The Synod did not cease to try to send a man to St. Louis and did extend a call to Pastor Ernst, a pastor in Hanover, Germany, and the father of our Professor Ernst. He accepted the call and came to this country but had to return to Germany almost immediately because of a serious disease of the eyes. Before a suitable man could be found for St. Louis, the agreement between the two Synods was terminated.

Progress at Northwestern While these synodical realignments were in progress, the college board had not been idle. In 1868 it bought a thirty-acre tract abutting on the college property to the north and extending all the way to Main Street, from a Mr. Alcott. The price of $6,475 was considered very reasonable, and the Synod approved the purchase, though it had no visible means of payment. The entire athletic field is a part of this thirty-acre purchase, as is also that part of the campus occupied by the three houses on College Avenue, the gymnasium, the dining hall and about half of the prep dormitory. In February, 1868, the board also decided to build a four-story frame dormitory. But it soon became clear that a building of this size was far beyond the financial abilities of the Synod at the time. The board immediately adopted a new plan to build two two-story frame structures, each to house thirty-two students and to cost $2,750. Only one of these was built. It was ready for occupancy in September, 1868. The last, and for the development of the college the most important, action of the board in this first phase of Northwestern's history was the calling of August F. Ernst as professor and inspector in 1869.

CHAPTER X

Low Ebb In April of 1869 the college asked Professor Lewis Thompson to assume the office recently vacated by President Martin. Thompson was now acting president of the college department, while Hoenecke was in full charge of the seminary. Besides these two, the other members of the faculty were John Kalrenbrunn, Theodor Meumann, and Amos Easterday. Professor Meumann was, so far as can be determined, the first and only professor whose appointment was made possible by the income from invested scholarship funds. Amos Easterday came from the Illinois State University in Springfield, Illinois, and had been recommended by the Illinois Synod, which wished to make use of Northwestern to train its candidates. Toward a Gymnasium Although Professor Thompson was by no means persuaded that Northwestern should be a German-American college modeled after the German Gymnasium, he was much more willing than Martin had been to yield to the pressure of the board and of the pastors of the Synod to emphasize the German and to direct the work of the college more clearly toward preparation for a ministry in German-speaking congregations. Martin had objected that, if the ancient languages were translated into German in the classroom, the course of the college would be so changed that it could no longer fulfill the obligation it owed to holders of scholarships. The board answered that Northwestern would still be a college offering college courses, even though the classics were translated into German. Martin was relieved of instruction in the classics as a result of the argument.

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Under Thompson the change was duly carried out. The study of German was also made obligatory in the preparatory department, and students could be excused only on a written request of the parents. Thompson also made the very sensible suggestion that the college publish a catalog, 500 copies in German and 500 copies in English. Thompson's catalog, the first to be issued by the school, does not yet indicate the predominance of the German influence in the college. His scheduled outline of courses conforms in every respect to the contemporaneous American college schedules. Thompson evidently hoped that the purely English college would continue alongside the "German Department," for which the German professors were to work out a schedule according to a resolution of the board in the fall of 1869. This schedule seems to have been chiefly the work of Professor Ernst. At least he submitted it in a memorial to the board in January, 1870. According to this schedule the "German Department" was to be modeled closely after a Prussian Gymnasium. Its purpose was to serve the church exclusively as a training school for the seminary, and the Synod must support it by its contributions; the English division, on the other hand, must support itself through tuition fees and the interest accruing from the scholarship funds. The English department was to include not only a preparatory but a college course, according to the terms of the scholarships. In the minds of most synodicals, however, the idea of the English department was associated only with an academy or prep school because nearly all the non-German students at this time were enrolled in the preparatory department. In fact, there was some agitation in the Synod to do away with the academy altogether, for reasons of economy. Shortly after Easter in 1869 smallpox broke out in the school, and the institution was closed for the rest of the academic year. This gave Professor Thompson a breathing spell and made it possible to fill the vacancies left by the departure of President Martin and Professor Amos Easterday. The latter had been censured together with Martin in respect to his ability, and the board suggested that he resign, which he did. Then it reconsidered its action and asked him to remain, but this he did not do. However, by 1871, after two years as superintendent of schools in Nokomis, Illinois, he had returned as the representative on the faculty of the Minnesota Synod, which paid part of his salary

LOW EBB

in return for the privilege of sending its trainees to Northwestern. He served the college faithfully until 1883. In 1882 he and his brother Oscar, who had joined the faculty in 1878, became involved in a dispute with another member of the faculty that ended in the resignation of both brothers, this time to the real regret of the college board. Financial Straits Through no fault of his, Professor Thompson's term as president was an unhappy one. It was a period when there was a great shortage of teachers. Some branches had to be dropped because there was nobody to teach them and no money to hire the teachers that were needed. This was the most critical period in the history of the college, and we still must wonder that it survived and that the men who were responsible for its administration had the courage and the faith to go on. In the Synod the college was referred to as "unser Schmerzenskind," that is, our problem child or our sickly baby. Ours was not the only college that was being starved to death around 1870, but it at least survived, while some others in the country were less fortunate, or less hardy. The synodical reports usually attribute the poverty-stricken state of the school to the apathy of the pastors and the resultant lack of interest in the congregations, but it is also very probable that just at this time declining farm prices following over-production and inflation during the war made for hard times among our farmers and laborers, on whom the welfare of the college depended. The scholarship fund, from which so much had been expected, was of slight help. Only $13,812 of the total pledges had been paid; of this amount $5,636 had been expended for instruction; $6,000 had been loaned and was bearing interest; $2,176 had been paid out as salary and traveling expenses to the collector and agent - a cost of 16% of the total collected. To put it more bluntly, it cost the fund sixteen cents to collect one dollar. That shows how scarce ready cash was among the people 10 Wisconsin. By 1870 the debt on the thirty acres had been reduced to $4,500, of which, so George Gamm reported, $3,000 had to be paid at once to Mr. Alcott, holder of a mortgage on the land. A few members of the board had personally guaranteed pay-

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ment of the mortgage. In this predicament the board instructed Mr. Brumder and George Gamm to try to borrow $2,000 in Milwaukee and $1,000 in Watertown. Neither attempt was successful. Since the whole Synod was burdened with a debt of over $8,500, it actually authorized the board to sell the whole thirty acres. The board did instruct August Gamm and Mr. Kusel to dispose of a part of it, but only if that could be done "without harm to the college." Late in the year it asked Mr. Alcott to take back the whole tract and cancel the mortgage. He refused and demanded immediate payment. Finally pressure was brought on Mr. Gustavus of Neenah, to whom $4,000 of the scholarship funds had been loaned, and the board succeeded in securing full payment of that loan. The mortgage was paid and ownership of the land was made secure. Whatever may be said about the scholarship mess, the scholarship fund must be credited with having saved the athletic field for the college at that time. But, of course, there still remained a debt of about $1,500 on the land. The cost of the frame dormitory had also increased indebtedness by about $3,000. The board therefore decided to remortgage part of the land to raise much needed money. During the next decade the land seems to have been mortgaged, wholly or in part, twice more to obtain ready cash. A few transactions and agreements that were made in these two or three years well illustrate how straitened the Synod's circumstances were. The steward, Mr. Schoenfeld, had to be content with a salary of $90 a year plus free board, room and laundry. The Synod owed Mr. Kusel $2,092.93, a debt that had accumulated through the years when he advanced money to pay for building materials and the wages of workmen. That amount was reduced by $500 by crediting him with a perpetual scholarship; he waived any interest on the amount; $100 that he had advanced to the collector was taken from the scholarship fund and paid to him; and finally he cut off $92.93 from the principal and thus reduced the debt to an even $1400. Pastor Sieker, who had been the agent for the scholarships, and who had accepted a call into the Minnesota Synod, wrote from St. Paul pleading for payment of $500 that was still owing to him as salary, but the Synod could not pay him. Students of the seminary had been receiving their entire support from the

LOW EBB

Synod, in some cases even recerving money for clothing. But now that the shortage of money was becoming acute, the board decided that every student living in the dormitory must pay board at the rate of $30 a term for each of the three terms and besides that furnish his own light and fuel. If the student came from a congregation that contributed money for the support of the school, the charge was $25 for a term, and if two or more sons from one family attended, the charge was $20 for the second and the third sons. Pastors' sons were charged $25 a term. It was also ordered that payment should be made in advance and, if payment was not received within fourteen days of the opening of school, the student should be dismissed. But it is extremely doubtful that this last provision was ever enforced. Evidently the steward's salary of $90 a year was not enough to hold him, because in 1869 he was succeeded by Mrs. Bartelt, who was to receive $100 a year and keep. Such measures were, and still are, humiliating; but poverty leaves little scope for generosity. Plain Talk to the Synod Finally, at the meeting of the Synod in 1870, the president of the board laid the plight of the institution before the delegates in language that could no longer be ignored. Year after year, he said, every financial accounting had reported a deficit. It might be possible for the board to continue operating the school in this fashion for another year or two by adding to the debt, but they owed it to the professors, to the congregations, and to the world not to do that. Now, he said, we might still close down the school without disgrace, but in a few more years that would not be possible. Some relief might be provided by reducing the teaching staff, by dropping some branches from the curriculum, and by lowering the standards that had been set for students for the ministry. The Synod could hardly advocate that. There had been a time when congregations were satisfied with poorly educated, untrained pastors, but that time was now past. There was only one way, the president concluded, to remedy the situation, and that was by regular, orderly support of the school by the congregations. The congregations were for the most part willing to do something, if only the pastors took the matter in hand with zeal and determination.

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Even more emphatic was the report of the college board at this meeting. They reported that the college in its present situation was like a leaky ship at sea that was being kept afloat only with greatest difficulty. They regretted that they were forced to say that the Synod had by its neglect brought the institution into this sorry state, and they feared that unless immediate help were given, they would have to abandon the ship and .let it sink. The prospect for the help that was needed did not seem to the board to be very bright, because in the past many pastors and congregations had displayed little or no interest at all in the institution. We have become discouraged, they reported, and can no longer let ourselves be moved by cheerful promises to continue to administer the school. And yet the members of the board were not ready to abandon all hope, for the Lord had during the past year held His protecting hand over the school. and shielded it from serious illnesses, from disaster, and from great losses. They were not ready to believe that God would withhold His goodness and mercy but rather looked to Him for deliverance from their troubles and for blessings on their labors."It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not." The Synod may have neglected its school, but it was not at all minded to call it quits and let the school die. It refused to consider dropping the preparatory department, because it realized that that department was needed as a feeder for the college. Errors and mistakes of judgment were freely admitted, and yet the Synod did not censure the board of control but rather commended it for its efforts in keeping the vessel afloat. To give expression to their determination to keep the school alive, the delegates voted to take up a collection then and there. It yielded $173, half of which was paid in cash. If that sounds like a weak effort, the sum should be compared with the collection taken at a well-attended mission festival about this time. The total collection for all purposes at two services was $80, and that was considered a good collection. The years 1869 and 1870 marked the lowest level that the fortunes of the college reached, but those two years also marked the beginning of new things and a steady rise out of the depths. The soul-searching that went on at the Synod meetings of 1869 and 1870, and a few changes of personnel at the college proved to be wholesome, and beginning with 1870 the college steadily grew stronger.

LOW EBB

August F. Ernst In place of Adam Martin the college board called August F. Ernst, at that time a vigorous young man of twenty-eight, who had been in this country six years, long enough to become well acquainted with American ways and the English language. A. F. Ernst was born June 25, 1841, in Eddesse, a small town in Hanover, Germany. He attended the Gymnasium at CelIe and later the University of Goettingen, both in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover. At Goettingen he studied theology, philology, and philosophy under famous teachers, including the philosopher Lotze. Goettingen was the university of the brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, who made the famous collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales and who also started the monumental German dictionary that bears their name. The brothers Grimm had been dismissed from the Goettingen faculty for protesting against an act of the King of Hanover in 1837, but the university still bore the reputation of excellence in the field of philology when Ernst was ready to matriculate. After leaving the university, he taught for one year in the Gymnasium of Clausthal and in 1863 emigrated to America, where he was pastor in Brooklyn for four years. In 1868 he accepted a call to Albany, New York, but remained there only one year. Pastor Adelberg, at this time pastor of St. Mark's in Watertown, had learned to know him in Albany and recommended him to the college board when a replacement for Martin was needed. The board sent him a call, which he promptly accepted. In August, 1869, he was installed at Northwestern as professor and inspector. A few months after Professor Ernst joined the faculty, F. W. Stellhorn, the professor whom the Missouri Synod had agreed to furnish for Northwestern, was also installed. The seminary students, six in number, remained at Northwestern during only part of the school year beginning in the fall of 1869; they were scheduled to leave for St. Louis under the agreement with Missouri in the spring of 1870. Lewis Thompson continued as president into 1870. In 1870-1871 Ernst and Meumann shared the chairmanship of the faculty, and on March 9, 1871, Professor Ernst became President, or as he was more commonly designated in the first years, Director Ernst. He served in that office for nearly fifty years, until 1919.

CHAPTER XI

A New Era With the coming of Professor Ernst a new chapter in the history of Northwestern began. His principles of education were derived from his experience with the German Gymnasium and the German university, while Martin's ideal was the secular American college and university. Ernst's ideas were undeniably better suited to the purpose that the Synod had had in founding the institution, and as those ideas were put into practice the school began to win the confidence of pastors and congregations, and then also more adequate support from them. A More Hopeful Note President Bading's opening address to the Synod in 1871 sounds a much more hopeful note than had been heard in the years preceding. In his report on what he always referred to as "our educational institutions in Watertown" he said: It is of the Lord's undeserved mercy that this year we can step before you without bitter complaints and dire fears. No longer is our institution in the sad state of a year ago; it has even made excellent progress. Although our congregations have not yet without exception come to our aid, so that all complaints might be stilled, yet their response has been so gratifying that the continued existence of the college is no longer in doubt.

The board of trustees reported in a similar vein: When we consider our financial situation, we find that "Praise the Lord" still does not rise easily to our lips, since along with some very pleasant bright spots there are also some very dark shadows. A circular appealing for aid that we sent to our pastors a few months ago bore some very good fruit and also a number of fair promises. We must say that our conviction has been strengthened that this venture which we began so hopefully in God's name, and which makes such comparatively heavy demands

A NEW

ERA

on our small group, can with a little real effort and some selfsacrifice not only be continued, but even be extended.

Increased income was assured by the appointment of two treasurers for the school, One of them lived in Watertown, where he managed the collection of fees at the college and supervised the payment of pledges and interest connected with the scholarships; the other was entrusted with the collection of money in Milwaukee. In the year 1871 the commissary of the college actually showed a profit of $400, which the board attributed partly to the efficient housekeeping of Mr. Markworth and partly to generous gifts of food supplies from the surrounding farms. These supplies must have come from some distance because there is a record of the loss of forty bags of potatoes that were frozen in a railroad freight car. More pressure was also being applied on students to pay their board bills, and Professor Ernst was instructed to try to collect for board that had been furnished free to students who afterward dropped out. In the years 1871 and 1872 there were several changes 10 the faculty, some of which resulted in reducing the cost of instruction. Professor Stellhorn's arrival made it possible to release Professor Meumann, who had been instructor in ancient languages, but whose poor health had seriously interrupted his teaching during the year. Amos Easterday, who had been a member of the faculty in 1868/69, now returned to the faculty, and part of his salary was paid by the Minnesota Synod, which was at this time not yet affiliated with the Wisconsin Synod and had no equity in the college. About this time Lewis Thompson resigned. Professor Stellhorn had made the statement in a Norwegian church paper that he did not believe that Thompson was the right man to fill the position he held at the school. Quite understandably Thompson resented being told in this fashion that his presence was no longer welcome. Stellhorn's objection no doubt was that Thompson, who attended the Congregational church, was hardly the right person for the presidency of a school that prepared men for the Lutheran ministry. When Professor Thompson left, the board called Rev. Theodore Brohm of Boston to fill the vacancy. One more feeble move was made to lure the college to Milwaukee. Mr. Brumder reported that two Milwaukee men had offered to give $1,000 each toward a new building, and that the

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STORY

congregations there would rent a building to house the school and also supply two professors without obligation to the Synod. But just then finances began to take an upward turn and no more was heard of that proposal. The scholarships had somehow acquired such a bad name that they were being blamed for all the ills that beset the college. The evil was more psychological than real, but the fact remains that contributions from the congregations increased as the scholarships were retired, bought up, or canceled, and as the college more clearly emphasized a course that led toward preparation for the ministry. Since students for the ministry paid no tuition, and the scholarships entitled the holder only to free tuition, their effect was not so sinister as was supposed. The real culprits were the $500 perpetual scholarships, but not many of that type were in existence.

Increasing Confidence in Northwestern Economies at the college, more effective collection of money due for board and room, relief from the burden of high interest payments, removal of the offense of the scholarships, and increasing confidence of pastors and congregations in the administration of the school, all contributed to a sounder financial basis and to much better feeling in the Synod toward the institution in Watertown. The growing confidence of the congregations in their institution showed also in the enrollment, which in 1872 was reported as having reached 154, equally divided between the academy and the classical department. Of sixty-seven students preparing for the ministry, thirty-five were from the Missouri Synod, twenty-eight from the Wisconsin Synod, and three from the Minnesota Synod. There was room for only thirty-two boarding students in the frame dormitory, and the increase in enrollment made it necessary to convert the attic room of the main building into a bedroom, a place that provided the setting for many a story gleefully related in later years by old-timers who made the most of a location so far removed from the center of authority. The rooms in that building had been freshened during the summer vacation with a coat of whitewash, a means of restoring brightness to grimy walls that was still in use in other college buildings as late as 1900.

A NEW

ERA

The organization of the Synodical Conference of the Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin Synods had little direct effect on the college. The aims of the Conference were to be an outward expression of unity of the spirit among the member synods, mutual strengthening of faith and confession, promotion of unity in doctrine and practice, removal of actual or threatened disturbances, cooperation in common endeavors, establishment of synodical boundaries according to territory or languages, and the union of all Lutheran Synods in America into one orthodox American Lutheran Church.

A common endeavor would have been the training of teachers and pastors, and a move in that direction was made by the Ohio Synod, which instructed its president, Professor Loy, to confer with representatives of other orthodox synods with a view to the establishment and joint operation of educational institutions. Representatives of various synods, including Missouri and Wisconsin, met in Chicago for a three-day meeting, but all that President Bading had to say about the meeting was that he had a report prepared that he would deliver to the Synod at a convenient time. Evidently his report was unfavorable to the venture because there is no further mention of it. The College and the Peshtigo Fire Another occurrence in 1871 that did directly affect the college was the Peshtigo fire. That fire broke out on October 9, the very next day after the great Chicago fire. The latter was so spectacular that it crowded news of the Peshtigo fire out of the newspapers, so that the nation was hardly aware that a far greater tragedy had taken place in the little Wisconsin town than in the great metropolis of Illinois. The loss in the Chicago fire is usually given in terms of dollars, that in Peshtigo in terms of lives. The Chicago fire took 250 lives, that of Peshtigo, 1152. A pastor by the name of Huebner had arrived from Pomerania in Germany in October, 1870, and had been assigned to the Peshtigo parish, which had been waiting for a pastor for years. Pastor Huebner quickly organized several congregations in the city and the immediate neighborhood. Less than a year after his arrival Peshtigo and much of the surroundings and many of his parishioners were consumed by flames in a few hours. Pastor Huebner barely escaped with his life by taking refuge in a swamp.

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Those who escaped with their lives and with the clothes that they happened to be wearing were the fortunate ones. All other possessions were completely wiped out. In Green Bay Pastor Goldammer set up a relief center for victims of the fire, many of whom came to Green Bay, since there was no shelter left in Peshtigo. Now the Synod's gifts were diverted from the college to the hapless victims of the fire. Pastor Goldammer submitted a report to the Synod on the gifts that had been sent to him $2,300 in cash and much more in clothing, barrels of flour, hundreds of loaves of bread, and food of all kinds. Pastor Huebner received a clergyman's gown, a pair of shoes, books, clothing, and food in such plenty that he begged the congregations not to send him any more. The college had to such a large extent been dependent on gifts not only of money, but especially of foodstuffs donated by the congregations, that the disaster of the Peshtigo fire abruptly ended a very important source of income for the college. In 1873 the entire country was in the grip of a financial panic, one of the worst in the history of the nation. The president of the Synod had called it a miracle of God's grace that the college had survived the first five years of trial. There were equally hard times coming, but the early years had been a good teacher, and those in charge of the school had learned how to get along on next to nothing; they had learned how to be abased, how to be hungry, and yet to be content. Those men inspire us when we see how much they accomplished with so little.

CHAPTER XII

Firstfrui ts In the spring of 1872 the first class was graduated from the college. The members of this class were John Jacob Bading, son of the president of the Synod, age 17; Otto August Daniel Hoyer, son of Pastor Hoyer of Princeton, 22; Erdman Athanasius Pankow, son of Pastor Pankow of Lebanon, 23; Franz August Otto Pieper, son of Mrs. Pieper, widow, housekeeper at the college, 20. At the commencement exercises Franz Pieper delivered the Latin oration on the theme: Quid ex iis, quae sunt propria Germanorum, in hac terra sit retinendum, quid dimittendum. Erdman Pankow spoke in English on "Our Country's Claims." John Bading spoke in German "Ueber den Nutzen des Studiums der Naturwissenschaften fuer die Erlangung einer gruendlichen Bildung." Otto Hoyer's theme was "0 Jahrhundert! es ist eine Lust in dir zu leben." Although Reinhold Pieper was not a graduate, he appeared on the program with a French address entitled "De l'existence de Dieu," which the W atertoum Democrat declared was very successful and pleasing. Of the other addresses the newspaper reported that the Latin salutatory by Franz Pieper was about fifteen minutes long. It was spoken with earnestness, and, judging from the expression of the few who understood it, must have been a well written discourse. The German oration by John Bading of Milwaukee was well spoken and very pleasing to all familiar with the language. The English oration by Erdman Pankow of Lebanon was both well written and admirably spoken.

The Pieper Brothers Although John Bading had pursued the classical course, he did not enter the theological seminary but took up the study of medicine instead. Otto Hoyer entered the seminary, which since 1870 had been merged with the Concordia Seminary of the

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Missouri Synod at St. Louis. After serving as pastor in Neenah and at St. John's congregation in St. Paul, he became president of Dr. Martin Luther College in New Ulm from 1885 to 1893, then professor of theology at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Michigan, until 1895, and finally professor and inspector at Northwestern College until his death in 1905. Erdman Pankow also attended the seminary in St. Louis and after graduation served parishes at Bloomfield and Ridgeville, Wisconsin, until 1890, when he accepted a call as professor at St. Paul College in Concordia, Missouri. In 1900 he returned to the ministry in the Minnesota Synod, from which he retired in 1923. Franz Pieper joined Hoyer and Pankow at the St. Louis seminary and after graduation was pastor in Centerville (Hika), Wisconsin, for one year and then in Manitowoc from 1876 to 1878. In 1878 he accepted a call to be professor at the seminary of the Missouri Synod in St. Louis and became its president in 1887. He remained at the head of that institution until his death in 1931. From 1899 to 1911 he had also served as president of the Missouri Synod. In the agreement of 1869 between the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods to share educational facilities, Wisconsin was not financially able to do as much as Missouri. Still the latter received full compensation for whatever favors it extended. Franz Pieper served that Synod as professor and president at its theological seminary for over fifty years, and later his brother Reinhold, another Northwestern product, was president of the Missouri Synod's practical seminary at Springfield, Illinois, from 1891 till his retirement in 1914. It was perhaps an oversight that the Concordia Encyclopedia mentions that Franz Pieper received an honorary D.D. degree from Northwestern College but does not mention that he received his preparatory and college training at Northwestern. In the year that Franz Pieper was graduated, there were four Pieper brothers in attendance at the school - Franz, Reinhold, August, and Anton - while their mother, a widow, was the housemother; the family lived together and studied in the main building of the college, while the mother cooked for all the boarding students. That is a situation that cannot ever be duplicated. All four sons entered the ministry and three of them became theological professors and presidents of the seminaries where they taught. The fourth son, Anton, entered the ministry

FIRSTFRUITS

in 1882, serving congregations at Peshtigo, Wisconsin, at Newton near Manitowoc, at Morrisonville in Dane County, and finally in the Minnesota Synod at Newport until 1914. Thirty-one Hours a Week The course of studies that formed the foundation for the achievements of these outstanding men deserves some attention. In the year that Franz Pieper was a senior, the course for that class included three periods weekly of religious instruction in Christian doctrine and church history; eight periods of Latin, which included, besides translations, written essays in Latin and practice in speaking Latin. (Later, as professor of dogmatics at St. Louis, Franz Pieper customarily lectured in Latin, and when in the name of Concordia Seminary he conferred the honorary Ph.D. degree on Professor Ernst at Northwestern College in 1915, he did so in a speech of beautifully fluent Latin.) There were six periods of Greek, again with weekly exercises, which meant translation into Greek from the German; three periods of German; four periods of English, with readings in Byron, Samuel Johnson, Paradise Lost, Julius Caesar, and translations from German into English; two periods of physics; three of psychology; and two of Hebrew - a total of thirty-one periods each week. If the course in English seems elementary for college seniors, the course in Hebrew as outlined in the catalog for 1871/72 makes up for everything lacking in difficulty in the other courses. This class had only two periods a week of elementary Hebrew in the junior year, but in the senior year, again with only two periods a week, the class was to review the Hebrew forms and syntax and then read in the Hebrew eleven complete psalms (shorter ones, be it said); Genesis, Chapters XXXVII to L inclusive, plus twenty-nine other chapters and parts of chapters selected from historical books and the prophets. Such an assignment might stagger a modern class in Hebrew that had three periods a week for two years. However, the catalog of the very next year shows that the listing of the previous year was not to be taken as an assignment but rather as a list of chapters from which selections might be chosen. The catalog of 1873 reports what had actually been covered: elementary grammar and syntax were reviewed in the senior year and I Samuel, Chapters XVI to XX, were read. That brings us back to normal.

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STORY

Whether or not Franz Pieper and his classmates wrote all the exercises and all the essays in Greek, Latin, German, and English that are listed in the 1872 catalog, cannot now be determined, but they did take all the subjects listed and at the end of the year received grades in them. While they were wrestling with their translations at the top of the scale, there was at the opposite end of the school register in the beginners' class another future theological professor, by the name of John Philip Koehler, age eleven years. This was his weekly schedule: German, arithmetic, mental arithmetic, geography, religious instruction, declamation, dictation, reading, spelling.Âˇ In the following year arithmetic would be replaced by Latin, drawing, and English composition. In some classes penmanship was also required, and each class, from the lowest to the highest, had thirty to thirty-two periods a week; each professor likewise had thirty-two periods to teach each week. The entire operation of the college was carried on in two buildings, the two-story frame dormitory that was built in 1868, and the original college building of 1865, affectionately known to the students of the first thirty years as the KafJeemuehle (Coffee Mill). There were sixteen rooms in the frame house, four of which were occupied by two members of the faculty. Twentyfour students occupied the twelve remaining rooms. In the basement of the KafJeemuehle were the dining room, the kitchen, and living quarters for the housekeeper and her family. In the two floors above the basement were classrooms and living quarters for one of the bachelor members of the faculty; the third floor contained dormitory and study rooms for some of the younger students and their student supervisor. There was only one stairway leading to the upper rooms but no fire escape except for a rope arrangement that could be let down out of the upper windows. Fortunately that mode of escape was never put to the test. F. W. A. Notz The need for more dormitory space and for housing for Professors Ernst and Brohm made it necessary to consider building a residence. One plan was to build a duplex, a second plan favored two houses, but lack of money settled the issue, and a

FIRSTFRUITS

single house known as the Ernst house at 519 College Avenue was built for $2,750 in 1872. At this time the Synod was also trying to fulfill its obligation to provide a professor for the Missouri Synod seminary, and at the first meeting of the Synodical Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin men interviewed F. W. A. Notz, a professor of classics at Muhlenberg College in Allenton, Pennsylvania. He was willing to accept the call, but several Missouri Synod pastors suggested that both synods would be better served if he joined the faculty in Watertown, because the men there were greatly overburdened. President Walther of the Missouri Synod said that he agreed, although he had no power to change the terms of the Missouri-Wisconsin agreement to exchange professors and use each other's institutions. So it was that Professor Notz came to Watertown as inspector and professor of classics. Dr. Notz, or "the Old Doctor" or "Old Dox," as he was affectionately called by several generations of students, was a Swabian by birth, had attended the Protestant Convent School at Maulbronn and then the University of Tuebingen, where he obtained the doctor of philosophy degree in 1863. It was an extremely fortunate accident that brought him to Northwestern, and for many years he and Professor Ernst formed a solid core about which all the activities of the college revolved and which determined the character of the school. There is much more to be said about these two men in later chapters. Professor Ernst now moved into the house on College Avenue, which he was to occupy till the end of his career at the college, and Dr. Norz moved into the administration building as inspector. Two important changes in the faculty took place shortly after Dr. Notz's arrival. John Kaltenbrunn, who had been on the faculty since 1865 and had become principal of the academy and of the normal department, was found to have lost control of his classes because it was being noised about in town and among the students that he had appeared in public on several occasions in a tipsy condition. He had to be dropped at the end of the 1872/73 schoolyear and was replaced by Joel Smith, a graduate of Ursinus College, Collegetown, Pennsylvania. In 1874 the exchange agreement with the Missouri Synod was terminated, and Professor Stellhorn left for Fort Wayne. Eventually about forty Missouri boys followed him there. His successor was A. Graebner, who had been a schoolteacher in St. Louis.

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A New Dormitory The school, and with it the entire Synod, suffered a severe blow when in the night of December 29, 1874, the frame dormitory burned to the ground. All of the students were away for their Christmas vacation at the time, and it was never determined what caused the fire. It was possible to save some of the students' property and some of the furniture, but the building was a total loss, together with a large supply of foodstuffs which were stored in the basement. These had been donated in the fall by the farmers and were meant to constitute the main food supply till the end of the year. When the students returned after Christmas, some were quartered with private families and the rest were accommodated in a house that had been rented for a period of six months for $60. There was no interruption of instruction as a direct result of the fire, but among the students in the winter that followed there was a great deal of sickness, which Professor Ernst attributed to the extremely cold weather and the unsatisfactory dormitory conditions. Erection of a new and more roomy dormitory was begun without much delay, and by September 1 following the fire it was ready for occupancy. That is the 1875 dormitory, which at this writing still stands, occupying the exact site of the original dormitory. The east wing of the building was at first planned as a one-story combined chapel and classroom with a movable partition through the middle of the room, but it was found that a second story could be added to that part of the building at little expense, the second story to remain unfinished until needed. The entire structure cost just under $14,000. It is a solid building, honestly constructed, and it still serves its purpose, although it hardly satisfies modern taste in living accommodations, and the third floor may no longer be used, by order of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission, for dormitory purposes. Worn and shabby as it is, it still is more comfortable than it was in the days when each room was heated by a cast iron stove and lighted by oil lamps. In spite of these two fire hazards in each room, the only serious fire that ever occurred there was started by a discarded cigarette long after the stoves and lamps had been replaced by central heat and electricity.

CHAPTER

XIII

The original building of 1865 received an appropriate nickname. A tall square building topped by a small square cupola, it looked for all the world like one of the most familiar articles of housekeeping in those days, the square wooden coffee grinder, topped by a receptacle for the coffee beans. Ka/Jeemuehle was a term of affection rather than of ridicule, for the building was by no means unattractive and in its day was the most imposing one in Watertown. Even after the frame dormitory was built in 1868 and one faculty member and twenty-four older students could study and sleep in that building, almost every activity of the students was confined to the four walls of the Ka/Jeemuehle. In that building they slept, studied, recited, ate their meals, and spent whatever free time was allowed. In this building their meals were cooked; the housekeeper and her family lived there, as well as some member of the faculty during the early years. Although in 1875 the so-called "New Building" became the residence of all the boarding Students, the old Ka/Jeemuehle had already determined what many of the college traditions should be and what shape the spirit of Northwestern should take. There was no gymnasium; there were no football, baseball, basketball teams, no recreation rooms; the campus was a pasture, not a playing field; no provisions were made for any activity outside of studying, reciting, eating, and sleeping. The nature of boys was the same then as it is today, and it requires little imagination to understand why one professor, who spoke from personal experience as inspector or dormitory supervisor, whose duty it was to preserve order at all times, said that he considered the office of the inspector to be the most important in the Synod. Certainly, if the boys were so

CENTENNIAL STORY

minded, they could make it the bitterest and most heartbreaking. And there were always a few boys who were so minded. In spite of those few, life in the Kaffeemuehle, although not idyllic, still was productive of the fondest recollections of all the students in the earliest days of the college. A Tour Through the Kaffeemuehle The structure deserves a somewhat more detailed description. As has been said, it was a brick building rising three stories above a full basement, which extended above the ground level for more than half its height and for that reason was dry and comfortable. The south half of the basement contained the living quarters of Mrs. Pieper and her family of boys, and afterward of her successor as housekeeper, Mrs. Voss, the wife of the exprincipal of St. Mark's school. The dining room for the students occupied the northeast quarter, and the northwest quarter contained bedrooms for the housekeeper's family and for the kitchen personnel. The main entrance was on the west side of the building. Because of the height of the basement rooms there was a flight of eleven steps from the ground to the entrance. Directly opposite the main door was another, smaller entrance on the east side. A narrow corridor connected the two, thus dividing the first floor into two equal parts. This floor contained classrooms. A stairway zigzagged from the east entrance to the upper stories, ending at each floor at a landing from which a corridor duplicating the one on the first floor divided the floor into two parts. On the second floor there were two classrooms and also living quarters for the inspector. Professor Ernst, the president, lived here till a house was built for him in 1872. The third floor was a dormitory, each room being occupied by eight or ten boys. Shortly after the building was finished, increasing enrollment made it necessary to convert the attic into a large bedroom. One more room in this building played an important part in the experience of some of the students. That room was the career, (the Latin word for jail) or Karzer, its German equivalent, where a culprit might be incarcerated for a number of hours for some misdemeanor. One student recalled that the career was in the little cupola at the top of the building; another recalls that it was a cubicle boarded off at the west end of the attic,

LIFE IN THE KAFFEEMUEHLE

from which the more or less unhappy prisoner could look out on the world through a circular window, which can be located on the picrures of the old building. The latter location is perhaps the correct one, because Mr. Louis Pingel recalled that one incorrigible jailbird pushed that round window out of its place and that it damaged the main landing when it fell. Henry Sieker, a student from New York City who graduated in 1896, recalled with what glee incarcerated students read the names and initials and other sentiments that were left on the walls of the career by men who had once been students, but who since then had become officials in the Synod and highly respected pastors. The faculty was no respecter of persons or of the possibilities of future positions of students, and the faculty minutes contain the names of men who once sat out their one to four hours of lonely contemplation and to this day are known as the dignified fathers of respected pastors in the Synod. \Vhen the 1875 dormitory, then called the "New Building," went into operation, all of the upper classmen and some of the preparatory students moved into it together with the inspector. Some of the preps still had to room in the old building, and a few upper classmen were assigned to it as overseers, a doubtful honor that was hated and looked upon by the persons so selected as a sentence to unwilling servitude. One such upper classman, by the name of Kraft, was so overjoyed at being released from the KafJeemuehle and being promoted to the New Building that he overstepped the regulations obtaining there and was promptly demoted after only a week of gracious living in the new dormitory. For him it was a sentence; to his classmates it was a joke on him. Henry Sieker recalled that there was such an aversion to living in the old building that he did not recollect having visited one of the students' rooms there more than half a dozen times during his three years in college. Dr. Notz, Inspector

When in 1872 Dr. Norz accepted the call as professor and inspector, President Ernst willingly surrendered the honors and duties of the inspectorate to him. The personality of Dr. Notz is indelibly connected with the traditions that developed and matured in both the old dormitories. His office in the Kaffee-

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mueble was in a strategic place off the corridor on the south side of the second floor. Before coming to Watertown, Dr. Notz had been teaching at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. A story that followed him to Watertown from that institution nicely illustrates his personality. One very cold morning when he entered his classroom he found his students assembled but shivering in the bitter cold. The stove had been removed from the room. Without a word Dr. Notz left the room and soon returned snugly bundled in his overcoat, muffler, and fur cap, and the period proceeded as usual. The next morning the stove was back in place, shedding its warmth as though nothing had happened. The sticks of cordwood that had to be sawed and split to fit the wood stove in every room of the old buildings were to Dr. Notz what the rock pile used to be to the old-fashioned prison warden. The same woodpile quickly cooled off the spirits of those who were too warm-blooded and also provided warmth and exercise for those who seemed to need it. On occasion, after a severe infraction of some ironclad rule, the Doctor might give the orders not only to saw half a cord of wood but to carry .it to a distant part of the campus. When the guilty one reported that the task had been completed, the Doctor's grim features would relax into a smile as he said in broad Swabian: "Dann holsch wieder" (Now fetch it back). Another often repeated story about Dr. Notz that is almost certainly legendary in part had to do with the rope fire escapes. The story goes that one night the boys in one of the large rooms decided to have a feast. Since the toilets were out of doors, it was easy enough for a boy to leave the building without arousing suspicion, but to get back with a bag containing the various items necessary for a feast was a different matter. So they planned to let down one of the fire escape ropes with a large basket attached, into which the purchased items were to be deposited and at a signal hoisted up to the room. According to the story the signal was given by a determined jerk on the rope. The boys above pulled and decided that their errand boy must have crawled into the basket together with his goods. At any rate, it was all they could do to get the basket a few feet off the ground. Just then they saw their confederate slip around the corner of the building with a bulging bag in his arms and realized that they were hauling

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him. At other times this busy period at his desk suggested all forms of more or less innocent amusement to pass the time. Old Dox was good-natured, wise in the ways of boys, inclined to be lenient, often secretly enjoying a prank as much as the students themselves. When he was really amused, his enjoyment showed mainly about his ample middle, which then quaked with laughter. Only on rare occasions did he explode, but even his explosions were enjoyed rather than feared. The genial Doctor remained the presiding genius of the KafJeemuehle until 1875, when he moved into the New Dormitory to occupy a similar position there until 1886. In that year he moved off the campus with his family. When word went out in the summer of 1894 that the KafJeemueble had gone up in Hames, there were many sad hearts in the Synod. In its thirty years that one brick building had been home for a generation of students during their most impressionable years, a place where they found knowledge and formed lifelong friendships, the unforgettable scene of many a prank, many a joy, and even many a tear.

CHAPTER XIV

The 1875

Dormitory

The flavor of college life, along with its customs, traditions and manners, depends much on living conditions in a dormitory, especially when all dormitory students study, recite, eat, sleep, and play in a single building, under the watchful eye of a professor who lives in the same building. That had been the situation in the old Kaffeemuehle in its early days. The frame dormitory of 1868 relieved the congestion somewhat, as did the departure of the seminarians for St. Louis in the following year. The frame dormitory did not have character enough or stand long enough to permit a tradition to be established there. But the structure that replaced it when it was destroyed by a mysterious fire in 1874 did have character and also stood long enough to provide a way of life for several generations of students. It is still in use after ninety years, though present plans for a new dormitory call for razing the old relic. It can be said at the outset that the building contained no luxuries or even anything more than the barest necessities. The contract price of the structure was only $11,900, and the Synod had to borrow most of that sum-$5,000 from a Dr. Senn of Milwaukee at 9% and $2,000 from a Mr. Geiger and a Mr. Schulz at 6%. The rest of the cost was met with proceeds from the sale of a strip of the college property that lay along Main Street, between Concord and Dewey Avenues. In July, 1874, Mr. Kusel had been instructed to layout lots, measuring 50x50 feet, on that part of the land. President Ernst was asked to publicize the sale. By the following April, twenty-six lots were ready to be sold at prices ranging from $150 to $225. One of the resolutions passed at that time was that "the fence is to be

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moved back insofar as it is useful and the remaining land is to be used as pasture." The sale seems to have proceeded so well that the board was authorized to sell up to twenty acres of the property, since "no more than seventeen acres would ever be needed for the college" and there would "never be a better price than now." Fortunately for the college, 1877 was a depression year and lots could not be sold for the stipulated prices. Nothing more was heard of selling twenty acres or any other part of the college property. The sale of the twenty-six lots seems to have netted a little over $3,600. But there was still a debt on the old dorm. Home

in the Dormitory

For thirty years the 1875 dormitory was home for all resident students, except for those few who were still housed in the KafJeemueble until that building was destroyed. Much more of the student's life was spent in the dormitory in 1895, for instance, than is the case today. The calendar for 1894-95 gave August 29 as the opening day. There was a Christmas vacation of fifteen days, from December 18 to January 3. The only interruptions between January 3 and the closing day on June 21 were a half week before Easter Sunday, Washington's Birthday, Ascension Day and Whitmonday. Only those students who lived within walking or horse and buggy distance of Watertown could hope to see any home but the dormitory from early September till late June, except for the Christmas holidays. Confinement was made even closer by the lack of an adequate gymnasium. The "turning hall," as the student-built gym of 1877 was called, was used for military drill three times a week and for exercises on parallel bars, horizontal bar, ladder and horse, for those who cared for that kind of exercise. Unless the weather was right for baseball and football, the student not only slept and studied in the dormitory but had to find a good deal of his recreation there too. No wonder that it played such an important part in student life and in the recollections of those who inhabited it. It might be of interest to preface this account of life in the 1875 building with the following description of dormitory life in general at Northwestern in the early 1880's. It was written by William Weimar of the class of 1885.

THE

1875

DORMITORY

All rooms were heated with stoves except bedrooms (no heat). The large study rooms accommodated about twelve occupants, boys from the lower classes.A student from a higher class served as monitor for one year. Of course, he had his desk in the room he supervised. Fuel (wood) was furnished by the occupants. They bought cord wood and did their own sawing. In weekly rotation, each occupant had to act as room caretaker; he swept the floor, built and tended to the fire, sawed the wood and kept the bucket filled. The monitor was exempt from this service. Every boy owned his desk and chair, also a tin wash dish. In a corner of a room was an old chair (mostly without back rest). Beside this chair stood a bucket of water with a tin ladle, The chair was used in rotation for washing, the wash dish being placed on the chair when one's turn came. Each one brought his towel to the wash chair and then kept it attached to his desk on a hook. In the bedrooms were wooden bedsteads with springs which rested on wooden slats. Each student owned his own bed, the newcomer usually being able to buy one (also desk and chair) from a former student. Eight o'clock to eight-thirty was the time set for bed making and tidying the rooms. In the other (new) building the conditions were practically the same, only the rooms were much smaller (room for three to four). No monitors were necessary here. All slept in twO immense bedrooms located above the old chapel. The latrines consisted of open pits over which were built wooden sheds, allowing free accessof flies and free exit of odors. Occasional application of chloride of lime helped to keep things somewhat under control.

Until about 1895 the inspector occupied several rooms on the ground floor of the "new" dormitory, including the one with a bay window. The close proximity of authority to all the students was at the same time a check and a challenge. The inspector was in an ideal position to hear any distrurbance and to suppress it before it got out of hand. That same nearness was also a challenge to anyone inclined to be mischievous.

Rooms Mostly for Study The 1875 dormitory was a versatile sort of building, and over the years it went through various rearrangements without any remodeling of the structure. Study rooms were, with a few exceptions, on the south side of the building, bedrooms on the north side. As a rule there were four boys in a room, but in a few there were five. Two sat on each side of a long study table, and a monitor at the end. He was expected to keep order and to

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hold his charges to their books. The walls, except where there were doors or windows, were lined with wardrobes and bookcases. Round-backed wooden chairs with splintery seats were the only other furniture. In a room for four the wardrobe would be a single piece of furniture about six feet high, attached to the wall. Behind the two doors of the wardrobe there was about twelve inches of space for each occupant of the room where he could hang his military uniform, his overcoat and Sunday suit. Above the space for hanging coats and trousers was a shelf for hats and who knows what. At the bottom of the wardrobe were four drawers for shirts, towels and underwear. Between the top of the wardrobe and the ceiling of the room there was space for suitcases, and it was a trick for a little fellow to heave his suitcase up there and have it stay on the first attempt. Under the bookcase there was a space behind hinged doors for shoes, skates, shoe polish, empty jam jars and anything at all that the student wanted to get rid of for a time. The more fastidious students would buy cheap colored material to tack in front of the open bookshelves. Besides books, baseball gloves, jam jars, dishes illegally borrowed from the dining hall, heels of crisp rye bread hollowed out and filled with butter, anything else that could not be stowed in the space beneath the bookshelves could be stored on the shelves until the inspector ordered a housecleaning. But housecleanings never seemed to make much difference in the contents and appearance of the storage places. Space in the wardrobe was extremely limited, but in the attic each student had a trunk in which he stored bedding not needed at the moment, and whatever clothing he had (it was never much) that was not in daily use. For some students in those days the military company was a blessing because a military uniform of very tough, heavy woolen cloth could be bought for twelve dollars, and there were always some students who were never seen dressed in anything but a military uniform, except on Sunday morning. They owned nothing else. After sixty years the mention of certain names raises a picture of a slender lad in blue military uniform and stiff military cap. In a typical study occupied by only four boys, the four flat oak tables, each about three feet square, would be grouped in the center of the room under a dropcord at the end of which there was a single electric bulb topped by a twelve-inch reflector. But even

THE

1875

DORMITORY

this was an improvement over the kerosene lamps that were in use until 1892. The human eye seems to be very adaptable to conditions that we today would call intolerable. There were not many students in that old dormitory who wore glasses. An indispensable part of the furniture of each room was a glazed earthenware water pitcher that held about two quarts of water. It was the duty of the lowest classman in the room to fill that pitcher at the outdoor pump every night before the ringing of the Study bell. Alter Curlew The east wing of the old dormitory contained two large rooms on each of the two floors. In the heyday of the old dormitory these four rooms were used as bedrooms. Each was thirty feet square, and one year, just before the 1905 dormitory was built, thirty-four beds were crowded into one of the rooms. It was natural that these bedrooms should have been the scene of some of the most outrageous behavior that the old building beheld in its long life. Twenty to thirty and more boys crowded into one bedroom will not waste their time complaining about inadequate sleeping space but take advantage of the opportunities to have fun in such close quarters. Pillow fights were the order of the day. There was one red-covered pillow that really caused a sensation. It was heavy and stout, about two feet square, and stuffed tight with goose feathers. That pillow could be sailed from one end of the room to the other and knock a boy off his feet if he was caught unaware standing on his bed. One night the pillow was sent sliding along the floor and ripped open by a splinter. Just then a prankster came into the room, sighted the pillow, leaped on it with a glad yell, whipped it about his head and filled the room with the prettiest storm of feathers any of the boys had ever seen. The pillow had come all the way from Germany, but this was the end of its journey. Many of the beds consisted of an indestructible wrought iron frame with an iron grid that served, not as a spring, but only as a support for a thin mattress. Until these beds were discarded for tubular frames with springs, a favorite trick to play on someone who was staying up late was to jump down on his bed with full force and repeat the maneuver three or four times. The

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jumper usually landed in a sitting position. At the first crash nothing seemed to happen. At the second the bed frame would bend slightly at the middle, and by the third or fourth treatment the middle of the bed would be touching the floor. No one would want to try to sleep with head on one hillside, feet on another, and his middle in a valley, so there was nothing to be done but to. turn the bed upside down and jump on the rails until they were reasonably straight once more. The bed, of course, had to be remade. Those beds were tough, and there is no record that the siderails were ever broken, no matter how often they were bent back and forth. Another favorite trick, sometimes played in revenge, sometimes played with no other purpose than just to be playing, was to take hold of one side of a bed and with one quick jerk turn it completely over, sometimes with the sleeper still in it. That was called "dumping" and could be carried out very easily because the beds were only thirty inches wide. It was not so easy or pleasant to set them upright and make the bed again, especially not on a cold winter night in an unheated room. There were effective ways of taking care of snorers or teeth grinders. A towel stuffed into the noisy one's mouth, or a dumped bed usually took care of the situation until others were asleep. In each of the two large first-floor bedrooms there was a pillar called the center pole, a post eight inches in diameter that supported the floors of the upper rooms. A very quick and effective punishment for the younger boys who became a bit unruly was to urge them up that center pole with more or less gentle pats until they could touch the ceiling. The poles are still there, but they have been painted over and are not so smooth as they once were. One night in late spring two seniors decided to top their careers by carrying out a bed dumping that would surpass anything that had yet been attempted. They managed to get into the northeast bedroom on the second floor without being detected, turned the beds in the center of the room upside down and then gathered all the bedding from the rest of the beds ranged around the four walls, carefully mixed up mattresses, sheets and blankets in one heap of confusion and departed. Such goings on were annoying to the victims and to the inspector, but they were seldom malicious or destructive of property, and it was as much

rus 1875

DORMITORY

the fault of cramped quarters and scanty equipment as of too high spirits that led to that form of horseplay. Before Utilities

What we today consider essential equipment in a home of people of even moderate means simply did not exist in the early days of the old dormitory. There was no running water anywhere in the building until 1895, when the city finally built a water tower and laid water mains; until 1905 the toilets were of the outdoor type, a shed discreetly hidden behind a latticed screen and a planting of lilacs; after 1895 and until 1905 the students washedIn the basement at a row of eight or ten washbowls, forming a line and impatiently awaiting their turn. On Saturday night a 'number of wooden pails were made available in the basement for those who thought they might want to take a footbath. A hard life? No, not hard, but rather primitive. Modern conveniences were unknown and therefore not missed. In 'the spring and fall, students bathed in the Rock river. Around the turn of the century bathing facilities were installed in Seager's barber shop, which then stood on piles driven into the bed of the Rock river and could be entered from the middle of Main Street bridge on the south side. An advertisement in the Black and Red in 1901 offered these bargain rates to students: The Bridge in the Center of Main Street Bridge 5 baths for $1 Ice swept away this building soon after 1905, but the more cleanly students remember the trip downtown on a winter day with a precious quarter for a tub bath that covered more territory than just heads and hands and feet. One young fellow who learned to know his way around the old dormitory before the days of running water and electric light was Otto Falk of Milwaukee, who later became the board chairman of the Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company but in 1876 was just a little boy of eleven years learning his English, German and arithmetic at Northwestern. This is a letter that he wrote to his father in October of 1876. A translation would ruin the

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letter; so here it is in the language of a homesick little boy, quoted in part: Die Box Essen hat gut geschmekt. Die Mama soll doch einmal hierher kommen. Wit haben jetzt schoene Envelops. Die Wienerwurst welche du uns geschikr hast, ist schon alle, bis auf zwei. Wit moechten einmal nach Hause kommen. Wit haben jetzt kein Lehrer, da der Lehrer fongelaufen isr, Das Holz hat uns schon wieder $2.25 gekoster, Wir muessen zu Hause kommen, denn wir muessen noch eine Jacke und einen Ueberrock haben. Schreibe so bald wie moeglich, denn man fuellt besser, wenn man einen Brief bekommen hat. dein Freund Otto.

This letter by Otto Herbert Falk to his father had been written in German script. The letter was made public in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal of May 26, 1940; it was then preserved for the enjoyment of Northwestern College students by being reprinted. in the Black and Red. The professor who "ran away" and left Otto Falk and his class without a teacher was the unhappy Professor Klapproth, who came and left within a period of two months.

CHAPTER XV

Rules and Regulations Records of meetings of the faculty begin in 1869. For several years after that date there are numerous entries that merely record that the faculty met and, since there was no business to transact, adjourned. But that idyllic state was of short duration. As the attendance increased and as the students became more varied in age, character and background, the problems increased. Both faculty and board spent considerable time in discussing and formulating rules and regulations for conduct, particularly in the dormitory. In these matters faculty and board were feeling their way. There was little tradition to go by except that of the German Gymnasium, with which many of the older pastors and professors were familiar. There were also a few who believed that military discipline was the model that should be followed in dormitory life. The wish to duplicate home life had some influence, as did also the pietistic background of some of the elders, which made itself felt in rules and regulations governing the observance of Sunday.

Blue Laws During the first ten or fifteen years after 1865 the student spent his time between the classroom and the dormitory. There were no weekends at home, and perhaps only one visit at home between September and late June; there was no gymnasium, no recreation room, no athletic game except a little baseball, no library, no reading room, and not much liberty. Healthy boys will seek an outlet for their energy, and to keep that outlet from becoming too boisterous, there were rules. These were at first so detailed and restrictive in all directions that infractions were the order of the day. Under the influence of Inspectors Ott and

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Weimar, who had but recently been students themselves and knew from living under dormitory regulations what their impact had been, the faculty undertook a drastic revision of the code of rules. The revised code abolished some of the old rules and liberalized others. One particularly obnoxious rule that Ott and Weimar succeeded in removing from the books was that which required attendance of all students at the Sunday school conducted on Sunday afternoons at St. Mark's Church. The rule had once been modified to give upper classmen the option of attending Sunday school or remaining quietly in their rooms during the afternoon, but there was constant opposition to it and the faculty spent endless hours in reprimanding truants, meting out punishments, hearing petitions and discussing how to avoid offending the pastor and how to mollify students who could not understand why they should be forced to attend instructions that were graded for children. There were other Sunday rules that galled the students and were altogether ineffective in improving morals or manners. Following a faculty resolution of 1872, all students assembled for roll call at the sound of a bell on Sunday morning and then, headed by one of the professors, marched to church in a body. There was a rule which governed where they might sit in church, which classes might sit downstairs, which had to sit in the balcony. No games of any kind and no noise about the buildings were permitted on Sunday, and at one time there was even a rule that enjoined against studying on Sunday. There is no evidence either of infractions of this rule or of any attempt to enforce it. The revision of 1889 took a more reasonable stand in regard to the observance of Sunday. One reason for taking a different view of the Sunday rules was that they did not succeed in bringing about proper behavior or a reverent attitude during church services. There are frequent references in the faculty minutes to reprimands for improper conduct in church, and there is on record a complaint brought by Pastor Strasen of the Missouri Synod church against students who had caused a disturbance in his church. The result was that the faculty forbade further attendance there and required attendance at St. Mark's only. The original rule governing the hours of study was very strict. Hours of study were defined as the period from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.,

RULES AND REGULATIONS

from 7: 00 to 8: 00 in the morning, and all hours set aside for recitations. During these hours students were required to remain in their rooms, except when reciting. Permission to leave their rooms had to be procured from the professor in charge. The rule continued: "During the hours of study there shall be no noise or disorder in the rooms, halls, or vicinity of the college, such as hallooing, loud talking, whistling, the use of musical instruments, and so forth." The 1889 revision reduced this rule to the requirement of strict observance of the hours of study and of the hours of rising and retiring. The regulations for 1885/86 listed under things prohibited: Introducing or using camphene, burning fluid, gunpowder, or any sort of firearms or fireworks on the campus - the use of intoxicating drinks or of tobacco in any form on the premises visiting taverns, eating houses, saloons, or any other place where intoxicating drinks are sold attending balls or theatrical exhibitions.

There were other rules regarding tardiness, cleanliness, and general behavior, but those just quoted were the ones that most often brought the students to the disciplinary attention of the faculty.

Things Forbidden The rule against the use of tobacco in any form was not an easy one to enforce. A petition of the older students that they be permitted to smoke in their rooms after 9: 00 at night is evidence that the use of tobacco in any form on the campus was certainly not effectively prohibited. One form of conttol was to confiscate the pipe if a student was caught smoking one. Two students by the name of Niedent and Strube were not inclined to accept such confiscation as right and proper. Niedent asked that his pipe be returned to him, and he received the answer that he might call for it at the end of the term; Strube, who had a longer record of infractions against him, was told that if he did not like the rules of the dormitory, he might look for room and board in town. It was discovered that a number of boys had learned to chew tobacco, and Professor Kammeier was commissioned to reprimand them and to order discontinuance of the habit on pain of being cited before the faculty for further action. This threat did not stop the chewing of tobacco on the campus

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because on November 4, 1889, two students were reprimanded for spitting tobacco juice on the classroom floor. They had to promise that they would stop that use of tobacco and were sentenced to mopping up the floor. Students stopped chewing tobacco later, at the same time that their fathers and brothers and neighbors at home gave up the habit for some other form of the use of tobacco. There was, of course, no express rule against stealing, but from 1872 onward hardly a year passed but that some unfortunate boy yielded to temptation and was expelled. Such cases were confined to the dormitory; stealing from merchants became more common when merchants began to display their goods in a way that was almost an invitation to shoplifting. No rule was so consistently violated as the one against visiting saloons. The rule was perfectly reasonable and necessary, for there is no denying that the saloon as an institution was an evil place; otherwise there could hardly have been a prohibition amendment to the United States constitution. Although one of the most common infractions that engaged the attention of the faculty at its meetings was the visiting of saloons, there is no mention anywhere in the early minutes of a case of drunkenness. Students were haled before the faculty and punished for "visiting a saloon on Sunday instead of going to church," "bringing beer into the dormitory," "frequently visiting saloons," but during the early years there is no mention of a case of drunkenness. One instance that came to the attention of the faculty involved four boys who later became very prominent in the Synod and whose names shall therefore not be mentioned. On the last evening before the beginning of the Christmas vacation these boys brought a bottle of wine into their room in the dormitory and celebrated the end of the first school term. They were caught, and the affair became a matter for decision by the assembled faculty. After a full discussion the boys received a reprimand and were excused, "because the wine had been bought in a drugstore and not in a saloon." This rule against visiting saloons was frequently broken, but there was no student opposition to it as there was to the rule against the use of tobacco and against some of the rules governing Sunday observance. Students gave unintentional evidence of their disapproval of drinking by their behavior toward a

RULES

AND

REGULATIONS

certain Professor Klapproth, who had recently come over from Germany and had been engaged as temporary professor. When it became noised about that he had been seen on the street in an intoxicated condition, he lost all control in the classroom. All respect for him was gone, and he very shortly disappeared from the college scene and from the city without taking leave and without letting anyone know where he was going. One rule that seems to have met with the approval of the students had to do with the use of the Rock River for swimming and skating; at least there is no record of its being broken. In spring and again in early winter a committee of two members of the faculty would be instructed to conduct a test to determine if the water was warm enough for swimming in spring and the ice safe enough in winter for skating. Even so, there were several cases of drowning over the years, but the reason for the accidents was not that these boys had disobeyed the rules. Swimming and skating were, before 1890, the most popular form of exercise. There was some baseball in season, with a rare contest with some other college, usually the arch rival, Sacred Heart College, on the west side of the river. There was a rule requiring that the students take regular exercise, but there was very little opportunity for regular exercise. In 1877 Professor Ernst asked the college board to permit the boys to build a small frame gymnasium, but that building was necessarily small and just afforded shelter and nothing more. Professor John Schaller reports that when he entered the school he found that the game of marbles was a fad, made more interesting by the use of Latin terms to describe the action. Shinny, a vigorous and sometimes rough form of hockey played on land with hockey sticks that the boys fashioned out of a properly shaped tree root, possibly with a battered tin can for a puck, was played until banned by the faculty because of a number of injuries suffered by players.

Pranksters Often the infractions of rules were nothing more than pranks, and the faculty recognized them as such, although it meted out the usual punishment to the pranksters. One such case was that of a college-owned chicken that four boys caught, killed, roasted, and ate. They were discovered and received the usual punish-

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ment of incarceration. Besides paying for the chicken, three of them spent two hours in detention. The fourth student, however, got off with one hour in the career because the investigation showed that, although he had enjoyed eating of the chicken, he had not taken part in the killing. The faculty could hardly have been altogether serious when it made that fine distinction. On another occasion, in the 1880's, the faculty took a very dim view of what the students considered a rather innocent prank. A student from the East by the name of Knoche, somewhat older than the usual run of students, became acquainted with the daughter of Senator Meier in town. Senator Meier himself was a noted figure in the city. For one thing, his title was always pronounced to rhyme approximately with daughter. He had the distinction of having served a term in the legislature and gained still more fame by marrying a girl of eighteen when he was seventy, fathering six children and living to be over one hundred. Knoche fell in love with one of the senator's daughters, courted her at permitted and unpermitted hours and married her. His fellow students could not resist the urge to observe the occasion with an elaborate charivari. Very quietly one evening they slipped out of the building with band instruments and other noisemaking gadgets and gave Knoche the kind of serenade they thought he deserved. Such a wholesale desertion of the study rooms could hardly go undetected. The participants, almost the entire dormitory population, were rounded up the next morning, recitations were suspended, and the investigation began. Two of the boys, who were thought to have been authors of the plan, were suspended and told to leave the school at once. The others were to receive the usual punishment of incarceration. The expulsion of the two students, the suspension of classes in order to deal with the affair, and the sentence of probation and six hours of incarceration immediately came to the attention of the college board, and another meeting of faculty and board was called. The result was that the faculty quite readily recalled the suspended boys and reduced the sentence imposed on the rest. Even the incarcerations, as Professor Weimar, one of the executioners reported, were carried out with all possible leniency. The crime had been to leave the dormitory without permission, and both board and faculty felt that the first action had been too hasty and severe.

RULES

AND REGULATIONS

Scale of Penalties Until well beyond 1900 there were four grades of punishment in use. The mildest form was the bestowal of "marks," usually in batches of five. A bit of misconduct in class would earn five marks, which would be duly recorded in the professor's notebook, reported at the next faculty meeting, and read off in Tuesday morning chapel. The custom of reading the list of names with the number of marks accumulated during the week was far from being the solemn ceremony that it was intended to be and was eventually discontinued. An accumulation of twenty marks merited a warning, forty marks a more serious warning, a hundred marks could result in a student's suspension. Usually, however, before a student had acquired a hundred marks in a term, he had made himself guilty of something serious enough to warrant suspension without the added burden of marks. In later years, after 1910, an accumulation of twenty marks called for an awesome appearance before the assembled faculty. It is possible that marks did somewhat influence a student's behavior, especially when he found he was approaching the point where he would be told to "appear before the faculty next Monday." But on the whole they were found to be ineffectual and have long since been discontinued. The next, and more serious, form of punishment was incarceration, or "getting Karzer," as students called it, an old German custom. Serving time in the detention room was not taken very seriously, either in Germany or at Northwestern. For the victim it was at most an inconvenience, and those who were still at liberty considered it a joke on the culprit. A hilarious account in German by Ernst Eckstein, titled Visit to the Karzer, gives a fairly accurate picture of how little fear and respect that form of punishment instilled in students. It was nevertheless used regularly for decades, especially for lower c1assmen.There was one occasion when the entire student body, with the exception of a mere handful of exceptionally well behaved boys, had to take their turn, one by one, at doing time behind the locked door. Incarceration was easily administered, required no supervision, and provided a wholesome cooling off period. There was JUSt enough restriction of freedom connected with it and just enough shame to satisfy everybody

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that atonement had been rendered. It was part of the college life of the time. After the Kaffeemuehle was destroyed, it gradually became less frequent. The last student to "get Katzer" - about 1915 - kicked out a door panel, took the door off its hinges and escaped. General restriction of liberty, restriction to the campus, and probation have proved to be better deterrents, for such punishment leaves the student at large and yet not at liberty. The next grade of punishment after incarceration was flogging. There are numerous records before 1900 of floggings having been administered. The faculty minutes do sometimes record the name of the professor who carried out the act, but there is never any mention of the instrument that was used or of the severity of that form of punishment. A flogging was so humiliating that no student ever acquired any of the glory of a martyr or a hero by undergoing it. In 1881 the faculty seriously discussed the problem of corporal punishment and possible means of obtaining more effective support from parents in disciplining their sons at college. Floggings were not common and were administered usually when persistent lying accompanied some serious offense. One student, whose name must still remain under cover of faculty minutes, was flogged for breaking out of Katzer, another for visiting saloons and lying about it, another for repeatedly lying to the inspector in matters involving withdrawals of money that his father had left in the inspector's care. The last flogging officially ordered and administered by the faculty is mentioned in the minutes of 1894. There were unauthorized floggings by upper classmen, to whom some duties of supervision had been entrusted, but they received no support or encouragement from the faculty. When all other corrective measures failed or when an infraction was so flagrant that a student could not be tolerated because of his evil influence, the faculty had recourse to suspension for a limited period or to permanent expulsion. During the first ten years only two expulsions are recorded in the faculty minutes, and in one case the student was readmitted after confessing his sin and voicing his regret for it before the whole student body.

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A Rougher Age Bad manners, bad conduct in the classroom, in church, and in chapel, and disrespect toward superiors were more common in the period before 1900 than today. A reason for that may be found in the more primitive conditions in the homes, at the college, and in the country in general. In the 1880's the Middle West had not wholly emerged out of the pioneer era. Another reason for some of the roughness of behavior may be found in the make-up of the student body. There was less uniformity of background and of purpose among students than there has been in later years. Professor Ernst more than once found it necessary in his presidential reports to remind people that Northwestern was not a reform school and should not be looked upon as a place to which a boy might be sent when nothing more could be done with him at home. Yet there was another side to the picture. Students of that time often spoke with deepest appreciation of their years at Northwestern. When Henry Sieker, who returned to New York after his graduation in 1896, spoke of his experiences at the fiftieth anniversary of the school, he said that in his opinion the spirit of Northwestern was something unique among American colleges. It was something to cherish and be grateful for.

CHAPTER XVI

The

Fire

The only really serious loss that the Synod ever suffered by reason of fire was the destruction of the old Kaffeemuehle as the result of a stroke of lightning in a storm on the night of July 30, 1894. There was a time when the loss of that building would have meant the end of the school, because for several years it was the only building on the campus. Fortunately, by 1894 several others had been added. It was now possible for the school to function even though its "old main" was a ruin. In 1875 an adequate dormitory had been built, and in 1887 the refectory was added; the students had built a makeshift gymnasium which they themselves dubbed their "shack" or "turning hall," and there was also a residence for the president. on the grounds. Those buildings were pressed into service, and for a year the college limped along, but it survived the blow. There have been other fires on the campus, but only this fire in the Kaffeemuehle caused distress both at the college and in the Synod's treasury. When the frame dormitory burned during the Christmas vacation just twenty years earlier, the loss was not great because the building was a cheap frame structure and quite inadequate for the purpose it was expected to serve. Both fires providentially occurred during vacation, and in neither fire were any lives endangered. There have been several small fires, the result of careless disposition of half-smoked cigarettes, once in a waste basket, twice in old mattresses that were being used as cushions on benches in the smoking room. Another fire started in the recreation room in a radio that had not been turned off by the last student to use the room before bedtime. All of those little blazes were quickly discovered and quenched before much damage was done. A fire that might have caused very serious loss was started

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by faulty insulation of an electric wire in a metal conduit. If Professor Schumann had not felt the need of a book from the library that night late in August, the gymnasium might well have gone up in flames. Again there were no students on the grounds and but for the studious habits of the professor, who had to pass the gymnasium on his way to the library, the fire would have had a disastrous start before being discovered. That fire turned out to be rather fortunate because the insurance was sufficient to cover the cost of modernizing the whole electric wiring system. That we have been spared any serious fires is a blessing for which we feel particularly thankful to God at the end of each school year, when the dormitories are again vacated. Gemeindeblatt Extra The burning of the Kaffeemuehle was such a blow to the college and to the Synod that it became the occasion of the only Extra that was ever published by the Gemeindeblatt in the hundred years of its existence. The following is a rather free translation of the account of the fire which Professor Ernst prepared for that Extra of August 4, 1894. About eleven o'clock I heard a clap of thunder so jolting that my whole house trembled. I sprang out of bed thinking that my house had been struck and hurried through the whole house but could find nothing unusual. Dressing somewhat more fully I hurried to the door, where by that time I heard someone shouting "Fire." I could discover no sign of fire until my neighbors across the street called out to me, "The college is on fire." I now hurried toward the recitation building, where I saw a tiny flame breaking forth out of the cupola. The front door was locked, but the rear door had already been unlocked by our steward, Mr. Heinbockel. He lived in the refectory a few yards to the east of the recitation building and had stepped out of his front door to observe the weather just as the bolt of lightning struck the cupola of the building in front of him. Stunned he fell back into the front hallway of his house but was unhurt. Anticipating a fire he ran for his keys and rushed into the building to investigate. There I found him and together we made our way to the top of the building where we were met by falling sparks and burning splinters of the shattered cupola. A few of the neighbors had already assembled, and with pails of water we succeeded in quenching the fire that burned on the floor. We could not, however, reach the cupola, because it and the stairs that led up to it were completely shattered. The splintered state of

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the dry wood acted like so much kindling and the fire spread rapidly above our heads. Because of the location of the fire, nothing could be accomplished with pails of water. Mr. Heinbockel had attached his 150-foot hose to a force pump, and two men worked the pump with all their strength, but the pump was too weak to force the water up to the top of the burning building. A call had been sent for the city's two fire engines, and we waited anxiously for their appearance, hoping that the fire crews might find a way to control the blaze. The ladder company was the first to arrive, but by that time the roof was already in full flame and there was nothing that the men could do. Finally the two fire engines were brought into action, one of them pumping water from a distance to the other engine posted alongside the building, but the little stream of water that was produced was too weak to reach the fire. It very soon became clear to us that the fire was out of control, and so we set to work at saving whatever of the contents we could reach. Dr. Ott had appeared on the scene very shortly after outbreak of the fire, and he began at once to remove the college records and the library books and managed to save most of the library. Some of the scientific apparatus was saved, as well as some of the movable desks and furniture and mattresses from the dormitory rooms in the building. Since the stairways caught fire as soon as the third floor was in full blaze, salvage work had to be carried on by means of ladders that were set up at windows of the classrooms. The firemen had by this time also given up all hope of saving the building and turned their attention to saving the refectory and the dormitory from catching fire from the flying sparks. A pouring rain had come to their assistance, and so the fire was confined to the one building. I am not able to express in writing the sensation I experienced when I saw that old well-known building go up in flames. After all, I had lived in that same building for three years and had worked there for twenty-five years. I had experienced much joy and also much sorrow there. And what would happen now? I asked myself. The first effect was crushing. I could have cried out in pain, and I felt as though my heart would stop its beating. And yet I have to say that this is a dispensation of our merciful and gracious Lord. It must and will serve for our good. It is a trial that the Lord has sent us, and first of all we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. There will be no lack of hard and unsympathetic persons willing to add to our humiliation, such as one onlooker who was heard to remark: "This will put an end to the Wisconsin Synod." But let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may hear us in His good time. If we have not been faithful enough, we want to become more faithful. If we have not earnestly enough considered God's will

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and pleasure in all things, then let us, with God's help, become more earnest. If we have trusted too little in Him, let us place all our trust on Him alone. To that end may God help us and bestow His grace on us. We must not lose heart. God smites us indeed ,and He has dealt our dear Synod a severe blow, but He also heals again. This blow is a severe test for our Synod and for every Christian in it. God would test us whether we have love for Him and His Word, for His Church and for our fellow man. And the Lord be thanked, for He has already aroused many to put their love into action. The first letter I received after the fire came from Juneau: "Be of good cheer. We do not have to mourn for loss of life; and as for the building, we will build a larger and more practical one." Then came more letters of encouragement and much consolation expressed in person. And so we should not despair, but go to work with zeal, and with the help of God repair the damage that has been done, for the Lord's church must suffer no want.

In 1964 Professor John Meyer still vividly recalled some of the details of the fire. He had just finished his first year at the seminary and was at home in Watertown for the summer vacation. Quite naturally he was among the first at the scene of the fire and joined Professor Ott in his attempt to save books and records. With each armful of books he had literally to force his way through the jam of spectators. He explained the inability of the fire trucks to do anything to stop the blaze. Since there was no city water system, there were of course no hydrants, and the only water supply was a reservoir located at the junction of Main Street and College Avenue, not quite half a mile away. One fire truck was manned by Germans, the other by Irish, which naturally gave rise to an argument about which truck should make the trip to the reservoir to pump water up to the other truck. Both crews had already worked at another fire that hot night and had plentifully refreshed themselves at a local tavern but not in a way to make them eager for strenuous work. Finally one company confessed defeat and started off toward Main Street and after a long interval a trickle of water was delivered to the pump that remained on the scene. By that time the building was in full blaze and hopelessly lost. Better Than the Original In the Extra issue of the Gemeindeblatt the president of the Synod announced a special Synod meeting to be held in Watertown on the 22d of August, 1894. The dire prediction that the

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fire would put an end to the Wisconsin Synod was not to be fulfilled. The Synod meeting was called, not to decide whether or not to replace the old building, but rather to decide what kind of building was needed and to authorize the expenditure. Although the building had been completely gutted by the fire, the walls remained standing and were still sound enough to be incorporated into the new recitation building. $6,000 in insurance was recovered, and at a total outlay of $18,000 a new structure was built with almost double the capacity of the old building. The new building was a great improvement in many ways over the original Kaffeemuehle, since it contained on the third floor a large high-ceilinged room that for many years served as a very adequate chapel. Provision was also made for a library that had shelf-space for about 5,000 books; for a small laboratory; three additional classrooms; a faculty room; and a large, dry basement that served a variety of useful purposes in the years that followed. Building was carried on throughout the winter, and by March 29 the new recitation building was ready for use. The usual opening day for the fall term was about the first of September, but the fire caused a delay of two weeks in the opening to afford a little more time for making the most necessary adjustments during the emergency. The two large bedrooms in the upper floor of the east wing of the 1875 dormitory were turned into classrooms; the two lower rooms were turned into one and became the dormitory chapel. One or two of the largest rooms were also used for classroom purposes, and a room in the refectory was put into service. The housing problem was not so readily solved, since all of the small bedrooms in the dormitory now had to be used as study rooms. A few students were housed with families in the neighborhood of the college, but all those who lived in the dormitory had to set up their beds in the gymnasium.

From Smoking Room, to Gymnasium, to Barracks That gymnasium deserves a little attention, since it has a rather unusual history. It did not start out in life as a gymnasium at all; in fact, the first structure was the opposite of what a gymnasium should be. As has been mentioned, smoking or the use of tobacco in any form had at one time been prohibited on the campus. That rule was gradually relaxed until the time came when some

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of the older boys asked for permission to smoke in their rooms after nine o'clock at night. That request was denied. The next request was for permission to build a little shack, a smoking room, where they could smoke with a good conscience and without interference. This request was granted, and with the expenditure of a little money and considerable labor, together with what was almost a gift of second-grade lumber from the kindhearted Mr. Needham, the boys built the "Shack" for themselves. Just what connection this "smoker" had with the first gymnasium can not be clearly established. Oscar Griebling, of the class of '78, has recorded in his diary exactly how the latter came into being. A Society for Gymnastic Exercises, organized October 13, 1877, with Griebling as president, decided to build a "Turnhall e." A site - a few feet south of the present heating plant was chosen by committees from the faculty and the society. The first wood for the building arrived October 15, and the next morning at 8: 30 carpenters went to work. Exactly one month later the structure was finished except for the floor and the chimney, and Griebling received the keys for it at 12 o'clock. The following day the chimney was built while students hauled in dirt for the floor and tamped it down. "It was hard work and we were all quite 'kaput,''' wrote Griebling. The building measured 30 by 40 feet, but in 1883, the class of 1885, to which Dr. Ott and Professor Weimar belonged, enlarged it to its final dimensions, 30 by 70 feet. It could then be used both for gymnastics and military drill. Professor Ernst was all in favor of these two forms of exercise, though he had little sympathy for baseball and football; and so this building received his blessing, but the cost was borne by the students themselves. It was in this building that the 100 dormitory students set up their beds when they returned in September of 1894. The inspector occupied a little cubicle that had been walled off in one corner. For a few months there was not too much suffering, but the winter of 1894/1895 was bitterly cold. For two weeks the thermometer hovered around twenty degrees below zero. Fortunately, the class of 1885 had lined the inside of the building with a layer of boards; otherwise nothing would have separated the sleepers from the outdoors but the bare scantlings and the sheathing of one-inch boards on the outside. The report of the officers of the board to the Synod at its meeting of 1895

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mentioned that the health of the students was not as good as usual in the preceding year. Two had died and five others had to return to their homes. Whether there was any connection between these casualties and the makeshift sleeping quarters was not stated. About this time Prof. Koehler's health became so precarious that, according to the faculty minutes, he had "declined to continue as inspector, and, since the board of trustees had failed to provide for a replacement, it became necessary for the faculty to make some temporary arrangement." Upon the president'S call for volunteers, Charles Ernst volunteered to sleep with the boys in the gymnasium if some other member of the faculty took over a share of the inspection of the rooms. W. Weimar volunteered to be the assistant. Students vs. Steward Mr. Heinbockel, the steward, who was mentioned in connection with attempts to cope with the fire, is also deserving of a little more attention. He seems to have been particularly unaccommodating and was heartily disliked by the students, nor does he appear to have been much more popular with the board and the faculty. It must be admitted that the students did little to ingratiate themselves with the man or to make life more pleasant for him. One incident illustrates the tense relation that existed between him and the students. Mr. Heinbockel one day began setting fenceposts along one side of the combination athletic field and pasture. That night the posts were pulled out and piled up at a distance from the holes that he had dug. The next day he patiently replaced them and added a few more to the row. That night the same thing happened. Then he threatened to guard his work with a shotgun and once more set out the row of posts. That night - a Saturday night - the POStSwere not only pulled up but carried away where Heinbockel was not likely to find them. He had not used his shotgun, but he decided to have his revenge by locking the dining room doors and refusing to serve Sunday breakfast to anyone. The students demanded their breakfast and persuaded the faculty to intervene, which they did, and a late breakfast of sorts did appear on the table. Strangely, no one ever discovered the identity of the perpetrators of this prank at the expense of the irascible Heinbockel, better known to that generation of students as Bockelheimer.

CHAPTER

XVII

The End of an Era The feeling of dejection that Professor Ernst suffered when he saw his beloved Kaffeemuehle succumb to the flames was shared by the whole Synod, because the fire was a severe blow. But Professor Ernst had also written in his account of the fire that somehow the Lord would turn this loss into a gain. Much sooner than anyone expected, the college and the Synod not only recovered from the blow but realized that the fire had by no means been the catastrophe that it had seemed to be in August of 1894. By March of the following year the classes moved into the new Recitation Building, and the school was again moving along in full stride. The new building was much more suited for classes than the old one had been, and when it was formally dedicated in connection with commencement exercises in June, 1895, it was already free of any debt. Besides destroying a building, the fire had also consumed a number. of traditions and habits that had been nurtured by the character of the combination classroom building, dormitory, study hall, professor's residence, and even recreation hall, not to mention the jail in the cupola. The structure that replaced it lacked much that today would be considered indispensable for a college building. It was flimsily constructed and noisy; but it was new, the classrooms were well lighted and pleasant, and as a consequence it nourished a new set of traditions and customs, not all good ones, but in the main an improvement over the old set. Joint Synod

In several respects the year 1895 marked the end of one era and the beginning of a new and different one. By 1895 the Synod had finally settled down into a pattern that was to remain fairly

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fixed and that determined the manner in which it was to operate and expand in the coming years. In 1892 a reorganization had taken place that brought the Synods of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota together into a confederation called The Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States, an unwieldy name that quite naturally was reduced to "Joint Synod" except when circumstances required mention of the full name. Practical consequences of this reorganization were the closing of the theological seminary of the Michigan Synod at Saginaw, the erection of a new seminary at 60th and Lloyd Streets in Wauwatosa to serve the three Synods, the designation of Dr. Martin Luther College at New VIm as the teacher training school for the new Synod, and the abandonment of the normal department at Northwestern. This reorganization and closer affiliation of the Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan Synods forever laid to rest any plans like the one once suggested by the Ohio Synod that Wisconsin, Missouri, and Ohio operate a joint theological seminary.

Civic Progress The year 1895 also marked a turning point in the affairs of the city of Watertown. A short time previously the city was finally freed from the burden of a bonded indebtedness that had paralyzed the economic structure of the community. In the 1850's a railroad line was pushed through from Milwaukee to Watertown, and people in the Watertown area were sure that now there could be no limit to the growth and prosperity of the city. The city government went deeply into debt to issue bonds to help finance the road, and when the expected prosperity failed to appear and the boom collapsed in the panic of 1857, the city found itself unable to pay the interest on the bonds. The situation became worse and worse and unpaid interest piled up until the city owed more than half a million. Decisions by the U.S. Supreme COUrt eventually favored Watertown. In the early 1890's the owner of the bulk of the bonds, amounting to some $600,000, actually surrendered them for the sum of $15,000. A few smaller bondholders settled for about $10,000 plus interest. The city, which had muddled along without an official government for three decades, now began to move again. The first and most necessary step was the installation of a sewer and water

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system. The water tower that dominates the college campus is dated 1895. The first hard-surfaced street bears the same date. At Northwestern a row of eight or ten wash bowls now appeared in the dormitory basement, and one toilet bowl was installed in a cubicle in one corner of the basement, but behind a locked door. After bedtime, when the dormitory doors leading to the "apartment" out of doors were locked for the night, this lone toilet bowl was made available. That was considered a great improvement. It was also considered to be conducive to better order in the dormitory because the outer doors could now be locked at bedtime, since there was no longer a good excuse for leaving the building late at night. About this same time the oil lamps were removed from the corridors and gas lighting was installed. The new Recitation Building also enjoyed the luxury of a few gas jets that dispelled some of the darkness without actually lighting the rooms. The outdoor toilets and the locked doors of the dormitory need occasion no surprise because laws governing sanitation and safety against fire can hardly be passed and enforced when there is no city water system and when there are no sewers. Pigs and cows, chickens, and a horse were kept on the campus long after this date of 1895, which supposedly marks the beginning of modern improvements in the city and on the campus. Lost Departments As has already been indicated, by 1895 certain decisions had been made that determined the direction that the college should henceforth take in its development. The change in synodical organization had brought about the removal of the normal department for the training of teachers. The last class to graduate from the department was that of 1893. Its members were Elizabeth Ernst and Minnie Notz of Watertown; Henry Braun of East Troy; G. C. Groth of Cedarburg, for many years teacher at St. Mark's in Watertown; Louis Pingel of Oshkosh, for many years the superintendent of the Bethesda Lutheran Home; Julius Rohde of Kewaunee, who for a time was the steward at Northwestern; and Frederic Siegler of Norfolk, Nebraska. The question of co-education was never definitely settled. In the very earliest days, before Watertown had a fully organized high school, many Watertown girls were enrolled in the academy.

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Then for a time, no girls were admitted; but when enrollment sagged, girls were again encouraged to get their education at Northwestern. In 1880 Professor Ernst announced that several girIs had asked to be admitted, and that announcement suggested to Professors Thomas Snyder and Amos Easterday that it might be possible to establish a "Female Seminary" as a department of Northwestern. They procured a classroom for the exclusive use of these newly enrolled girls, and a little later Professor Snyder rented a house for $60 for the term and conducted the school there. It was then arranged that the Synod should buy a lot on which Professor Snyder would build a house for his academy, which the Synod might buy from him if it cared to continue with his venture. Although thirteen girls enrolled in 1881, this experiment was dropped the next year and never revived. Since then the female enrollment has wavered between five and fifty young women, most of them in the high school department. Although Northwestern bore the name university until 1910, it had ceased long before that date to be ambitious to live up to that title. The theological department had left Watertown as early as 1869; the normal department for training teachers was removed to New VIm in 1893, and in the same year the faculty and college board considered and rejected a plan to make a university of the college. Dr. Searles of Milwaukee had asked the Synod to permit a group of Milwaukee physicians to establish a medical school in connection with Northwestern. The group intended to furnish the professional faculty and wished only to establish a connection with a liberal arts school, use its facilities and supplement the medical training with a number of liberal arts courses. They assured the Synod that nothing would be taught that conflicted with Christian views. The college board did not at once reject the plan but informed Dr. Searles that the Synod would have to make the final decision. Professor Ernst and Dr. Ott were appointed as a committee to study the matter, and they recommended that the board decline to enter on Dr. Searles' plan, because the medical school could not be under synodical control and would not fit into the purpose for which the Synod was supporting the college. Curiously, this was not the last time an attempt was considered to combine Northwestern with a medical school. In the early years of the present century the Milwaukee Medical College

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was seeking affiliation with a liberal arts college. As Professor J. P. Koehler tells the story in his history of the Synod, William Graebner, a Milwaukee Lutheran and later member of the college board, hearing of the plan, began to agitate in its favor. There was only one difficulty, as he saw it. Northwestern would have to move to Milwaukee. He interested the flamboyant mayor of that city, David Rose, and the latter was said to have promised a bonus of $100,000 if the transfer could be effected. Evidently the plan died before it was presented to Northwestern authorities, and the Medical College affiliated with Marquette. Northwestern had by this time quite definitely decided to pursue its modest way as a college, and it was inevitable that after a few more years its name should reflect that decision and should become Northwestern College. Other Changes A few other changes and additions were made about 1895 that in themselves were not very important but that did affect the way of life in the school. The inspector and his family had been required to live in the same building as the students, with students to the right and left of them, above them, and even in the basement below them. It is no wonder that Professor John P. Koehler asked to be relieved of the inspector's duties on the plea that his nerves could no longer take the strain. Two unmarried men were appointed to replace him in 1893, shortly before the fire, and in 1895 the Synod built a substantial residence for Professor O. Hoyer, the new inspector. This house later was occupied by Dr. Ott and became known as the Ott house. It stood where the chapel now stands. In 1892 the military company was organized to provide a means for bodily exercise for all students. Present-day students will not be able to understand how strongly the military company controlled life in the dormitory and outside of it. Dormitory life was greatly changed too when central heating was installed in 1892 and the stoves were removed from the rooms and the woodpiles no longer dotted the landscape. The final touch that made 1895 the dividing line between ancient and comparatively modern times was the erection of the Recitation Building that replaced the Ka/Jeemuehte. The last class to graduate from the original college building included Wm. Bethke, Carl Buenger,

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William Franzmann, Herman Gieschen, Adolph Haase, Paul Hagedorn, Anthony Jennrich, Emil Kilgas, Henry Koch, Martin Sprengling, and John Witt. Professor John Meyer, whom God preserved so marvellously that he was still teaching a full schedule at our seminary until a few weeks before his death at ninety-one, received all of his pre-seminary training in the old Kaffeemuehle. He was graduated a year before the fire.

The Recitation Building For sixty years the Recitation Building that was dedicated in 1895 served the college as its main classroom building, and there are not many ministers now serving in our Synod who did not in the course of four or more years become thoroughly acquainted with the creaking stairs and the sounds of the thundering herd coming down from the second and third floors at the sound of the bells at the end of a period. Many of us cannot in our thoughts separate classes in Greek and Latin and other college studies from the high ceilings, the wooden floors, the two-seated benches, the great variety of professors' tables and desks perched on platforms in the front of the rooms. Because those old classrooms and the chapel on the third floor are so much a part of the memories of college in the minds of many of us, the building deserves to be described for the information of the present generation and for a revival of memories among those who once knew the place so well. The 1895 Recitation Building was an oblong structure with the main entrance on the west and another entrance on the north, facing the dormitory. From these entrances separate stairways led up to the third floor and down to the basement. Since the basement floor was hardly four feet below the outside ground level, the basement rooms were dry and well lighted and for practical purposes constituted a fourth floor. The room at the northeast corner was the dormitory reading room until 1910; then it became the town boys' room and still later the girls' room. The room at the northwest corner also changed funcrions as boys' room, girls' room, and for a short time, faculty room. The corresponding rooms at the south end of the basement were storage rooms for the overflow of books from the little library on the floor above. What had until 1905 been the furnace room became storage room for things that would not be much damaged

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by the SOOtthat could never be entirely removed and remained as a reminder that this building had once been separately heated and ventilated with an elaborate system of ducts that never worked very well. On the first floor there were three classrooms, each large enough for thirty to thirty-five students. In most of the rooms and for most of the life of the building the school desks were double desks with the kind of seat that could be flapped back with a bang when the seat was not occupied. These seats with their blind inkwells and maple tops furnished much more distraction for the bored students than the modern functional oneman type of desk. Each desk had a compartment below the desk top that no doubt was meant to hold books but that was also a very convenient depository for caps, mittens, baseball gloves, waste paper, peanut shells, and any kind of portable contraband. At the end of the hall on the south side was the faculty room, with its long table, highbacked chairs, Professor Ernst's rocking chair, walls lined with bookshelves and, high up on the north wall, a large clock that controlled all electric bells. An electric fan in the south wall was needed in the wintertime to carry off excess tobacco smoke. It was a late addition, as was also the little wash bowl that graced one corner alongside the costumer on which in bad weather coats and hats would be double parked. It was well loaded with overcoats the day that Dr. Hoermann put a half-emptied pipe back into his pocket and started what was not exactly a blaze but an equally destructive slow and smelly consumption of several overcoats. The doctor gallantly admitted his guilt and uncomplainingly bore the not inconsiderable expense. Dr. Off's Domain The library-cum-bursar's office occupied the southeast room, a room no larger than one of the classrooms, stacked to the ceiling with books, aisles between the shelves just wide enough for one person. This was Dr. Ott's domain, and he ruled over it as absolute monarch. He seldom permitted anyone except faculty members to penetrate to the stacks. If a book was needed, he preferred to get it from the shelf himself. Many students went through Northwestern without having got any farther into the library than Dr. Ott's desk, where college bills were paid.

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Between the door and the desk was a tall shelf that carried a stock of stationery and books for sale. Dr. Ott was the proprietor and salesman who set up this store, operated it, waited on the trade, and took no profit for himself. Every cent of profit went into books for the library. Opposite the west entrance and stairway was a small room that served various purposes - once it was the boys' room, then it became a classroom.

Upstairs On the second floor there was a similar arrangement of rooms. The space above faculty room, library, and small classroom was occupied by Dr. Ott's classroom and by the science storeroom and the laboratory. This was all very primitive, but instruction in science before 1900 and for some time after that was rather elementary. There were three other classrooms on this floor. On the third floor there were two classrooms, a room for a dozen typewriters and desks, and the chapel. The chapel extended through the width of the building on the south wall and in width equalled the length of the classrooms below. The ceiling extended up into the attic and was about twice as high as the ceilings in the classrooms. When crowded, really crowded, the room would contain about two hundred persons. There was an organ on the east wall, the gift of a congregation that could no longer use the instrument, and at the west end was a raised platform on which there stood a movable wooden pulpit. The room served whatever purpose it could conveniently be used for - chapel services every morning, then classroom, rehearsal room for chorus and orchestra, auditorium for lectures and for literary societies and commencement exercises. It can be argued that the church building does not make the service and that one can worship God as sincerely in a shack as in a cathedral, but it must be admitted that the chapel services in this third floor room were often marred by unseemly behavior, suggested no doubt by familiarity with a room that was being used for so many purposes unconnected with worship. The attic of this building was like most attics anywhere, a storeroom for things that no one had the heart to throwaway. Broken desks, large framed pictures of graduating classes and football teams, a case of dusty stuffed birds and animals, a case

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of minerals with a broken glass top, discarded laboratory equipment, old maps, cases of books for which there was no room elsewhere, all covered with a rich layer of dust, an interesting place to visit if one happened to be in old clothes. On each floor there were also several narrow cloakrooms, which were almost never used as cloakrooms but which were very handy storerooms for books, bookstore stock, and laboratory materials, and at least one of which, on the third floor, was still used occasionally as a Kaner before 1915. That was the old Recitation Building, 1895 -1955. Miscellanea To this first era, which came to an end in 1894-95, there belong a few other items that have no special relation to each other. The faculty minutes record that before 1895 there had been a petition from the students for a reduction in the Latin requirements. So that is an old, old story. For a number of years it was customary to grant the seniors four weeks of free time to prepare for final examinations. As a warning to modern seniors it must be mentioned that the examination was in part a public examination before members of board and faculty. Lest seniors long for a return of the good old days, here is the weekly schedule of the senior class of 1895: Religion, two periods; Latin, six periods, Cicero, Tacitus, Horace, a Latin composition every week; Greek, six periods, Herodotus, Plato, Sophocles, Iliad, oral and written exercises; German, three periods, Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, essays, orations; English, four periods, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Thackeray, orations, essays, forensics, history of English literature; history, four periods; psychology, two periods; metaphysics, two periods; Hebrew, two periods (optional for those not intending to enter the ministry); Gothic or Old English (optional). A total of thirty-one required periods each week! The first mention of Arbor Day is in the faculty minutes of 1893, but the equivalent of Arbor Day had been observed long before that date. When the seminary was still on this campus, Professor Hoenecke supervised the laying out of the curved walks leading to College Avenue and set out the soft maples, a few of which still line the walks. The class of 1885, to which Dr.

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Ott and Professor Weimar belonged, made it their project to go into the country for young hard maples and to transplant them on the curb along Western Avenue and College Avenue. The trees were the gift of a farmer, the work was done by this class in 1884, the enjoyment of the trees is still ours. In 1895 the students petitioned the faculty to select college colors. Cardinal and black were chosen, eventually always called black and red. Various reasons have been advanced for the choice. They have been summed up most neatly in a paragraph written by Rev. August C. Bendler, of the class of 1878, for the "Gym Number" of the Black and Red, October, 1912: N. W. C. was originally built as a German-American college. The German colors are black, red and white. Our own "Old Glory" is red, white and blue. By taking the first of either, the college colors "Black and Red" originated. Black and Red stand for this sentiment: When times look darkest, true blood will tell. (In a faculty meeting, it is reported, the final choice was left to Dr. Notz, Sen., and it is suspicioned, the colors of his beloved "Wuertremberg" had something to do with his choice. Well, the good Dr. always was parrioric.)

The chief and always unpleasant business of the faculty was, if the minutes can be trusted to have recorded all the business, the disposition of cases of discipline arising from insubordination, disorderly conduct, card playing, smoking cigarettes, visiting the theater, going into saloons, cheating in examinations, telling lies, and occasional stealing, all of which were about as frequent as they are in modern times. A New Chapter

If the fire of 1894 marked the end of an era, the dedication of the recitation building would then mark the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Northwestern. The faculty minutes of June 3, 1895, record that the commencement of that year was to be held on the college grounds if the weather permitted; otherwise the dedication service would be held in St. Mark's Church and commencement exercises in the college chapel. It was resolved to invite President Larson of Decorah for the dedication, also the presidents of the Minnesota and Michigan Synods. Special invitations were to be sent to the dignitaries of the city,

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to the Protestant ministers, and to those who had contributed to the building, also to the professors and students of the theological seminary and all pastors of the Wisconsin Synod. The speakers were the Pastors Ph. von Rohr and John Bading and President Ernst; Pastor J. H. Brockmann was to be the liturgist; commencement orations were assigned to graduates William Herrmann (Latin), Frank Wittfaut - or Whitefoot (English), Albert Kuhn (German).

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Faculty;) 1865-1895 Between 1865 and 1895 there were four principal sources from which faculty members could be drawn. Some had been educated in German universities and came to this country as immigrants or emissaries of mission societies. Others had received their education in American colleges and were not always members of the Lutheran church. Some came to us from the Missouri Synod. Beginning with 1881 the college began to draw on its own graduates and our own seminary for replacements and additions to the teaching personnel. (Eugene Norz, '73, had been called from the seminary to help out as a tutor already in 1874, following Stellhorn's resignation.) Another way of distinguishing the teachers of this first thirty-year period is to classify them either as those who came and soon left, or those who came and stayed and left their mark on the institution. To this second class belong primarily A. F. Ernst, F. W. A. Notz, Amos Easterday, William Weimar and J. Henry Ott. Ernst, Notz, and Easterday came to the college as teachers and brought with them a finished education and a wealth of cultural background. Weimar and Ott came as students and upon graduation remained in the school as instructors. One must marvel at the loyalty of these men. Not one of them had had any close connection with the Synod or the college before coming to it as teachers or students. Certainly their attachment to the college cannot be explained by any prestige that it had to offer them or by any prospect of advancement or wealth. They stayed with it through years of hardships and downright poverty. When one sees how loyally and uncomplainingly they worked and built with the meagerest of materials, one can feel nothing but respect and gratitude toward all of them. They

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received little material reward, and their names were not known far beyond our church circles, but in the college and the church that they served, their names are deserving of all honor and admiration. The college gave them an opportunity to teach and mold young minds, to serve the church of Christ, and through the church Christ Himself. That explains their loyalty and their attachment to a school that had no ambition to make a great stir in the world. As a conclusion to the story of the first era of Northwestern, a chronological list of the men who served on the faculty, with biographical material not previously mentioned, might now be in place. E. Moldehnke, Ph.D., has the honor of being the first professor at the institution that became Northwestern College.

The First President Adam Martin, the first president of the school, was in his thirties when he arrived in Watertown. Though born in Germany, he was reared and educated in this country and spoke English by preference. After his retirement as a professor at Gettysburg College in 1898, he resided in New Haven, Connecticut, where he died in 1921, at the age of eighty-six. Martin had a pleasing personality and was a good speaker. He was ambitious and sincere, but his views on education and theology were hopelessly at odds with the growing confessionalism in the Wisconsin Synod. John Kaltenbrunn, son of the Moravian pastor at Ebenezer, a country church four miles south of Watertown, served from 1866 to 1873. He seems to have been an able man because he was made secretary of the faculty and principal of the academy. After his resignation, by request, he became principal of Union School No. 3 at O'Connell and Montgomery Streets in Watertown. Max Gaebler, local musician and manufacturer, was not a member of the faculty but gave instructions in music. Adolf Hoenecke also was not a Northwestern professor, having been called as professor in the seminary. He did, however, teach drawing in the academy. He was also the first "inspector" and moved into the Kaffeemuehle in 1866 "invested with supreme authority" as head of the house. At the end of the school year he asked to be relieved of teaching in the college

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and of overmuch preaching in vacant congregations, since he was theological professor, editor of the Gemeindeblatt and inspector. He transformed the plot of ground fronting the building into a garden during his stay. An expect in horticulture, he developed a new rose that bore his name. He was said to have made the "college rose garden" the goal of many a pilgrimage. Among Hoenecke's contributions to Northwestern were his fervent appeals in the Gemeindeblatt to the congregations to support their school. Thompson, Meumann, and Easterday Lewis O. Thompson joined the faculty in 1866 and became Northwestern's second president when Martin resigned. A very capable teacher and a fine Christian gentleman, he was held in high esteem by his colleagues. After he had finished his course at Union Theological Seminary, his alma mater, Beloit, accorded him the signal honor of inviting him to deliver the "Master's oration" at its commencement. Although he had a warm regard for the Lutheran church, to which his family perhaps belonged at one time, since they came from Norway, he was a Presbyterian. Besides, he was barely able to converse in German, though he read the language. These two handicaps proved too much for him. He resigned from the presidency after one year-in 1870but stayed on for another year as teacher of mathematics and natural sciences. Then he accepted a pastorate in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, and later in Peoria, Illinois. An accident on the Illinois river in 1884 tragically ended his career and also took the life of his little son. Theodore Meumann was educated in German universities and came to Wisconsin as an emissary of the Langenberg Society. He served congregations in Washington County and in Platteville, Wisconsin, before coming to our college in 1867 as professor of classical languages. A learned and gifted man, he broke down under the strain of work and at last had to hear classes from his sickbed. Because of ill health he was advised to accept a call into the ministry, and in 1872 he went to Fond du Lac. Later he returned to Germany, where he entered the ministry of the United Church. In the school year of 1870-71 he alternated as chairman of the faculty with Professor Ernst.

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Amos Easterday has already been mentioned as one of the men who in the first thirty years left their mark on the college. He taught in the academy in 1868-69 and again between the years of 1871 and 1883. The son of a mathematics professor at Illinois State University in Springfield, he established mathematics as a popular subject that held its own against the combined pressure of the classics. The tradition he established was carried on through the regimes in that department of W. Weimar, H. Frank, E. A. Wendland and T. F. Binhammer. Easterday organized the college orchestra in 1872. He was a Congregationalist and regularly taught a class in the Congregational Sunday school. Under pressure from various pastors, the board of trustees asked him to give up his position as Sunday school teacher. Easterday assured the board that his teaching was wholly in accord with Lutheran doctrine and that social connections and his conscience forbade him to give up that work. He said that he was ready to accept admonition from President Ernst and from the college board but that he resented interference in his affairs by Thomas Snyder, a member of the faculty. The upshot of the matter was that both Amos Easterday and his brother Oscar, who had joined the faculty in 1878, resigned in 1883. The brothers went to Nebraska, where they established a successful real estate business. Amos Easterday enjoyed the respect of his colleagues and the love and respect of his students. The author of the 1915 history of our college records that once, many years later, when Mr. Easterday visited Northwestern at a commencement, those of his former students who were present thronged around him with beaming eyes to greet the slight, graying but lovable man who had once been their revered teacher. The house that the two brothers built with their own hands on Western Avenue still stands, though enlarged, on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Western Avenue.

August F. Ernst August F. Ernst came to Northwestern at twenty-eight and retired at eighty-two. Besides being president for forty-eight years, he was very active in synodical affairs. He was one of the main movers in forming the Synodical Conference, and when the Joint Synod was formed in 1892, he became its first president. When the notorious Bennett law was proposed in Wisconsin,

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he threw himself into the fight against it with all his vigor and contributed no small part in bringing about the rejection of that law, which would have crippled or even outlawed our parochial schools. In 1915, on the occasion of Northwestern's fiftieth anniversary, Concordia Seminary of St. Louis, through its president, Franz Pieper, conferred the Ph. D. degree on him. Ernst was professor of Greek, Latin, German, history, philosophy, logic, and psychology. Usually the senior classes had all these subjects with him. He was not a drillmaster, nor did he make any great attempt to bring out the poetic beauty of the languages he taught. His primary aim was to arouse interest in the rhetoric, philosophy or logic of whatever piece came under discussion. He managed to open up new horizons and instill a desire to learn. He was a ready debater, resourceful in argument and well-informed in a surprising number of subjects. Though not an outstanding disciplinarian, he took the little pranks played on him by students in stride. His dry, high-pitched voice was easy to mimic. It was easy to evoke one of his sudden brief flares of temper, and just as easy to mollify him by a show of deference. Yet he remained the symbol of authority - the patriarch of the flock, as his nickname, "The Old Man" or "Oley," implied. If any man shaped the destinies of Northwestern, it was he. In 1922 Professor Ernst left the campus for the last time, to live with his son, Dr. George, in Milwaukee. He died on August 8, 1924 - a scholar, a great teacher, a devout Christian. F. W. Stellhorn came to Northwestern in 1869 as the Missouri Synod's professor under the agreement of 1868, but he left rather suddenly for Concordia College in Fort Wayne when the agreement was terminated in 1874, though Northwestern tried to retain him. When the Missouri and Ohio Synods parted company over the Predestination controversy, Stellhorn left Missouri and became professor of theology at the seminary of the Ohio Synod at Columbus and later also president of that institution. Pastors R. Adelberg of the Wisconsin Synod church in Watertown and Karl Strasen of the Missouri Synod taught classes in religion for a few years, the former in English and the latter in German. The college felt Adelberg's loss keenly. Theodore Brohm, able and popular teacher of English and science from 1871 to 1879, was a graduate of Fort Wayne and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and had attended New

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York University for one year. He was pastor of a congregation in Boston when he received the call to Northwestern as successor to Lewis Thompson, who had resigned. It is mentioned that his salary, like that of Martin and of Ernst, was $1,000 a year and a suitable dwelling. The Wisconsin Synod had never been able to fulfill its part of the exchange agreement with Missouri, and when the latter found itself in financial difficulties in 1874, Brohm was asked to go to St. Louis, since Dr. Notz had been sidetracked to Watertown. Brohm was willing, but when the plan was changed and he was slated for Concordia college in Springfield instead, he declined to go. In 1879 he accepted a call back to the Missouri Synod as professor at the teacher training school in Addison, Illinois. He served as its president from 1905 to 1913.

Dr. F. W. A. Notz Dr. F. W. A. Notz was, with A. F. Ernst, chiefly influential in determining the policies and course of studies at Northwestern during its first fifty years. The two men were born in the same year, 1841. After receiving his doctorate at the University of Tuebingen, Notz became a private tutor in the household of Count Gersdorf. He served in a similar position in Georgia after his arrival in America. Having become acquainted with Northwestern through its first catalog in 1870, he had while still at Allentown College sent "valuable older editions of Latin authors" to our college library. His interest in the conservative Lutheranism of the Middle West led to his being chosen as the exchange professor of the Wisconsin Synod at St. Louis. For reasons already given, he was persuaded to come to Northwestern. In the board meeting of September 10, 1872, President Bading welcomed him to his new field of labor and formally installed him in his office. He was invited to attend future meetings of the board as advisory member, a privilege that was extended to all the members of the faculty in the meeting of March, 1873. Notz's first learned contribution here was a long essay in Latin, entitled "Ecclesiae Lutheranae Gymnasiorum Quae Propria Sint" (Essentials of a Lutheran College) , which appears in the catalog for 1872-73. The doctor remained active for forty years, and although there were other teachers of Greek and Hebrew during that period, these two languages were his private domain. Dr. Notz was short in stature and portly. The lower

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part of his face was covered with a short, stubbly beard. His cheeks were full and ruddy; his eyes hidden behind very thick lenses. His witty remarks - and they were many - as well as his serious remarks were flavored with a rich Swabian accent. For reasons of health Dr. Notz took a leave of absence in 1910-11. He did not recuperate sufficiently to reassume his duties and retired in the latter year. In the fall of 1913 he and all his friends celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his promotion to the doctorate; the University of Tuebingen recognized the event by renewing his diploma, with suitable felicitations. Soon after that Dr. Notz was appointed a member of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin. During his last years he resided in Milwaukee, where he passed away in 1921. Joel Smith, a graduate of Ursinus College in Collegetown, Pennsylvania, and of the Kutztown, Pennsylvania, normal school, succeeded John Kaltenbrunn. He taught English from 1873 to 1876 and returned to the East to study theology. H. Eckelmann, a candidate of theology who had studied at Heidelberg and Goettingen, was with the institution only one year, 1873-74, as class teacher of "Sexta," the first year preparatory class. The appointment of class teachers was an innovation that had been introduced at the instance of Professors Ernst and Notz. Eugene Notz, a brother of Dr. Notz, interrupted his seminary studies to serve as a tutor in the emergency caused by the sudden departure of Professor Stellhorn. Like his brother he had been trained at the Protestant Convent School at Maulbronn and then finished his college course by taking a year at Northwestern. Later he became a professor of theology at our theological seminary. He died of injuries received in a fall from an upper window of his house. A. L. Graebner, who replaced Stellhorn and taught Latin and history from 1875 to 1878, was a Concordia Seminary graduate and had been teaching in the Lutheran high school (later called Walther College) in St. Louis. A versatile man, he also helped in the English department, where his text: "First Book of Grammar and Composition" was used. He delivered the address at a celebration, arranged by the college and the local congregation, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the adoption of the Formula of Concord. When the Wisconsin

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Synod reopened its seminary in 1878, he was called to that institution and remained there until 1887. From that year until his death in 1904 he was professor of church history at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Professor Graebner was known to his students as a brilliant teacher who gave himself no rest, kept awake with the help of endless cups of black coffee and was an authority on the history of the Lutheran church in America. A. Schmidt, an assistant in 1875, an M.D., returned to Germany at the end of the year because of poor health. A. Preller came from an Iowa Synod college in Galena, Illinois, in 1876. He was considered a "character." A man of stocky build, brimming over with vitality and strength, outspokenly impatient of frills of any kind, and disdainful of hiding his broad Bavarian dialect, he was a taskmaster in class, a forceful preacher, and a good musician. He gave the organ lessons in the normal department and organized the college band. The year he came the musical organizations gave a concert for the Synod, which met in Watertown that year. He had to be dismissed in 1881 because he had acquired a reputation for making too frequent visits to a tavern on Fourth Street. He returned to Germany and became a pastor there. A. Klapproth, another able man, arrived at the same time as Preller in September of 1876 but departed after four months because he too could not resist the lure of Watertown's many saloons. J. Deibert replaced Joel Smith in 1877. He came from the Kutztown Normal School in Pennsylvania, as an assistant, and was not reengaged because of his inexperience and because the college was again in financial straits. Oscar Easterday, the brother of Amos Easterday, was called in 1878 for one year only, after Erdmann Pankow had helped out for one month, but he remained until 1883, when both brothers resigned. He was the less able of the two brothers and had some difficulty in acquiring the status of a full professor of natural science and an adequate salary. Thomas Snyder, a pastor of the New York Ministerium in Liverpool, New York, was a teacher of English from 1880 to 1883. He was mixed up in the troubles connected with the differences between the board and the Easterday brothers, and

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since there was some evidence of incompetency, his resignation in 1883 was readily accepted. O. Gebhardi came in September of 1881. He had been a parochial school teacher in Winona, Minnesota, and was to teach in the academy. He died, however, before the end of the first half-year. George Keller was the first full professor who had graduated from Northwestern. He was called to take Gebhardi's place in 1881, but by 1884 he was forced to resign because of ill health. He accepted a call into the ministry at Oconto and died there in 1886. William Kammeier, another Northwestern graduate, of the class of 1880, was called as an assistant to serve from January to June at a salary for the six months of $100 plus board and room. He remained, however, undoubtedly at a better salary, as a teacher of science until 1891, when ill health forced his retirement. J. Hantz and W. Sadder arrived together in 1883 as successors of the Easterday brothers. Hantz had been a Lutheran pastor in Smithfield, Pennsylvania. He taught mathematics and was known as "Brother" Hantz because it was his habit to address all his students as "Brother" when he called on them to recite. He is said to have been an able preacher. III health forced his resignation in 1889. W. Sadder, also a Lutheran from Pennsylvania, remained until 1885. With the arrival of Hantz and Sadder the faculty was, for the first time, made up entirely of Lutherans. W. Muehlenbruch, who taught mathematics, remained but one year 1884/85, and from that time on, with few exceptions, faculty members were drawn from the list of the graduates from our own college and seminary, and the faculty began to take on a more stable character, since calls could be extended to persons of known ability and with some assurance that the new professor would not quickly depart.

Dr. J. Henry Ott J. Henry Ott and William Weimar must be mentioned together because they entered Northwestern literally at the same minute in 1880, took identical courses, graduated together in 1885, and entered the faculty as full professors in September of the year of

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graduation. "Billy" Weimar, as he was respectfully and affectionately known to schoolmates and students, relates that when he approached Professor Ernst's desk to register, a tall, dark young man, somewhat older than he, stood next in line, directly behind him. Weimar explained that he had had some high-school work, had a knowledge of German, but lacked Latin. He thought he could make the grade in the class called Quarta, in which Greek was begun. Professor Ernst agreed with him and entered him as a Quartaner. The voice of the tall young man then interrupted: "If this gentleman can do it, I think I can too." Again Professor Ernst agreed, and J. Henry Ott was enrolled as a Quartaner. Both young men did three years of Latin in that first year, and in their second year they were in line with their class in Greek, Latin, and German, and ahead of it in English. Both were somewhat older and more experienced than their classmates, and both had shown such unusual industry and ability throughout their college years that they were called as professors upon graduation. Professor Ott was born of Swiss immigrants in Tell City, Indiana, had learned the printer's trade and had followed it as typesetter in Nashville, St. Louis, and Denver. A casual acquaintance in St. Louis, a student at Northwestern, persuaded him to continue his education at that school. Five years after joining the faculty he obtained a leave of absence and spent two years at the universities of Berlin and Halle. He returned to his duties with the degree of doctor of philosophy, having specialized in philology. Of no one who ever served on Northwestern's faculty can it be said more truthfully that he gave of himself completely and ungrudgingly to the school that had called him into its service. He was teacher of English and science, librarian, manager of the bookstore, bursar, vice-president, and on occasion assistant to the inspector. Until 1885 there had been no librarian and no records, but by 1886 Professor Ott, with the help of Charles Ernst, had cataloged over 1800 volumes. Out of the profits of the bookstore Dr. Ott patiently built up a library and in his careful handwriting made out a card for the index of each volume as it was acquired. Science was not his field nor his first love, but characteristically he threw himself into the task of preparing himself for that subject by taking summer courses at Amherst College and by hard private study. Although Dr. Ott's chief academic interest was English, his choice of books for

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the library's reference shelves is evidence of his wide interest in the classics and in history. No student with even the slightest interest in education could come away from Dr. Ott's classes without having acquired respect for the English language and, indeed, for all languages as a gift of God, whether English, German, Latin, or Greek His social contacts with students were with individuals rather than with groups, and especially with those boys whom he selected as library assistants or as companions on swimming excursions to the Rock river. One of the last such excursions was made in his eightieth year when his eyesight was so bad that he had to wear his glasses even in the water. Dr. Ott saved us many a trip to the dictionary or to an encyclopedia, and it was a pity to observe how in his high old age the marvellous storehouse of his brain found it difficult to remember even the most familiar names. In 1939 Dr. Ott retired from teaching. He died on October 31, 1945, at the age of eighty-four, having served the college actively for fifty-four years, and four additional years as bursar. William Weimar, Dr. Ott's close friend and colleague, who carried on the tradition of sound mathematics instruction that had been established by Amos Easterday, remained a member of the faculty until 1903, when he retired to a fruit farm near Yakima, Washington. He too had shared in the work of dormitory supervision, was leader of the band and also instructor in gymnastics. He died at the age of eighty-one at San Mateo, California. John P. Koehler, another graduate of our college, with the class of 1877, came to the college as professor and inspector in 1888. At this period his health was not at all equal to heavy strain, and in 1894 he asked to be relieved of the duties of superintending the dormitory. He taught classics and history, and it was his wide command of classical languages, his unusually keen mind, and his understanding of the history of the world and the Christian church that made him an obvious candidate for a professorship at the seminary in Milwaukee when a replacement for Professor Thiele was being considered. A year in Arizona, spent largely on horseback, completely restored his health, and in 1900 he joined the theological faculty at our seminary, which was then located in Wauwatosa. George Ernst, who for many years was a physician in Milwaukee, served as an assistant from 1890 to 1892 and

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substituted for Professor Ott while he was acquiring his degree in Germany. Mr. R. Hardege, a local musician, was a part-time instructor in violin. Andrew Schroedel, a graduate of the class of 1873, taught Latin from 1889 to 1893. H. Plum came to us from Ohio and succeeded William Kammeier in 1891 as science teacher. He remained only till 1894 but left behind a reputation as a gifted cornetist, a crack third-baseman, and a popular teacher. William Schumacher, a schoolteacher from Chicago, taught English for two years. Charles Ernst, a son of President Ernst, was professor of natural science from 1892 till 1897. After obtaining a degree in chemistry, he entered business in Philadelphia in the new field of the manufacture of rayon. W. Biedenweg's story is a tragic one. He was President Ernst's nephew and had arrived in this country just as a vacancy occurred in the faculty through the resignation of Professor Schroedel. He was appointed provisionally as a Latin teacher, and after two years accepted a call into the ministry in Baraboo. Here he suffered an accident which ultimately ended his career in the ministry and caused his death. While he was attending to his horse the animal kicked a board loose from its stall, and the board struck Pastor Biedenweg on the head. Both his speech and his mind were affected, and he was removed to a hospital in Oshkosh and later to Green Bay, where he died at the age of forty-one. He had received his education at the universities of Leipzig and Goettingen. Julius Gamm, a graduate with the class of 1890, and a member of the Gamm family that was so active in the early life of the Synod, was professor of English from 1894 till 1902. Since he was naturally highly gifted, eloquent, and dramatic, his interests directed him to the pulpit rather than to a classroom desk listening to stammering recitations and correcting papers. He accepted a call into the ministry at La Crosse. Otto Hoyer, born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1849, graduated from Northwestern in 1872 and returned in 1895 to serve as inspector and professor of Latin until his death in November, 1905.

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Domestic T roubles~ 1895-1905 The term "inspector" was first used in connection with our college when in 1866 Adolf Hoenecke was called as theological professor and also as inspector. Even at that time the title and function of an inspector at a college were unfamiliar in America, both having been transplanted from the combination high school-college of Germany known as a Gymnasium. The inspector's function was to preserve order in the dormitory and to serve there in loco parentis, as a father to the students, who ranged in ages from thirteen to twenty-three or more. Until 1956, when the collegiate dormitory was built, most of the students lived together under one roof, and since most students were of high-school age, the regulations were usually framed to suit that age-group, so that the college students felt, sometimes with good reason, that they were being treated too much like children. The diversity in ages and the crowding of all students under one roof were a major cause of the difficulties connected with the inspector's life in the dormitory. Supervision was made the more difficult because most of the students were preparing for the ministry, and it was quite generally expected of such students, regardless of their age, that they be models of good behavior. Not infrequently, especially in the early years, boys would be sent to Northwestern because they had become problems too hard to handle at home. Lack of room in late years has made it necessary to restrict enrollment to those who have some intention of preparing for the ministry, so that such reminders are no longer deemed necessary. During the first three or four decades the minutes of the faculty and of the board are occupied to a surprising extent with problems of behavior and discipline in the dormitory and the classroom, and still the Synod looked upon the inspectorship

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as a function that could be added to the duties of one of the regular faculty members. It is true that the inspector was sometimes provided with assistants, but these assistants were themselves, as likely as not, full-time classroom instructors.

The Inspectorship When the theological seminary was discontinued at Watertown and Professor Hoenecke left the school, Professor Ernst assumed the duties of inspector, beginning in 1869. He lived in the college building with his family. In 1872 Dr. F. W. A. Notz was called specifically to take over the inspectorship besides his regular duties in the classroom, and he served in this capacity for fourteen years until 1886, when he moved off the campus with his family and asked to be relieved of the burden. He was persuaded to continue as inspector-in-chief, with Professors Ott and Weimar, who had been appointed to the faculty after graduation, as assistants. Professor Weimar said later that he did not recall that Dr. Notz ever appeared in the dormitory during their regime or ever concerned himself about the inspection. Fourteen years of it had been enough for him. In 1888 Professor John P. Koehler came to Northwestern as professor and inspector. He had firm convictions about supervision in the dormitory but clashed almost at once with students, with a representative of the local board who had been appointed buyer of provisions for the kitchen, and with the board itself. Rev. John Brenner and others who were students during that time recalled that his ideal was a kind of military discipline with strict order in the study rooms and on the campus, enforced with the help of the two upper classes. The students accepted the military discipline without too much objection, but they were very unwilling to accept the authority of the upper classmen. At the end of five years Professor Koehler asked to be relieved of the work in the dormitory because he was threatened with a nervous breakdown. When President Ernst asked for volunteers to take over the work, Ott and Weimar offered their services, and with the help of Charles Ernst they were the inspectors during the year after the fire, when the old gymnasium was turned into one large bedroom. For a short time William Franzmann, a seminary student, also served as assistant until the new building was ready.

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Professor Hoyer, who became inspector in 1895, was hardly suited for the position because of his kindly, non-aggressive nature. Within a few years, his health being impaired, he too asked to be relieved of that work and his request was granted, but with the wish expressed that he continue until a successor could be called. This he did, with help from junior and senior students, Herman Frank and H. K. Moussa. At this time the Synod began to take the inspectorship more seriously and cast about for a man whose health and personality might give assurance that he could enforce good order and remain in service for a reasonable length of time. The college board and the Synod were convinced that in the person of Pastor August Pieper of St. Marcus Congregation in Milwaukee they had such a man. He was in robust health, forceful in manner and bound to command respect. At first he refused even to consider accepting the call, but after much persuasion he agreed to accept if his congregation would release him. He had attached a second condition to his agreement, which the board readily accepted and thus showed how convinced they were that he was the one man who could satisfactorily fill that position. Pastor Pieper stipulated that an assistant must be provided for the routine work, that he should have sole authority in the dormitory, and that his teaching assignments should be in the upper classes. The congregation resisted all pleas both of the board and of Pastor Pieper himself and flatly refused to release him. While these negotiations were in progress there was little supervision in the dormitory, especially at night, since Professor Hoyer was ill and, besides, did not live in the building but in the residence specially built for him.

Students Out of Hand Whatever the cause may have been, the period between 1895 and about 1903 was especially fruitful in cases of misconduct and disorder. Some of the causes may have been the frequent changes in the inspectorship, the assignment of authority to young men over students but slightly younger than they, the overburdening of the inspector with routine work and dormitory supervision over and above his classroom duties, and certainly also the antipathy that existed between the students and Mr.

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Heinbockel, the steward, who assumed an attitude of authority over the students to which he was not at all entitled. Trouble broke out on Halloween of 1899. Students raided Heinbockel's chicken coop and filled the inspector's office with chickens; they overturned outhouses, broke windows and committed various pranks at professors' residences. The faculty immediately began investigations, but in spite of admonitions, a few days after Halloween three students docked the tail of Heinbockel's horse and painted the animal with stripes of green paint. Faculty meetings on the matter continued until December 9, and the investigation even included taking the testimony of a student in Milwaukee and of a Watertown girl who was reported to have seen a student enter a Watertown paint store. The upshot of the affair was that the alleged ringleader was expelled and his two assistants suspended till the end of the school year. Upon the petitions of the students, however, the two less guilty boys were reinstated and the ringleader was granted leave to return at the beginning of the following year. He spent the rest of the year at Concordia College in St. Paul, returned in September and together with his partners in guilt graduated with his regular class. Shortly after this affair Heinbockel, with some bitter comments on the school and the students, left the institution and, to everybody's relief, was replaced by Mrs. Pinckert. His bitterest comment was the untranslatable remark: "Wer Niedertraechtigkeit will lernen braucht nur auf eine christliche Anstalt zu gehen." It should be added that he had probably tried to do his best. At least Professor Koehler, who was just giving up the inspectorate when Heinbockel arrived, gives him this testimonial in his history of the Wisconsin Synod: "Mr. Heinbockel took over the management in more efficient style and on a somewhat grander scale." Mr. and Mrs. Heinbockel also donated the refectory bell that for several decades called students to meals. Another incident that illustrated the low state of student morale occurred on the night of a political lecture in a downtown hall, which some classes were allowed to attend, while other classes were denied the same permission. Those who remained behind broke all bonds of control and ran wild in the dormitory, not indeed damaging property, but making the night hideous with every conceivable kind of racket. The

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inspector was helpless. What action the faculty took in this matter is not recorded. Less spectacular examples of student behavior at that time, if not typical, are still of sufficiently frequent occurrence to reveal the temper of the student body of that day. One student who came back to the dormitory late at night and failed to report to the inspector was reprimanded and defended himself with the insolent remark: "I couldn't find you; I can't look all over creation for you." Another in a similar situation was less insolent but more naive; he explained that on his way home some girls had stopped him and prevented him from returning on time. Another, when asked why he had been out from 8: 30 till 11: 30 without permission, answered: "I do not care to answer that question." President Ernst's highly favorable report to the board in 1900 must therefore be taken with a dash of salt. Probably it was necessary to restore the Synod's confidence in the school after these breakdowns in authority, More likely, the report reflected the President's tendency to look at the brighter side of things. After all, the vast majority of students were doing their work and leading decent lives. At any rate this is what he reported: Behavior of the students was good and there were no serious disciplinary cases. Both new and old students displayed a magnificent spirit and a gratifying openness and sincerity of attitude. Application was also good: that they made proper use of their study periods was made clearly evident in class periods. Examinations turned out satisfactorily. All students behaved in a Christian manner; before retiring they read their Bibles, and in the infirmary they conducted devotions. The abuses of former years have been corrected. Study periods are being supervised. The students are satisfied with the food, and disturbances in the dining hall do not occur. Left-overs are used and consumed. Yet older students do not find it easy to conform to strict discipline.

Need for an Inspector

Felt

When Professor Koehler accepted the call to the theological seminary in 1900 and Professor Hoyer took over his position as professor, the board attempted to procure Rev. Martin Eickmann for the position of inspector, but he declined the call. The board now marked time and asked President Ernst to assume

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the inspection with the aid of Edward Lembcke, an 1890 graduate who at this time was teaching in the parish school of St. Matthew's in Milwaukee. On February 8, 1901, it was reported that some students had been guilty of misconduct during service at St. Mark's. The faculty found it necessary to provide for faculty supervision of students in church. Otherwise, this must have been an idyllic period, for in 1901 the board, through its president, Bading, informed the Synod that the dormitory rules were strictly enforced. Chapel exercises, conducted by one or the other of the inspectors, were regularly held. Study periods were punctually observed, and the students were held to the fear of God, obedience, industry, orderliness, and conscientious work. There were few cases of improper behavior and of rudeness, but slight punishments or earnest admonition served to prevent more serious infractions.

Mr. Lembcke did not, however, continue long under these idyllic conditions, for in September, 1901, it was reported that he had resigned. Now Herman Frank, who had graduated the previous June, was again pressed into service. In 1902 Professor John Meyer was called to the inspectorate. He began his duties in September but resigned in midterm "because of nervousness." His assistant, Hans Moussa, of the seminary, took over for the rest of the year.

An Unhappy Incident A disciplinary case that caused much bitterness and that for days disrupted the life of the school in the spring of 1903 was the flogging of a third-year preparatory student by two college sophomores. As the boys were leaving the dining hall one of the college boys jostled the prep and he turned and said, "Quit your pushing." Preps were not supposed to talk back to collegiates, and the boy was immediately ordered to appear in the collegiate'S room. A flogging - "putting in buck," as it was called -- could be a brutal affair because the victim had his hands tied to a broomstick and was suspended between two tables with buttocks in position for a paddling. In this instance the flogging seems to have been unusually severe, for according to testimony the boy was struck first with a ruler, then with a brush, and then again with a ruler until it broke. Although the

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faculty itself had frequently condoned corporal punishment as a means of maintaining order in the dormitory, flogging had not become so common that such an egregious instance of it would be overlooked. The time had come to put a stop to this practice altogether. The two sophomores were suspended. The sophomore class believed that this decision had forever broken their authority over insolent or unruly lower classmen and approached the faculty with a petition that the sentence of suspension be reversed. The petition was signed by all the members of the sophomore class who lived in the dormitory, and when the faculty did not grant the petition, the class went on strike and refused to attend classes. Both the Milwaukee Journal and the Sentinel got hold of the Story and blew it up sensationally. For several days all classes were suspended while the faculty wrestled with the situation. Finally the sophomores yielded and repented in the signed statement: "We the undersigned members of the sophomore class wish to express our deep regret for insulting you, showing ourselves disobedient, and thereby causing a scandal. We do hereby ask your humble pardon, having no other excuse to offer than that we rashly acted on the impulse of the moment." This was signed by the nine members of the class who had threatened to quit the school if their petition was not granted. The faculty declared itself satisfied with this recantation and then retired to consider the punishment that should be meted out. The restrictions that were imposed were so humiliating that the sophomores again refused to attend classes. One by one they were brought before the faculty and admonished, and one by one they agreed to abide by regulations and to conduct themselves in Christian fashion. The two suspended sophomores were allowed to return but were denied the privilege of the dormitory. They took rooms in town that were assigned by the faculty. Both discontinued on their own accord at the end of the school year. One of them became a church organist, the other a civil engineer. This unhappy incident was not without benefits. It marked the end of all but occasional and unauthorized flogging at Northwestern. Pastor Martin Eickmann was again called to the position of inspector. This time he accepted and was installed in October of 1903. His regime, which lasted until 1915, will be the subject of a later chapter.

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Extracts From what has been said it may appear that the decade under discussion was one of wild disorder. The following excerpts from board and faculty minutes and from the synodical Proceedings may serve to balance the accounts and to afford a glance into the more quiet life of the faculty and students during this period. A report containing the information that "the food provided for the students is altogether satisfactory and answers all reasonable demands," was perhaps intended to counteract the rather loud complaints of the students about the quality and quantity of the butter being served and the too great emphasis placed on blackstrap molasses as a less expensive spread than butter. On October 21, 1897, the military company asked for permission to march to Helenville. That was granted, but another request to march to Lake Mills on November 11 was not granted because of rough weather. The captain of the military company had been caught with several other students attending a dance in town. One of the students was expelled and the captain of the military company was forced to resign from that position in the company. President Ernst offered no objection to his leaving. The student body then petitioned the faculty to allow him to retain the captaincy. The faculty relented. In 1898 the college board had forbidden smoking on the college grounds and on the city streets and expressed the conviction that the prohibition should be made yet broader. That is the last reference to the subject. May 12, 1898, the band asked for permission to play at the concert to be given by St. Mark's choirs, but the request was denied because theatrical performances would be part of the program. In April of 1901 students asked for permission to build a bandstand, and the permission was granted. Students themselves paid the $100 it cost. The sttucture stood south of the gymnasium where the concrete seat now is, and remained in use till about 1920. April 30, 1901, President Ernst informed the faculty that the students wished to keep the lawn mowed, and the faculty decided to ask the board to provide the necessary lawnmowers. Lawnmowers were replacing sickles about that time.

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November 6, 1901, Reinhold Pieper, son of Professor Pieper of Concordia Seminary in Springfield, Illinois, one of the most popular students in the college, died of appendicitis. Appendicitis, also called inflammation of the bowels, caused more than one death at the school. April 2, 1903, the tennis club asked for permission to build a tennis court. The request was granted, and the club provided the labor and built a court at no cost. The gymnasium now occupies the site. May 5, 1903. In the future, students were not to appear in public places in the company of girls. After May 15 of the same year no student was to appear in class wearing a sweater. March 28, 1904, a petition for early closing before Easter was ignored. Two other interesting items of the time are closely connected with Northwestern's history. In 1903 the seminary celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of its return to Milwaukee from St. Louis. On this occasion Northwestern conferred the doctor of divinity degree on Professor Adolf Hoenecke of our seminary and on Franz Pieper of the seminary in St. Louis. A committee had been appointed by our faculty to arrange for proper representation at the jubilee festivities at the seminary and also to provide for maintenance of order at the college during the absence of the professors. Particularly gratifying is this last item: In 1905 Mrs. Fannie Lewis of Watertown bequeathed a sum of somewhat more than $20,000 to the college, to be known as the Fannie P. Lewis Scholarship Fund, the income from which was to be used for needy and deserving students.

CHAPTER

ANew

Dormitory~ 1905

The new building of 1895 had hardly been occupied when increasing enrollment forced the board and faculty to consider how and where the students might be housed. Not only was the space in the 1875 dormitory becoming insufficient, but there were no bathing facilities, and the toilets were located out of doors. It seems that the Synod was not much moved by the lack of physical conveniences, because most of the constituents of the college had exactly the same accommodations at home. It could not be denied, however, that the old dormitory no longer provided the space needed for the growing attendance, and parents were troubled that so little provision was being made for the maintenance of good health. In 1904 twenty boys were being housed off campus because of lack of room in the dormitory. They took their meals in the college dining hall. The first plans for relief of the situation did not contemplate a new building, because the chronic deficits and the oppressive synodical debt did not encourage a large expenditure. Since adequate central heating and bathing facilities, however, were as much a consideration as additional space and since the 1875 building was not adaptable for any of these purposes, remodeling and enlarging the building were not seriously considered. A Dormitory for $50,000 It was largely due to the prodding of the new inspector, Professor Eickmann, that the Synod in 1904 seriously attacked the problem of adequate housing for the students. An especially heavy incidence of colds, sore throats, and other sicknesses during

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the 1903 school year provided an argument that could not easily be refuted, and the Synod at its 1904 meeting was quite ready to hear proposals and to discuss plans. President Ernst and Professor Eickmann had been delegated to lay the needs of the college before the Synod, and they submitted sketches that provided for a building large enough to accommodate 150 boys, with showers, lockers, an office, a reception room, music rooms on a fourth floor, a luggage room, and lavatories on each of the three floors, a plan that was substantially carried out. It was also recommended at this meeting that the dining hall and the kitchen be enlarged and provided with electric lights to replace the gas jets. In 1903 the Synod at a meeting in Appleton declared that if a new dormitory were built the cost must not exceed $25,000. When sketches were presented in 1904 at Milwaukee, it became clear that the kind of building that was needed could not possibly be put up for that sum, and it was decided to postpone a decision until the matter could be thoroughly considered and finally decided at a special meeting to be held in Watertown, November 1-3, 1904. At that meeting $50,000 was fixed as the upper limit for the new building and for the changes and additions to the dining hall and kitchen. The actual cost of the building and of the improvements in other buildings was $51,267. The Synod had been very insistent that the upper limit of $50,000 should not be exceeded, and President von Rohr, president of the Synod and pastor in Winona, and Mr. Graebner of Milwaukee, a member of the college board, pledged themselves to raise the excess over the sum fixed by the Synod.. Pastor von Rohr had quietly begun collecting for a new dormitory long before work was begun in 1904 and was ready with a collection of $7,000 when the Synod finally decided to build, so the pledge to join Mr. Graebner in raising the excess of $1,267 occasions no surprise. Today $50,000 for a major building project seems a small matter, but it was by no means a small matter in 1904. The Synod's debt in that year was $27,000. The synodical budget for all purposes was $46,052; expected revenues amounted to $16,225, leaving $29,800 to be contributed by the congregations. So $50,000 loomed very large when that sum was placed alongside the Synod's other obligations. The project seemed so formidable that the Synod decided, against considerable opposition, to call a man out of the parish ministry to devote all his time to

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collecting money in the congregations for the new building and for payment of the Synod's debt. Pastor Richard Siegler was called for this work. The opposition to this action was not directed against the man who was called but rather against the plan itself. It was argued that an office was being created that was not in conformity with the divine call into the parish ministry, and that it would be difficult to abolish such an office and place the holder of the office back into the ministry. Pastor Siegler did his work conscientiously and was successful in collecting the needed money, but it was some time before he was released from this work and returned to his congregation. Dedication Day The cornerstone of this building was laid on May 30, 1905, and a special occasion was made of the ceremony. Excursion trains were run from Milwaukee and over 700 people from Milwaukee alone came to Watertown to take part in the service. The college band and the military company met the trains at the station at the foot of Fifth Street and led the long procession up Western Avenue to the college grounds. A similar and even larger procession marched up the avenue on October 15, when the building was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church. That was fifty years, almost to the day, after the dedication of the first college building. Three excursion trains brought the Milwaukee and Chicago delegation of 1500 persons to the service, which was held, as had been planned, in the open air, although it was a raw and very windy day. Except for the academic procession that Dr. Ott arranged, the ceremonies followed the customary course. The speakers, Pastor Bading and President von Rohr, had difficulty making themselves heard against the blustery wind, but the college band, St. Mark's choir of Watertown and a massed choir from Milwaukee under the direction of Cantor Kneyse prevailed against the winds, and Pastor Klingmann's powerful voice received special mention by a reporter. In spite of the unpleasant weather, the gathering was enthusiastic and happy, for this was the most ambitious building project that our churches had attempted up to that time. Most of the guests returned to their homes in the late afternoon, but a number of alumni and others who had been especially

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active in promoting the building remained for a social evening in the so-called aula or auditorium on the third floor of the recitation building. It was an evening given over mainly to reminiscences. It was at this meeting that Pastor E. A. Pankow, a member of the first graduating class, illustrated the German character of the first students by relating that when President Martin asked him if he were homesick, he answered in good German idiom: "No, I have no homesick." At this meeting Professor Schaller related how impressed he was on his first day on the campus when he watched a few boys playing marbles and calling their shots in Latin: "Sane quidem expulsum est!" (There! It's knocked out!) Typically, Dr. Notz drew on Greek mythology for his remarks. Sieker, Weimar, "Arsi" Hoermann and others helped to make the affair an enjoyable get-together of old-timers. The Cost of Economizing Although the dormitory had been occupied in October of 1905, it was not formally accepted from the builders until February of 1906. The contractors admitted that the concrete in the basement floor did not come up to specifications and returned $200 to the Synod. The building superintendent also pointed out that the roof did not meet specifications and that some steam pipes had not been covered with asbestos as stipulated. Until these items in the contract were fulfilled, the board withheld final payment and acceptance. Even for those days of cheap labor and materials $50,000 was a low price for a building of that size, and the builders had cut corners in other places besides those uncovered by the building superintendent. After the structure had been in use for some years, it developed that nails were much too widely spaced to hold the floor down firmly, and floors in halls and rooms began to buckle and to creak. The hallways particularly were extremely noisy, and in the summertime when water pipes under the floor began to sweat, the floor would buckle as much as six inches along the whole length of the hall. The stairways outdid even the hall floors in noisiness and creakiness, but when it was proposed to replace them with steel stairs, the Industrial Commission pointed out that this was a major improvement that would pro-

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long the life of the building and that therefore various other changes would have to be made in order to conform with the state's building code. Those changes were so extensive and expensive that the old wooden stairs remained with their built-in creaks. If the building was cheaply constructed, it was because the building committee was following the rule of the Synod at that time that everything must be done at the least possible cost. At the time when this building was being planned, it was reported to the Synod that it would be "very simple, but durable and efficient, requiring but little repair and upkeep, while special care was taken that there should be no unnecessary projections or other places where dust might collect." This hopeful description proved to be an illusion after not many years. The roof required a great deal of attention to stop leaks and to prevent accumulation of thick ice in cold weather. Some floors had to be renailed, and all hall floors were finally covered with a concrete-like substance called Flexotile. That at least held the floor down and reduced its noisiness. Constant plastering and painting and tinkering with the heating apparatus raised the cost of the building to a point that completely defeated the Synod's purpose of getting a building at little cost. After fifty years of occupation and many alterations and repairs this dormitory is perhaps sounder now than it was ten years after completion. Scarce Dollars This is not written in a spirit of disparagement of the work of the persons directly responsible for the planning of the building. They were but following the dictates of the pastors and congregations who were responsible for paying the bills and who wanted to keep those bills low. Neither is it being written as an expression of the contempt that was not infrequently uttered when the new building appeared in its completed form. Cracker box, shoe factory, shipping case were some of the descriptions that some thought appropriate. People who came to maturity after the first World War may look upon the people responsible for that building in 1905 as a short-sighted, close-fisted lot. Why didn't they open their pocketbooks and build something solid? They did open their pocketbooks, but often enough they found very little in them. Much more than is now the case, our congre-

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garions in the early 1900's were made up of ordinary laboring men and farmers. There was very little wealth. The going wage for a boy able to do hard work was not one dollar an hour, but one dollar for a ten-hour day. A man with a family was doing well with $1.75 a day for ten hours' work. A railroad man earning $100 or $120 a month was looked upon as having reached the top. A whole hog freshly dressed and delivered could be had for four cents a pound. Milk was five cents a quart. Nobody seemed to be anemic; calves' liver was likely to be free for the taking home. A hired man at the college, with the aristocratic name of Anton van Heyden, was hired for $26 a month and keep, increased to $30 after a period of trial. "Church penny" was a term that children understood, and $12 a year was considered to be the norm for a family'S contribution to the church for all purposes. It is true that a dollar had a meaning suggesting soundness and high value that is simply not comprehended in our day of inflation and easy money, and one dollar would outlast half a dozen of today's dollars in the purchase of materials, but those valuable dollars were not easily come by. A $50,000 building was no mean achievement for our Synod in 1905. The building may have been creaky and noisy and drafty, and no doubt still is, but during the fifty years from 1905 to 1955, when the present collegiate dormitory was built, it was home during a great part of the year for every dormitory student who attended Northwestern. We laugh when we read that the college board after considerable deliberation decided that Professor Eickmann should collect five cents from each student who took a shower on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, when there was hot water and the door to the shower room was unlocked. That rule was passed over Professor Eickmann's objection and was soon dropped, but for a time the nickels were dutifully collected. At that, it was ever so much better than paying a quarter for a bath at Seager's barbershop. The 1905 dormitory had its limitations, but for many a student it offered modern conveniences superior to what he had been accustomed to at home. It was a comfortable place to live in, companionship was unlimited and delightful, rules and regulations were just strict enough to make it possible to do good work if the inclination was present. It was home to many of us, and who would be so ungrateful as to speak ill of his own home.

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147

Person alia During the years that the dormitory was being planned and built, there were a number of incidents that very closely touched the life of the college and of the Synod. Mr. and Mrs. John Koeninger of Norwalk, Wisconsin, succeeded Mrs. Pinckert as steward and stewardess in July, 1906. Mr. Koeninger also took over the bookkeeping chores from Dr. Ott, who had attended to them for six years. Mr. and Mrs. Koeninger remained the popular hosts of the dining hall for twenty-two years. Mrs. Koeninger was an excellent cook, and her meals on special occasions like Luther's birthday and Thanksgiving were something to remember. The following deaths occurred. The pastor of St. Mark's and therefore also of the student body, John Brockmann, passed away on January 20, 1904. He had served the congregation since 1875 and been a member of the college board for many years before 1893. An emissary of the Hermannsburg Mission, he had originally been intended for work in Africa, but because of the great shortage of pastors in Wisconsin, was sent to this country instead. His place was taken by Rev. Julius Klingmann, one of the ten pastors comprising the minority of the Michigan Synod who continued to abide by the original resolution to merge with the Wisconsin and the Minnesota Synods. He was installed on April 17, 1904, and remained pastor of St. Mark's for forty years until he passed away in 1944. Two weeks after the death of Pastor Brockmann the students accompanied another body to the cemetery, this time of a popular fellow student, William Stiemke, a sophomore. Barely two weeks later, on February 21st, they marched to the cemetery a third time, for the burial of Daniel Kusel, who died at the age of ninety-three. He had been a charter member of the college board and gave unstintingly of his time and money to the construction of the first college building in 1865.

CHAPTER

XXI

Faculty, 1900-1919 Between 1900 and the dedication of the new dormitory in 1905, a number of important changes in the faculty took place. During that period of five years, John Koehler accepted a call to our seminary; William Weimar retired and moved to his fruit ranch in \V1ashington-as a farewell gift his colleagues gave him a cane with a golden knob; Julius Gamm resigned to accept a call into the parish ministry at La Crosse; C. Pfeiffer, professor of German and Latin, noted for his rigid discipline, resigned because of ill health; and John Meyer accepted a call to Dr. Martin Luther College. Professor Otto Hoyer died in November, 1905. During those same five years several important additions were made to the faculty. Professor C. Bolle was called in 1902 to preside over the newly established Septima, a subSexta class in which poorly prepared students might have a chance to fit themselves for high-school work. In the same year Arthur Hoermann returned from Germany with a brand new Ph.D. and a bride. Herman Frank, a recent graduate, joined the faculty to become a worthy successor of William Weimar, the professor of mathematics. Professor Eickmann became the inspector in 1903, and in the same year Dr. William Notz, Jr., joined his father on the faculty. He had been pastor of a small mission in Philadelphia and had received his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. During most of the school year of 1905-06 the campus was brightened by the genial presence of Edmund Bliefernicht, who came from the seminary to take over the deceased Hoyer's classes.

Bolle and H. Frank

The addition of Carl Bolle was of especial importance to the school. He very soon outgrew the Septima class and made him-

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1900-1919

149

self invaluable as the teacher of commercial branches and leader of musical organizations. He organized and directed the male chorus, directed the college quartette, directed the band, and in general furthered interest and proficiency in music. The school had never had a regularly called professor of music, even though the need for a man to teach singing was pointed out already in the early days. The faculty always had to depend on such musical talents as happened to be available among its own members. From 1914 to 1916 Hans Duetzmann, a professional musician trained in Germany, came out from Milwaukee to direct all musical organizations. In other years members of the faculty were drafted to lead band and orchestra. Weimar, Plum, Kuhn, Frank, Kuhlow, Wendland, Westerhaus, Herrmann, all served in that capacity. Prof. Herman Frank, another man of special importance to join the faculty in the years between 1900 and 1905, was a fine instructor, a strict disciplinarian, yet beloved by his students, and although it would seem that in mathematics he would have had less opportunity than others to emphasize the high calling of the ministry for which most of the students were presumably preparing, it was he as much as anyone else who helped to keep his students firm in their intention to serve their Lord as proclaimers of His Gospel.

Faculty

Homes

In 1902 the Synod began the program of building residences for its professors other than the president and the inspector. The first such houses were those located at 501 and 505 College Avenue, at that time occupied by Professors Hoyer and Kuhn and now by Professor Lehmann and President Toppe. In 1910 two houses. were built at 814 Richards Avenue and 613 Twelfth Street; in 1914 these were followed by houses at 810, 812 ,and 803 Richards Avenue and 615 Twelfth Street. Since 1955 eight more residences for faculty members have been built east of the college buildings on the Concord Avenue hillside, so that now there are only seven residences occupied by professors that were not built expressly for them. The policy has been to build on land already owned by the college and located close enough to the main college grounds to be reckoned as part of the campus and thus safe from tax assessment.

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A. Hoermann and A. Kuhn Mention has been made of Dr. Hoermann and of Albert Kuhn, who were members of the faculty during the years following 1900. Dr. Hoermann was not a disciplinarian nor a very exacting teacher, but he had a colorful personality. His great love was European history and he could speak enthusiastically on details of the War of the Spanish Successionor the greatness of German culture without noticing that sometimes his classes were less interested than he in what had gone on in Europe in the centuries before 1900. Although he also taught Latin, that was a subject that bored him, and he was relieved to get back to his beloved European history or to a discussion in his German classes of Lessing's "reizendes Frauenzimmerchen," Minna von Barnhelm. Dr. Hoermann was the author of the first history of Northwestern. Written in exuberant German, it appeared with an English translation by Rev. H. K. Moussa in the jubilee year of the institution in 1915. Albert Kuhn was a frail person of very small stature because of a pronounced hunchback, which in no way, however, detracted from his dignity or his control over high-school classes in English. He was a lover of; music and for a time directed the college orchestra. A meticulous watchman over the grammar of his classes, he also loved poetry and by the time he considered the study of Evangeline or Enoch Arden completed he had squeezed every particle of English instruction out of the piece and made it an unforgettable part of every student's education. That he could wring so much out of a piece of poetry without ruining it completely was his particular gift. Professor Kuhn died after a brief illness in 1912, and in his place Rev. Erwin Kowalke of Tomahawk, Wisconsin, was called to teach English in the high-school classes and to become the first regularly called athletic director. H. Wente In 1905 Dr. H. Wente was called from his pastorate in Michigan to teach German and Latin. Dr. Wente had been educated in Germany, acquired his doctorate at the University of Rostock and brought into his classroom at Northwestern certain ideals and methods that were strongly influenced by his German back-

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ground and education. He early became the center of a controversy that increased in heat and intensity from year to year. A man of sound learning and strong character and entirely fearless, Dr. Wente might have become a respected teacher but for his low opinion of American methods and scholarship, his suspicion that some of his colleagues were not doing conscientious and effective work (a suspicion well founded in at least two cases), and his rather tactless efforts to correct what he considered weaknesses in the faculty and instances of bad conduct among students. Resentment grew until the faculty was split into two opposing groups. The secretary's minutes of some of the more turbulent faculty meetings at that time are nothing short of scandalous. Suspicions were voiced, accusations hurled and nasty epithets applied freely in open meeting. This unfortunate situation was well known in the student body, where sentiment was with the majority of the faculty against the fiery doctor. Members of the class of 1908 even addressed a petition to the college board asking for the intervention of that body. The board quietly turned back the petition, and the students acknowledged that they had erred in presenting it. The situation had, however, been brought squarely to the attention of the board. The trouble subsided without leaving any permanent ill effects, and Dr. Wente accepted a call into the ministry at Crete in 1910. Other Faculty Changes Professor Theodore Schlueter, a graduate of the Bremen (Germany) Gymnasium and of the St. Louis seminary, became teacher of Latin and German in 1908. Rev. Hans Koller Moussa of Burlington also joined the faculty that year but stayed only two years, accepting a call to the congregation at Jefferson in 1910. An outstanding athlete, Professor Moussa coached the football team during his stay. The job of coaching athletics was taken over by his successor,Professor Martin Sprengling, who also organized a track team and had the students construct a cinder path around the football field. A short segment of it is still discernible behind the tennis courts. Prof. Sprengling left for the University of Chicago in 1912, where he soon became head of the department of Arabic. At the beginning of the Christmas vacation in 1913 Dr. William Notz, Jr., unexpectedly resigned. He had been very active

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in support of Woodrow Wilson for the Presidency, and as a reward for his faithfulness, Joseph Davies, a native of Watertown, secured for him a position in the Department of Commerce. At a meeting in President Ernst's home the evening before the beginning of the term after Christmas, Dr. Notz's classes were distributed among the remaining members of the faculty. Dr. Notz had been in charge of Hebrew in the junior and senior classes, and since Professor Kowalke was the youngest member of the faculty and presumably least rusty in the language, since he had been in close contact with it at the seminary until 1911, he was thrown into the breach and has remained there ever since. Various tutors helped out temporarily in the years from 19101912, among them: S. Probst, A. Sitz, E. Berg, Paul Bergmann, W. Schumann, E. Sauer, Edgar Melzer, Theo. Ave Lallemant. William Huth joined the faculty in 1911 and remained until 1936. William Henkel, noted for his dry humor, came in 1912 and remained until 1920, when he was called to the seminary. Otto Kuhlow, Ernst Wendland, Elmer Sauer, Gustav Westerhaus, Sigmund Probst and Theodore Binhammer were added to the faculty between 1912 and 1919.

CHAPTER

XXII

The Inspectorship When Martin Eickmann assumed the inspectorate in October of 1903 it was with the understanding that his duties were to be restricted to the dormitory, with the exception of half a dozen periods of religious instruction each week in high-school classes. For the first two years of his regime his duties were confined to the 1875 dormitory, a comparatively small territory. Even then the work was not easy. He had no assistant, the building was crowded, and when, usually about midnight, he left the dormitory for his living quarters, supervision was placed in the hands of monitors. Monitors were students of the upper classes, beginning with the senior high-school class, who were appointed one to each study room and one or more to each bedroom to maintain quiet and good order in their assigned area. Besides the room monitors there were also floor monitors and table monitors. The help that they gave to the inspector was valuable according as they themselves were studious and took their assignment seriously, but an unreliable monitor was more a nuisance than a help, and in any event the total weight of responsibility rested on Professor Eickmann's shoulders.

An Unconscionable Burden Mter the new and larger dormitory was dedicated on October 15, 1905, there was relief from the extreme crowding, but the inspector's routine work was greatly increased. Since he now lived in a house directly attached to the dormitory, he was in closer touch with his work but at the same time never out of sight or hearing of the proper and improper activities of some two hundred boys. It was a dictum often expressed that the

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inspector was to be a father to the students, and that was often taken literally to mean that he was to be held responsible for the health, welfare, morality and academic progress of the boys under his care. Being utterly conscientious, Professor Eickmann did attempt to be the paragon that many parents and pastors expected him to be. When admonished to allow himself more time for rest, he replied that he could not rest at ease at night until he knew that every student was back in the building where he was supposed to be. Each morning after the six o'clock bell he would make the rounds of every bedroom on the three floors of both buildings and rouse the sleepers, and often enough he would pay some heavy sleeper a second or third visit in order to get him up and about his business. Those who reported sick required his special attention. In the evening after chapel exercises, which he always conducted himself, the routine of making the rounds on three floors, this time of the study rooms, was repeated. At least once each evening he would make the rounds of the buildings and account for every person in every room. Very often a second or third trip would be necessary to some remote part of the building to round up some errant student. It was expected by the faculty and by the Synod that every boy would be at his desk studying during the fixed study periods and that if he were not there, the inspector would know where he was. It was also expected that the dormitory should be kept quiet for those who wished to study, and it was the duty of the inspector, with the dubious help of the monitors, to accomplish all of this. Professor Eickmann's work was not made any easier when the college board abolished football in 1903. A little baseball was still played in September, and a few students tried to keep up the interest in football by forming two squads that played against each other a few times, but until the baseball season opened in the middle of April there was no outlet for physical energy except military drill. The gymnasium was too small for games, not many students were interested in parallel bars or a turning pole, and besides, the gymnasium was falling into such a state that it was used for little else than military drill for a half-hour after supper. At Professor Eickmann's insistence football was again permitted in the fall of 1904, and with enthusiasm he supported a move which was getting under way among Milwaukee alumni to provide a gymnasium for the college.

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The inspector's day began before six o'clock in the morning and continued until late at night, frequently until midnight. The routine of making rounds and climbing stairs could be terribly wearing, and since he ate all meals with the students and lived under the same roof, he was constantly on call. Most students were loyal to him and were studious and well-behaved, but in every community of a few hundred there are bound to be some boisterous spirits and a few real trouble makers. Still, it was not the serious infractions that finally wore down Professor Eickmann's body and spirit, but rather the constant pinpricks, the deadly routine, and the lack of rest. What helped him to carry on for twelve years without assistance was his understanding of boys and his sympathy with their problems, his sense of humor, and above all his unwavering confidence that the Word of God, which was so much a part of the student's life, would work its wonders on their hearts and minds. Smallpox Plague When the new dormitory was occupied in 1905 it was confidently expected that there would now be a general improvement, not only in the health of the students but also in every other respect. Although there had been a sharp increase in attendance since 1903, facilities had been more than doubled. Of particular importance were the provisions for bathing and for general sanitation, which had been so sadly lacking in the old building. Predictions that student health would be greatly improved as soon as adequate bedroom space and bathing and toilet facilities were provided were rudely contradicted in the winter of 1906 and 1907. After the Christmas vacation of 1906 a young student returned to school from a home in which there was a case of smallpox, and very shortly after the beginning of the new term he too was found to have the disease. When the nature of the boy's illness became known there was much excitement in the city and still more in the dormitory. A group of some twenty students became panicky, fled from the dormitory and caught the first train for home just a few hours ahead of the imposition of quarantine. There was no isolation hospital either in the city or at the college, and the only way of separating the two who had the disease from the rest of the students was to set up hospital beds

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for them in the gymnasium. The rest of the students were at once confined to the college grounds and required to submit to vaccination. One student stubbornly refused to be vaccinated and under the health officer's orders was to be placed in isolation in one of the sickrooms. He continued his opposition, however, to the health officer and to the inspector and finally was suspended, not only because of this instance of stubbornness but because of repeated cases of insubordination and insolence. His classmates immediately took up arms in his defense and addressed a communication to the faculty. Their petition, as it was called, stated that the reason given for his suspension, that he "would not submit to the authority of the inspector . . . did not seem weighty enough." "We request," they continued, "that the faculty notify us through Professor William Notz during our last recitation this forenoon, whether this petition met with approval." When President Ernst refused even to present the petition to the faculty, a second communication followed. "Since the president of the institution refused to put our petition before the faculty . . . we the undersigned resolve to leave the institution if our petition is not regarded." The class then went on strike and refused to attend recitations. Professor Wente objected to hearing the petitions at all unless the strike were first called off. The faculty nevertheless heard the petitions and answered that the petitioners should first have sought information before passing judgment on the faculty; it declared the action of the inspector to have been well founded, condemned the strike and declared the petition to be an ultimatum rather than a petition. The signers were then required to appear before the faculty one at a time, and after some resistance on the part of a few, each one admitted his wrong. The strike was called off and quiet returned to the campus. The sentiment of the majority of the student body was strongly with the inspector in their disapproval both of the desertion of those who ran away in time of trouble and of the immoderate action of the strikers. The smallpox scare was, in spite of trouble and anxiety, not without its humorous aspects. Several of the smarter ones rushed to a water faucet immediately after receiving the vaccine and washed the spot where the doctor had applied it. They were the ones with the really sore and swollen arms. Poor Dr. Feld had a difficult time rounding up every student in a building with

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which he was not familiar, and for several days was on the trail of a student by the name of Schroeder. Encountering a boy in the hall, he asked if he had seen Schroeder anywhere. "Yes, he just went into the last room down the hall," and with that, Schroeder disappeared in the opposite direction. But the doctor did finally catch up with him. After the disappearance of the last signs of smallpox three students contracted pneumonia and two of them became extremely ill. Those were the days before the wonder drugs, and pneumonia was as often fatal as smallpox itself. Professor Ernst took one of the two boys into his house and Professor Eickmann the other, who remained on the critical list for a long time. During the spring of that same year there were also thirty cases of mumps in the dormitory, so that the winter of 1906/07, in spite of the new building, was the worst winter that the school had ever experienced as to sickness and health.

A Faithful Servant at Rest Only someone who has had the care of all the dormitory students on his mind and conscience day in and day out from the first year of high school to the last year of college can appreciate how wearing that can be on the mind and the nerves. The last day of school brings blessed quiet and relief, unless there is clamor and criticism from parents and pastors. It must have given Professor Eickmann some satisfaction to receive a vote of confidence from the Synod in the summer of 1907, when he was being criticized for having given certain parents the advice to take their sons out of school because they were neither studious nor amenable to any kind of discipline. On the morning of June 2, 1915, Professor Eickmann did not make the rounds of the bedrooms. Sometime during the night the Lord quietly relieved him forever of all troubles. In him Northwestern lost another of the good and faithful servants with whom the Lord has blessed our school.

The Tutor System Professor Eickmann's sudden death following upon the resignations of three successive inspectors who had found the burden of a full teaching schedule coupled with the physical and mental strain of dormitory responsibility more than they could carry,

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made the college board and the Synod realize that a different system of inspection had to be devised. By resolution of the Synod a committee composed of representatives of Northwestern College, of the theological seminary, and of the synodical institutions in New Ulm and Saginaw studied the problem and proposed a new system. The old system, which laid the entire burden on the shoulders of one man, was not considered feasible or reasonable. Professor Pieper spoke in favor of a system that he had seen in operation in the Fuerstenschule of Meissen in Saxony. It was called the Hebdomadary System, a formidable name derived from the Greek hebdomas, which is the word for a period of seven days. Under this system each member of the faculty would in turn move into the dormitory and take over the supervision for a period of seven days. Professor John P. Koehler had given the problem a great deal of thought and proposed a plan that was based on his own experience as inspector for a period of six years at a time when there was only one dormitory and a much smaller student body. Even in those simpler conditions he had found that it was the unvarying routine of physical work and the constant attention that had to be given to little details that wore a man down, rather than the important decisions. In his opinion the president of the institution should be the responsible head of a staff of three tutors who should live in the dormitory, one on each of the three floors, and do all of the routine work of supervising and preserving order. They should have limited responsibility and authority but should refer more serious matters to the attention of the president or through him to the faculty. The three tutors, according to the plan proposed by Professor Koehler and later adopted by the committee and put into practice, were to be seminary graduates chosen by the president and the faculty of Northwestern College and assigned to the position by the assignment committee of the Synod. Since they were to have limited teaching or tutoring assignments (eight or ten periods weekly) and should have several hours each day during class periods at their disposal, it was thought that they might profitably use this time for serious study. Since each tutor was to be directly responsible for only one floor, the committee believed that this was such a rare opportunity for self-improvement, an opportunity that the active ministry might not afford, that these young

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graduates would welcome the chance to follow their special scholarly interests and would not require much in the way of salary. So, besides free bed and board, they were renumerated with $18.50 a month for ten months. That modest scale did not long remain in force because experience soon showed that tutors had other living expenses besides bed and board. According to the plan a tutor was obligated to stay one year in this position, but one of the three would be asked to remain a second year, so that there would always be one man on the force who knew all the details of dormitory administration. The first tutors were Carl Schweppe, Herbert Parisius, and William Luecke! for the year 1915/16; the second group in the following year included Carl Schweppe, as second-year man, Walter Schumann, and William Hartwig. Together with the first group President Ernst drew up a set of regulations for tutors which was submitted for approval to the faculty and also to the board. The system, with some modification, has worked well enough to be kept in operation to the present day. The chief modification was one that was suggested by the faculty in connection with its study of a revision of the statutes in 1917. The reason for the suggestion was that President Ernst was not well at this time, indeed was seriously ill during the summer of 1918, and the faculty believed that the president should be relieved of the supervision of tutors and of immediate responsibility for the dormitory. It therefore recommended that a permanent inspector be added to the faculty. This suggestion was not carried out until 1935. With that one major change the tutor system has continued to operate satisfactorily ever since it was introduced. World War I Problems The system was early put to a test because the four years from 1915 to 1919 presented some peculiar difficulties.This was the period of the First World War, and although we were not directly engaged during the first years of the war, this was a time of unrest and anxiety. Until the United States entered the war, feeling in the Middle West was either strongly for the Germans or strongly against them, and after 1918 anything German was under suspicion of being a mark of disloyalty. Attempts were made in some states to prohibit preaching in German, and in

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Wisconsin a bill was introduced before the legislature to prohibit the teaching and use of German in elementary schools. It also took some time to convince the authorities that under the law governing the draft, students who were preparing for the ministry at Northwestern were exempted from military service. The uncertainty among the students as to their status contributed to the general unrest and confusion of the time. As the war continued, it became increasingly difficult to supply German textbooks for the foreign language classes and certain classes in history and philosophy. In 1918 the German sources dried up completely. In that year the faculty appointed a committee to work with Concordia College of Milwaukee on a project to publish Ostermann-Mueller's Latin grammar, and Professors Ernst, Schlueter and Henkel were instructed to make a selection of passages from Luther's works and to publish them in textbook form for class use. Nothing came of either project, perhaps because of the collapse of German resistance and the end of the war. This was the period too of the epidemic of the Spanish influenza, which lasted from May, 1918, till May, 1919, and caused untold misery and many thousands of deaths. Quarantine was impossible because everybody in the country had already been exposed to the disease, but restrictions were imposed on large gatherings in theaters, halls and churches. One such restriction prescribed for Wisconsin schools limited the number of students occupying a single classroom to twenty persons. A daily medical inspection of dormitory students was ordered.

Over-Discipline The tutor system was put to a good test during its first four years partly because of the war, sickness, and the general unrest in the country, and partly by the students themselves, who tested its efficiencyin their own way. One rather amusing episode shows how a test was attempted. School-age boys, whether at home or in a school dormitory, are not easily roused out of bed at six in the morning. One group of tutors in 1918 thought it would make for better order in all respects and for greater promptness in the dining hall at breakfast if the students were assembled for roll call in the dormitory halls at 6:25 each morning. On the first morning exactly one student of the college department reported

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for roll call. When an attempt was made to enforce the ruling, the students drew up the following explanation for their unwillingness to conform: 1. It is humiliating for college students to have to appear for roll call with preps. 2. Roll call is a military regulation and we are civilians. 3. If we report for roll call we are prevented from taking a healthful walk before breakfast. The faculty was not impressed by the cogency of these arguments. Without entering on the merits of the roll call idea, the faculty felt it necessary to support the tutors when their authority was questioned and called in class after class for a face to face discussion. By ones and by dozens the students yielded to persuasion and after a few days all students were appearing for roll call. That attempt at military precision was never an unqualified success and it gradually sank to an unlamented death. A Number of Changes In the four years after Professor Eickmann's death, there were numerous changes that affected the board, students and faculty. In 1919 the new constitution of the reorganized Joint Synod was finally in full operation. Negotiations for amalgamation had been going on ever since 1892. All college properties were now held in the name of the Board of Trustees of the Synod. The Northwestern College Board was reduced from eighteen members to nine, and it no longer administered the property of the theological seminary. Since April, 1916, regular Sunday morning services in English were being held in St. Mark's school, and the faculty encouraged students to attend there in order to help the congregation in the singing of a new and unfamiliar liturgy. By May, 1919, Trinity had been organized as an English congregation and had remodeled and dedicated the Buchheit residence on Fourth Street as its church home. Trinity's new church, erected on the same site, was dedicated in 1953. Professor Frank was forced to ask for a two-year furlough after undergoing a very serious operation. He did not live to the end of the furlough but died of cancer of the stomach after much suffering in February, 1919. No theologian on the faculty had exerted a more positive Christian influence on his students than Herman Frank, who was not a theologian but a mathematician. He was barely fifty at the time of his death. R. Jahnke

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substituted for him during his illness. Theodore Binhammer, who had received a B.A. at the University of Michigan and served a year in the navy, was called as Frank's successor. He accepted the call and began his long tenure as professor of mathematics in the fall of 1919. Four years previously Elmer Sauer had joined the faculty as professor of classics. In 1916 Gustav Westerhaus came to teach German, and two years later Sigmund Probst was installed as professor of English. Dr. Arthur Hoermann accepted a call to the ministry in Honolulu in 1916, and Otto Kuhlow left in 1918 to accept a pastorate in Waterloo.

A New President Dr. Ernst's failing health and the approaching end of his half century of service in 1919 prompted the college board to suggest that he retire from the presidency. This he was very willing to do. His retirement and the completion of his fiftieth year were commemorated with appropriate ceremonies. The June, 1919, issue of the Black and Red, dedicated to "our honored teacher, friend and leader, Dr. A. F. Ernst," printed numerous tributes from former students, one of whom - Rev. H. K. Moussa saluted him as "the preceptor of the Lutheran Northwest." In June, 1919, Professor Erwin Kowalke was named by the board as the fourth president of Northwestern.

CHAPTER

XXIII

Interim~ 1919-1923 For five years after the resignation of Dr. Ernst from the presidency in 1919 there was a lull in the affairs of the college. Then in 1924 a storm broke, faint rumblings of which are still heard after forty long years. There were several changes in the faculty during those five years, but they were of a kind that might be expected in any normal period. Dr. Ernst remained active in the classroom until the summer of 1921, teaching history, German, religion, and philosophy. He had also been asked to revise his German readers and to publish them for use in college German classes, but illness prevented any work on that project. He recovered sufficiently in the fall of 1921 to give three lectures a week to the seniors in his home but soon had to give up even that activity. In the Synod meeting of 1923 it was reported that he had been retired on a pension after fiftythree years at Northwestern. During the first week of September, 1920, William Henkel left to accept a professorship at our theological seminary. The first four calls that were issued - to Oswald Hensel, John Brenner, Ernst Dornfeld, and Paul Pieper - were declined. The call finally went to Rev. Henry Schmeling, who, after some reluctance, accepted it. In February of 1920 Herbert Parisius began teaching, and in September of that year he became the director of athletics to replace Professor Kowalke, who was now the president and by virtue of that office also the responsible head of the dormitory staff, Educational Faculty Meetings In 1918 the faculty made an attempt to occupy its members at its weekly meetings with something more profitable and

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elevating than routine disciplinary problems. Each month one of the professors was to present a study of some subject of pedagogical interest. Schlueter was the first (and seemingly the last) to respond. His essay was entitled, "What have been the results, if any, of lengthening the class periods from forty-five to fifty minutes?" No report on the essay is recorded. In 1920 the faculty made another attempt along the same line by appointing Professors Sauer, Westerhaus and Probst to suggest topics for discussion at meetings. Dr. Ernst was the first essayist, speaking on the subject of more effective instruction in German. He urged wider reading in that language and suggested that the study of grammar be postponed until the student had learned to read well. Another topic discussed was how to prevail upon students to speak up in class. The problem was thoroughly discussed, but experience has shown that it was not solved. The records do not tell how long this program was continued. There were, however, a number of excellent volumes on pedagogy readily available on the shelves of the faculty room library, to which Dr. Ernst frequently directed the attention of the younger members of the faculty. In September, 1922, the faculty voted to limit the length of its regular meetings to two and one half hours and to refrain from smoking during that time.

Faculty Study In 1921 Paul Eickmann, who was then a student at the seminary, was prevailed upon to interrupt his studies there and to attend the University of Michigan to prepare himself for the teaching of sciences. He would much have preferred to complete his theological studies first, which would have been the better course, because then no effective objection could have been raised to his ordination. The argument that he had not completed his course at the seminary and therefore should not be ordained was not very convincing, because dozens of instances could be cited where seminary students were released before the end of their course to answer an emergency call. In this year Professor Westerhaus was granted a furlough for one year, or if he felt it necessary, for two years in order to study history in Germany. Unfortunately he was compelled by circumstances to return after only one year, partly because he had changed his American money into German marks just at

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the time when inflation in Germany was setting out on its fantastic course. Since Professor Westerhaus' salary was being paid to his substitute, Professor Karl Koehler, he had no alternative but to return to the States. When prices of articles of ordinary daily use were quoted in millions and even in billions of marks, existence in Germany became difficult. Mer Professor Westerhaus returned, Professor Koehler received a permanent call to fill an existing vacancy, although he had asked that his name should not be placed on the list of nominees, lest he be suspected of having used his position as substitute to acquire a permanent call. The board had received one protest against his nomination but did not consider it sufficiently well-based to make him ineligible. In 1923 Professor Koehler proposed a religionhistory course for the high-school classes and the freshman college class that combined the teaching of religion and history, thus treating religion as a fact of daily life, not only of the individual but as the dominating fact in the life of the world. Against considerable opposition Professor Koehler's ideas prevailed, and his course was adopted with some modification for the synodical preparatory schools. That course is, in part, still in use at Northwestern in some high-school classes. A General Liberal Arts College? In 1916 a proposal was advanced to add a modern classical course to the offerings of the college for the benefit of Lutheran lay members who might want to acquire a Christian liberal arts education. The debate over this measure was carried to the floor of the Synod and the proposal was finally adopted by both college board and Synod over the vigorous dissent of Professor August Pieper. The plan had not, however, advanced beyond the appointment of committees to study the requirements in laboratory equipment, library and personnel for such a course. Finally in 1921 the matter was tabled - permanently, as it turned out when another major educational project - the building of a new seminary - was given priority. The comprehensive report of a synodical committee on education may have influenced the postponement of action regarding a modern classical course, because that committee had a number of suggestions which if followed would have profoundly affected our educational system. Some of the committee's suggestions are being seriously con-

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sidered for adoption even now. The separation of the preparatory course from the college course at Northwestern was recommended, a proposal that would have meant relocating the preparatory department on a separate campus. Another proposal was the removal of Dr. Martin Luther College to Milwaukee. It was thought at the time that New VIm could not attract enough students for our needs because it lay so far from the center of the Synod's population. A student body at Dr. Martin Luther College of over seven hundred students was unthinkable forty years ago. In 1921, while the Synod was considering the suggestions of the committee on education, it came to a decision that had not been proposed by this committee but had been forced on the Synod's attention by the need for more space than was available on the seminary grounds on Sixtieth Street in Wauwatosa. When the Pabst family made this property available for seminary use, certain restrictions that could not be removed had been attached to the gift, and it was not possible for the Synod to acquire a completely clear title to the property. At its meeting in St. Peter's Congregation in Milwaukee in 1921 the Synod decided not to spend any money on property it could not own without restrictions and voted to relocate the theological seminary. Eventually the property in Mequon was acquired.

Various Items In 1921, the same year in which Dr. Ernst gave up teaching, the body of his longtime colleague, Dr. F. W. A. Notz, was brought back to Watertown for burial. Thus, within just a few years of each other, four of the five or six men whose work and personality had done so much to shape the character of the college, Professors Eickmann and Frank, Dr. Notz, and Dr. Ernst received their final call from the Lord whom they had so faithfully served. In 1923 the minutes of the faculty meetings began to appear in English. Professor Henkel had been called to the seminary. Professor Schlueter was on furlough because of a nervous breakdown and Dr. Ernst was no longer attending the faculty meetings. German was the native language of these men and was always the language in which they preferred to converse, whereas the other members of the faculty, although perfectly familiar with the German, felt most at home in the English language. The

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language of the faculty room was from now on predominantly English. At this time too Professor Koehler asked faculty approval for the use of English in all his history classes. Certain buildings on the campus were at this time put to an unaccustomed use. Since the inspector's residence, which was attached to the dormitory, was not occupied under the new system of inspection, Dr. Peters, a recent addition to the faculty, moved into that house. The Ernst house, the first residence to be built for faculty use, was now also vacated, and two of the bachelor members of the faculty, Westerhaus and Probst, were quartered there. The other two bachelors, Binhammer and Karl Koehler, found rooms off the campus. The Ernst house had been examined as a possible location for the college library, but it became evident that even with the expenditure of considerable sums to remodel the structure it would still be nothing but a makeshift and but a slight improvement over the cramped quarters in the recitation building. In 1923 one new building appeared on the campus and one old structure disappeared. To supply much-needed classroom space, a barracks building was erected in the space just north of the 1875 dormitory. This building was one of the original prefabricated structures and was delivered on the campus in panels that were quickly bolted together. There was no excavation under the building, nor was there a solid masonry foundation, so that the building heaved unevenly under pressure of frost, and water that should have flowed back to the boilers remained trapped in the pipes, froze, and burst radiators in the coldest weather. The building was cold in winter and unbearably hot in summer, but it provided two classrooms, each large enough for the largest classes. In 1936 the building, which had fallen into disrepair and was no longer needed for classrooms, was degraded to a garage and storeroom, the approach to which is marked to this day by the blacktopped parking space near the entrance to the dining hall. The structure that disappeared was the bandstand that the Students had erected. Decay had set in, it was being used but little, and since repair would have been expensive, it was torn down and not greatly missed. In 1921 the college received a bequest of $20,000 from Mrs. Eichelberger of Horicon, Wisconsin. Mrs. Eichelberger had consulted Mr. Christiansen, a lawyer in Juneau, about her will

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and asked him if she had omitted any of the neighboring colleges and institutions. Mr. Christiansen had always been a warm friend of our college, and he was prompt to say that she had forgotten Northwestern. Two of the largest bequests that the college has ever received have thus come from women who were not members of our church, Mrs. Lewis of Watertown and Mrs. Eichelberger of Horicon. Other sizable bequests have been made by Pastor Jaeckel, Pastor Richard Siegler, Mrs. Mathilda Deitloff, and Dr. George Shield, who graduated under the name of Hauschild and was best known by that name in our circles. Policy for Honorary Degrees

In 1922 the faculty together with the board established a policy governing the granting of honorary degrees. A doctor of divinity degree was conferred upon Dr. Metzger of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in recognition of contributions that he had made in the field of catechetical instruction. He had written a book that was much used in the Synodical Conference in connection with instruction for confirmation, and when he was called to head the Theologische Hochschule in Zehlendorf, a suburb of Berlin, our faculty was approached with the suggestion that it grant him the D.D. degree on the basis of his work in catechetics. There was good reason for granting that honor to Dr. Metzger. He had made valuable contributions to education in the Lutheran church. Besides that, it was a practical necessity that a man who was at the head of such an institution as a theological seminary in Germany hold a doctor's degree. However, when, about the same time, two other requests came to grant degrees, one of them in order to enhance the observance of an anniversary at a school by bestowal of two or three degrees on faculty members, the other to honor a man who had served many years in the ministry, the faculty decided that a policy should be established in order to prevent abuse of the granting of degrees. The policy that was adopted by board and faculty was that honorary degrees should be granted only in recognition of outstanding service to the church and only upon unanimous approval of both board and faculty of Northwestern College. Since then no honorary degrees have been granted.

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1919-1923

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Special Degrees

The following is a list of the special degrees awarded by the college over the years: 1873 An unnamed student in St. Louis applied for an M. A He was required to write an essayon an assigned subject in Latin, German, or English. There is no record to show whether he complied. 1875 JOHN BADING. M. A Dr. Notz submitted a model of an M. A diploma that he had composed for John Bading. It was lithographed in Milwaukee. In the future a charge of $10 was to be made for granting it. The unissued copies were very likely destroyed in the fire of 1894. 1878 GEORGE MUEHLHAEUSER. Upon presentation of a dissertation in Latin he received the M. A, June 22. 1880. A. MARTI. He had completed the junior year, then had a year at Yale, attended the seminary in Milwaukee, requested the B.A. degree from NW. Dr. Notz, Easterday, Snyder were appointed to examine him. Degree granted. Marti became professor at U. of Zurich, Switzerland. 1893 JOSEPH DEIBERT. Formerly professor at NW, applied for degree of B. Sc. Granted, honoris causa, in 1893. 1892 OLE FELLAND, Northfield, Minnesota, received M. A. degree June 7. 1893 CARL ABBETMEYER. He left Northwestern at the end of the junior year. When he was pastor at Nicollet, Minnesota, he asked for a B.A. Prof. Koehler and Dr. Notz examined him on the occasion of the Synod meeting in Winona. Degree was granted, and he is listed as graduate of 1888. He accepted call to NW in the summer of 1929 but died that same summer. 1893 JOEL SMITH, former professor at NW, received M. A. degree. 1903 ADOLF HOENECKE AND FRANZ PIEPER, '72, received D. D. degree on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the seminary in Milwaukee. 1908 OTTO VON RENNER, of Frankenhilf, Michigan. Member of sophomore class in the normal department in 1889. Granted a diploma July 11, 1908. There is no record of kind of diploma or why it was granted, nor does the name appear in any list of alumni. 1915 A F. ERNST. Ph. D. Degree awarded by Concordia Seminary of St. Louis and conferred by Dr. Franz Pieper on occasion of Northwestern's fiftieth anniversary. On the same occasion EUGEN KRAUSS, professor at Concordia Seminary and

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OLAF BRANDT, 'SO, professor at Luther Seminary, Hamline, Minnesota, were both awarded the degree of doctor of theology by Northwestern. 1915 CARL BOLLE received B. A. degree on basis of work as professor at NW and his studies in Spanish. 1921 FRIEDA MONICH, Bethany. Recommended by C. Abbetmeyer, she was given the B. A. degree on the basis of work at Bethany and a thesis on Edgar Allan Poe. 1922 GEORGE ME1ZGER, professor at St. Louis, when called to head the Theologische Hochschule in Zehlendorf, suburb of Berlin. Awarded D. D. degree on basis of book on catechetics and contributions to carechetical instruction.

CHAPTER

XXIV

The Curriculum Although the institution bore the imposing name of Wisconsin University or Northwestern University, there were at no time during the first five years more than eleven students in the college department. In 1867 only six of the sixty-eight students registered were preparing for the ministry. The total attendance in 1869 reached 144, but all but seven of these were registered in the high-school or academy department. The curriculum naturally was shaped to accommodate the great majority of students, who were interested only in a general high-school education. President Martin's purpose of making this a community college also favored a course of studies that met the wishes of the majority. During at least the first five years the curriculum was that of the high-school grades or the upper elementary grades, and the medium of instruction was almost exclusively English. The handful of students of college grade had slight influence on the general curriculum, although they were receiving intensive instruction in Latin and Greek in preparation for seminary studies. It has already been mentioned that the congregations showed but little interest in their school and were giving it very grudging support because the establishment of a community college was farthest from their thoughts and ambitions. Under the influence of Professors Meumann and Ernst the curriculum was receiving a thorough revision by 1870, and much greater emphasis was being given to the German language, both as a subject of study and as a medium of instruction. This change reflected the profound difference in the objectives of President Martin and his successor, Professor Ernst. Martin was building an American college; Ernst was interested in building a school that should supply the congregations with pastors and teachers, a school that

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he liked to call a "workshop of the Holy Spirit." Ernst's model was the German Gymnasium. In his plan the language of the classroom was to be the language that the graduates would one day use in the pulpits of the Synod's churches. And so it was that for forty years after 1870 the language of the classroom was German, except for classes in English, mathematics, science, and American history. Business Department During those years it could be assumed that all boys who wished to prepare for the ministry came from homes where German was in common use and that they spoke and understood German as readily as English. For those who desired a general high-school or a commercial course a curriculum was arranged that excluded Greek and Latin and otherwise suited their requirements and their capabilities. This department was in the early years referred to as the Academy and then as the Commercial or Business department. After 1872 the classical department was considered the heart and core of the school, while commercial and special courses were provided as an accommodation to those who desired such studies as part of a Christian education. This department of the school was for many years under more or less constant attack by pastors who assumed, without reason, that students might be lured away from studies for the ministry into a course that was easier and that presumably promised quicker and greater financial rewards than were offered by the ministry. It was also sometimes assumed, again without reason, that business students might not be a good moral influence on the others, even though graduates of that department were giving evidence of their training as staunch members of our congregations. Another argument, that money could be saved by dropping the department, was disproved by statistics which showed that it was actually paying its way. On one occasion the Synod authorized elimination of the course if both board and faculty agreed. But both board and faculty defended it. Prof. Albert Kuhn published a long article in its defense in the August 1, 1904, issue of the Gemeindeblatt, arguing that it offered a Christian education to many who had neither the desire nor the qualifications for the classical course. The commercial department weathered all attempts to remove it from the curriculum.

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In recent years it has declined in importance because increased enrollment made it necessary to deny dormitory accommodations to all boys except those who intended to prepare for the ministry. As for the girls, today most of them are attracted to the teaching profession rather than to office work. The Seven Years Become Eight Until 1919 the combined preparatory and college course comprised seven years. The classes were commonly referred to by the Latin designation that had been taken over from the German system. The senior college class was called the Ober Prima (the Upper First), the junior class was the Unter Prima (Lower First), the sophomore class was the Secunda. The third class was the Tertia, and it was not quite certain whether this class was the first year of college or the last year of high school; .it straddled the division. If it was desired to give the college four years, then Tertia was appended to the college; if it was necessary to make the high school course one of four years, then Tertia was a high-school class. The third year of high school was Quarts, the second year Quinta, and the first year was Sexta. But in 1919 an extra year was added at the top, and the complete Northwestern course from then on covered four years of high school and four years of college. Until 1893 a teacher training course was a regular part of the curriculum. When the Joint Synod was formed in 1892, Dr. Martin Luther College of New VIm, Minnesota, became the training school for parochial school teachers, and the course was discontinued at Northwestern. As early as 1897 President Ernst complained to the college board that many boys were being admitted who were unable to do the work of the Sexra class and urged the introduction of a sub-class called Septima to fill the gap that at that time existed between the parochial school and the first year of high school. By 1899 the visiting committee was recommending the addition of such a class. In 1901 it was found that nine students in the Sexta class were deficient in one or more' branches, and upper c1assmen were assigned to tutor them. The Septima was added in 1902, and Carl Bolle was called from St. John's school in St. Paul to teach it. He and Dr. Ernst drew up a schedule of studies, and the class continued - intermittently during its final

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years - until about 1916, when it was found that most applicants were ready for the ninth grade. At that time the provision was made that any student still needing eighth-grade instruction would be enrolled in St. Mark's School, while living in the dormitory. Only one student was thus enrolled. Sexta had become a full ninth grade with algebra, Latin and German, besides the other customary high school studies. The Classical Course The classical course had always been heavily weighted with languages. English and German were obviously necessary. Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were necessary as a preparation for any serious study of Scripture and theological branches. English, German, and Latin were carried through the entire course; Greek was begun in the third year of the high school, Hebrew in the junior year of college. History was an eight-year course; mathematics was not carried beyond the freshman year of college; sciences were confined to the high school until about 1920, when a course in physics was added to the college sophomore schedule. Religion was an eight-year course; logic and philosophy were given in the two upper college classes. Singing instruction was introduced in all classes in 1921. From the very beginning drawing was also one of the subjects in the curriculum. It was usually taught in the first or second high-school year, and many remember it as one of the most enjoyable and profitable courses. Among the men who taught drawing over the years were Dr. Hoenecke, Dr. Notz, Sr., Professor Frank, Professor Hurh and Leonard Umnus. After 1938 the course was continued for several years by Professor Martin Franzmann as a history of art. The schedule was a very heavy one both for students and faculty, especially since the latter was kept small by an extremely cost-conscious Synod. Classes ran up to Saturday noon and both teachers and students carried as many as thirty-four hours a week. At the 1916 meeting of the Synod, overburdening of students as well as of faculty was the subject of much discussion, but changes were slow in coming. It had been customary to combine the junior and senior classes in the college in such subjects as German, Latin, Greek, history and philosophy. That was recognized as a poor but necessary

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expedient. In 1905 some sophomores petitioned the faculty to grant them the privilege of joining the junior and senior classes in some branches, so that they might enter the seminary one year earlier. The petition was denied. Up to about 1920 it was not uncommon for juniors to forgo graduation and a B.A. and enter the seminary after two college years. The seminary at that time accepted two-year college men from both Northwestern and Concordia. Up to 1904 public oral examinations were given to the seniors at the end of their final school term. It was customary to allow some time to prepare for this ordeal. In 1901 the seniors asked for three weeks off before commencement to make the necessary preparation. The faculty gave them two. In 1895, in a more generous mood, it had allowed four weeks. In January, 1904, the faculty resolved that in future written examinations should replace the previously customary oral examinations. The written papers were to be deposited in the faculty room, so that each teacher could observe what work was being done in other classes. After that only the commencement speakers were given the last week free. Today neither seniors nor commencement speakers feel the need for a period of preparation unburdened by class sessions. The present system of semester examinations was inaugurated in 1925. Overburden There were many proposals to drop some subjects entirely and to reduce the requirements in others. All such proposals met with support, but at the 1916 meeting President Ernst advised proceeding cautiously with the curriculum because students should not be encouraged in their antipathy to the languages. He said they already wanted to get through with foreign language study as easily and quickly as possible, and even to give it up entirely if it caused too much trouble. Not much was done by the Synod to reduce the work load, but the faculty did work out a plan that set thirty periods a week as the maximum for a professor, and made some changes that did not weaken the course but provided for fewer periods and more concentration. A scheme that was introduced in 1907 was expected to be of help to the student by giving him more time for preparation. The time for recitations was set for 7:30 to 12:30, with a recess

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at 10:00. There were no class periods in the afternoon, but there were fixed study periods from 1: 30 to 3: 45 and beginning at 7: 00 in the evening. That schedule was continued until about the middle 1930's. Two factors contributed to the overburdening of the faculty, apart from the unwillingness of the Synod to supply more teachers. One was the increase in enrollment about 1905, and again after the war around 1920. The first made it impossible to continue the old practice of combining the junior and senior classes. The other factor was the necessity of providing instruction in the lower classes in the medium of the English, since many entering students no longer were bilingual. The faculty was unwilling to make the transition all at once and some years after 1919 conducted parallel classes, one half the class receiving instruction in Latin and German through the medium of the English, the other half through the medium of the German. The change-over was greatly hastened by the First World War, when it became impossible to get German textbooks from Germany and when antipathy to the German language became intense in some parts of the Middle West. Professor Kowalke's first request to the Synod as president in 1919 was for an additional professor to teach the parallel classes. The conquest of the English as medium of instruction over the German was not complete until about 1938, and the last subjects to capitulate were Greek New Testament, Hebrew, and philosophy in the junior and senior classes.

When the Army Almost Took Over A program that would have completely changed our curriculum if it had been carried through was that of the government's Student Army Training Corps during the First World War. The plan was to use the nation's colleges as a training ground for officers. President Ernst's answers to a questionnaire were interpreted in Washington as consenting to the establishment of a corps at Northwestern. When page-long telegrams arrived detailing the requirements in equipment, courses, and personnel of instructors, it was evident that our school could not enter on the program without abandoning its purpose of training men for the ministry. The army corps would have taken over every building and every function of the school and would have displaced the course of

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studies with a course designed for service in the army. Appeals to local and regional boards controlling training in the Middle West area brought the answer that the assignment of a corps to Northwestern College could not be canceled. The college board then delegated Pastor Brenner and Professor Kowalke to go to Washington to present our case there. After being shunted back and forth from office to office, the committee finally found an officer who had authority, and after a two-minute interview out in a hall in which the purpose and character of the college were explained to a young officer, he explained: "That is not the kind of college that we have in mind at all. If you will give me the name and address of the school I will have the arrangement canceled." That was that. Language Courses Rearranged After the settlement of the language question, the next major change in the curriculum was a rearrangement of the language courses, which was carried out gradually over a number of years. It could no longer be assumed that entering students understood German, and the faculty agreed that a course that made the jump from the eighth grade to the high-school level, at a time when young boys were away from home for the first time, would be unreasonably heavy if it introduced the student to two strange languages, German and Latin, in the very first year. As the situation stands now, Latin remains a first-year course, and continues as a required course through the first year of college. German is begun in the third year; Greek starts in the freshman year of the college, and the two-year Hebrew course begins in the junior year, so that there is always an interval of a full year between the first year in one new language and the beginning of another. An item in the Black and Red of 1916 throws some light on the German-English situation in that year. A knowledge of German was expected but was not always found where it was expected, so that students often felt seriously handicapped by their deficiency in German. Sometimes they did something about the matter. One device was the formation of a German Club with Edward Blakewell as president, Raymond Timmel as vicepresident, and E. C. Kiessling as social secretary. At that time students for the ministry could expect that they would have

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to preach German wherever they were called, and they took their German more seriously than did the generation that followed them. At the time of the First World War the college was not at first so clearly identified as a divinity school as was the case in the next war. Several students of upper classes were drafted before exemption for our students for the ministry could be secured. After the war they returned and continued their course into the seminary and the ministry. Among them were Edward Blakewell, Luther Voss, Karl Kuske, Belno Lange, and Herbert Schumacher. In the Second World War Northwestern College was from the beginning listed in the office of the Director of Selective Service as a recognized divinity school, and it was possible to secure the exemption of all bona fide students for the ministry except Karl Uplegger, Rupert Rosin, and Wilfred Wietzke. Attempts to securetheir discharge through the Colorado and Arizona draft boards were not successful. Those states had such difficulty filling their quota that they made little effort to secure the discharge of a man, once he had been put into uniform. In the Battle of the Bulge Karl Uplegger was seriously wounded and a short time later died in a hospital in this country. After 1870 Northwestern had never seriously considered developing itself into a university in order to live up to its original name. In 1910 the name was officially and legally changed to Northwestern College, although there were still a few enthusiasts in the faculty and among the pastors who did not want to relinquish the university label. People who attended the commencement exercises up to 1937 remember that each year there would be three orations by graduates, in English, in German, and in Latin. There perhaps never was a time when the Latin oration was understood by more than two or three people in the audience unless they had the text before them so that the eye might help the ear, but the Latin speech was traditional and it was reluctantly dropped. The reason for its decease was not that Latin was being neglected in the curriculum, but that under Professor W. C. Herrmann and others emphasis was being placed on translation and sight reading rather than on grammar and composition. After 1936 Latin was no longer required after the sophomore year and that was considered sufficient reason for letting the custom lapse. The Latin oration

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was omitted in 1929 but revived again in 1930 when Herold Schulz celebrated the bimillenium of Vergil in his Latin speech, and it was then continued until 1937, when George Frey delivered the last of the Latin orations, his subject being "De Lingua Latina in Media Aevo." Until 1960 the course of studies for students intending to prepare for the ministry had been firmly fixed and there was no relaxation from the required course. Beginning with 1961 juniors and seniors were permitted some choice in the fields of language, history, and philosophy. In place of classical Greek a student might choose to read more Latin, or in place of English he might choose German. At the same time the course load was also somewhat eased. Whether this change will avoid the fragmentation that had been criticized and make for better concentration and more independent work cannot yet be determined. In 1916 Dr. Ernst had reported that the students were not very zealous in their pursuit of Greek and Latin. The same thing might have been said in 1906 and in 1896, and the remark will perhaps still be appropriate in 1966; but after 100 years of the pursuit of the classical languages, there has not yet appeared a good reason for adopting a different foundation for fruitful study of the Bible and of theological disciplines. Each year since the end of the Second World War there have been a number of applicants who were determined to study for the ministry and who had already completed a public high-school course, or even one or two years at a university, but never had instruction in some of those branches that we require for admission to the college department. A special course of college grade in German and Latin has been introduced for these men that enables them to finish our college course and enter the seminary after five, or in some cases, after four years of work at Northwestern. This is called the remedial course, and the men who have completed it and gone on to the seminary have amply justified its inclusion in our curriculum.

CHAPTER XXV

Stormy Weather On the morning of March 31, 1924, a special faculty meeting was called immediately after chapel, at which the tutors reported that during the night they had learned of a large number of thefts that had been committed by dormitory students during the past several months. Because of the gravity of the situation the faculty decided to dismiss classes for the day in order to hear the tutors' report and to take appropriate action. While the tutors were investigating one case of stealing, the student being questioned mentioned other thefts that he knew of, thus involving a number of other boys. That broadened the scope of the investigation, and as each student accused was called and questioned, he involved still others until twenty-five students were found to have committed some kind of theft or to have knowingly accepted stolen articles or, as in the case of two monitors, to have had knowledge of thefts and to have remained silent when they should have taken action. Most of the thefts that occurred in stores in town were of such articles as are openly displayed - gum, candy, cigarettes, pencils, pens, and playing cards. Things taken in the dormitory included shirts, gloves, a jacket, a sweater, and small sums of money. Some of that might be called petty stealing, such as occurs even in well-regulated homes at times, but in this case too many boys were involved over a relatively short period of time to permit the situation to be glossed over as mere boyish heedlessness. One critic of the faculty'S severity said that this was something like climbing over a fence and stealing a few apples. The faculty could not take such a light view of what had the appearance of being a dangerous attitude among the younger students.

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Necessary Suspensions It must be said in defense of the general attitude of the students that most of them had no knowledge whatever of what had been going on. The guilty ones, moreover, had not been operating as a gang. With the exception of one group of three boys who were accustomed to go to town together and who had stolen frequently, most cases were isolated pilferings. But the situation was there, it was now known among students, and several merchants also knew that students had taken articles out of their stores. The faculty believed firmly that it would have been remiss in its duty if it had not taken action that proclaimed plainly to all students and to all who had knowledge of the scandal that stealing is an evil thing, a sinful thing, and not just a foible or weakness that can be treated with a shrug of the shoulders. After a complete report had been heard, the faculty decided to proceed according to a rule of long standing that stealing merited suspension. In the afternoon session, however, that decision was reconsidered, because the rule had never been consistently applied and it would be in the interest of fairness and justice if each case were considered separately. When the first student was called to appear before the faculty, it was found that he had left for home, and an attempt to reach his father by telephone failed because telephone service had been disrupted by a severe snowstorm. The accused students were then examined in order, and a decision was arrived at in each case by vote of the entire faculty. In some cases the vote was unanimous, but when the motion was to suspend a student till the end of the school year, Dr. Ott consistently opposed the motion because the student would in such a case lose the whole year after having completed seven out of the ten months. That, Dr. Ott contended, was an unduly harsh punishment. In other cases the vote was usually unanimous. In a few cases a few members of the faculty voted no when the motion was for restriction on the campus and conditioning rather than suspension or expulsion. As soon as possible, parents were notified by letter about what had occurred and what decision had been arrived at. Much fault was found with the faculty because it had not delayed the

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investigation and the decision until each parent could be present to speak in defense of his son. The faculty, on the other hand, believed that the affair had to be dealt with promptly and vigorously if the proper effect on the rest of the student body were to be achieved. Besides, the accused boys were understandably under tension, and it would hardly be a kindness to prolong their uncertainty as to what was to happen to them. In no case were the facts concerning the thefts in dispute. The presence of the parents could not have altered any of the facts. The contention was that the faculty had acted unfeelingly when it examined the boys without providing for the presence of their parents. That remained a major point of dispute between the board and the faculty when the cases were appealed before the college board.

Board and Faculty OiHer Some of the parents that were affected immediately appealed to the board, and it at once became apparent that the board would not support the faculty. The first criticism to be offered was that the faculty had not notified the parents before taking action. The board did not consider it important that the matter had come to light during the night and that the faculty had suspended classes the next day to consider the cases. The board did not believe that immediate action was necessary, and the two bodies never did come to an agreement on that point. Fault was also found with the manner of the investigation, as it had been carried on by the tutors during the night. \Vas it true, the board asked, that the questioning was continued until after midnight and that boys were routed out of bed in the early morning hours in order to answer accusations that had been made against them by students whose guilt had been admitted? Why was the president not present during the questioning, since he was the inspector-in-chief and thus responsible for the manner in which supervision was conducted? The president did not attempt to defend the manner of the investigation, nor had he been notified that an investigation was going on. He knew nothing of it until he was asked to call the special meeting the next morning. In fact, one board member knew of what was going on before the president had been notified. Were thirddegree methods used? That was emphatically denied. There were no threats and no force was used in any case, unless the nasty

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term "third degree" can be applied to questioning and cross questioning and to the doubtful propriety of calling young boys up out of a sound sleep to face their accusers and answer pointed questions. Was it true, a board member asked, that two students, a junior and a senior, were also employed in the investigation? That was true; they were monitors and were employed by the tutors to call the boys who were the next to be questioned. That seems to have been the extent of their involvement, and not much was made of that fact by the board. Responsibility for Discipline? The above points were all discussed at great length in the meetings that the board had with the president and then with the whole faculty, but the chief objections offered by the board were that the penalties were too severe and that according to the statutes suspension and expulsion could not be imposed without the approval of the board. It was these last two points that caused the break between the two bodies because no agreement could be reached on them. It was true that the board had the letter of the statutes of the college on its side. As far back as April, 1907, the faculty was discussing Dr. Ernst's draft of a revision of regulations governing individual professors, faculty, president, class advisors, and so on. Those discussions were extremely painstaking and continued into the next year. One paragraph stated plainly that only the board may expel, that the faculty may suspend temporarily but must report the action to the board, which may then ratify the suspension to make it effective. The faculty did not deny the existence of such a statute but argued that suspension and expulsion were disciplinary measures and that discipline was a function of the faculty and not of the board. There had been many instances of expulsion and suspension in the history of the school, and the board had in the last two decades regularly upheld the faculty's action when the cases were reported. A suspended person did have the right of appeal, but the faculty argued that the board should not reverse the faculty'S action unless it could be shown that the action was not based on proved facts or that the faculty had been grossly unjust. The board stood, with one exception, by its contention that suspension and

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expulsion required the board's approval; the faculty equally firmly maintained that discipline was a function of the faculty. When it became clear that no agreement was possible on this point, the faculty pleaded with the board that it refrain from interfering with college discipline, that it record its disagreement in its report to the Synod, and that it denounce the faculty'S action, if it saw fit to do so, but that it let the suspensions stand for the sake of good discipline in the school. The board rejected that suggestion and decided to set aside the suspensions and permit the suspended boys to return to classes and have their cases reviewed. The consequence of this action was that Karl Koehler and Herbert Parisius submitted their resignations. Out of consideration for their classes and for the rest of the faculty they offered to continue teaching till the end of the school year but without accepting any salary from the college board. The board refused to permit this arrangement; it did make a fruitless effort to persuade the two professors to withdraw their resignations but argued that it could not permit them to teach in the circumstances and could not change its general position in the controversy unless the Synod should decide to revise the functions of the board and relieve it of all responsibility for the inner administration of the college. Dr. Abelmann, the sole dissenting member of the board, also submitted his resignation to the board, but at its next meeting he appeared and explained that it was the Synod and not the board that had elected him and that only the Synod and not the board could receive his resignation. An Unfortunate Meeting

The board's reversal of the faculty's decisions, the recall of the students who had been suspended to the end of the school year, and the resignation of two professors naturally had wide repercussions throughout the Synod. There were committees and committee recommendations, but they achieved nothing. On the evening of June 12, the 1924 commencement day, a meeting was held in the college chapel that virtually took the case out of the hands of the faculty as well as of the board. There was no general announcement of the meeting, and professedly it was to be an open meeting at which interested persons might hear the faculty's side of the controversy_ The board, as such, was

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not represented except by the one dissenting member, and those who attended the meeting were almost without exception wholehearted partisans of the faculty. The spirit of the meeting was illustrated by the form of the invitation that one interested person received. A young pastor approached him and with evident relish asked, "Aren't you going to attend the meeting of the Bolsheviks?" The meeting developed into a one-sided commendation of the faculty and a denunciation of the board. It was in every respect an unfortunate meeting because it resulted in breaking the ranks of the faculty, some of whom saw that they could not follow the leadership that had emerged at that meeting. The term Bolshevik was not inappropriate and the radical element of the June 12th meeting became the nucleus of a third party. Understanding Between Faculty and Board For two full years the problem of faculty-board relations continued to be the subject of discussion and debate in the faculty, in the board and in the synodical committee (now named the synodical council). In October, 1924, the faculty discussed a report that had been drawn up by a committee appointed by the synodical council and admitted that the report correctly quoted the statutes that were then in effect, but it still maintained that the principles regarding the board's powers of regulation were not correct. In October of 1925 a committee of twenty men appointed by the synodical committee met with the faculty in Watertown, and again the field was thoroughly covered. In November of that year the board asked the president to appoint three members of the faculty to serve on a committee to revise the college statutes with special reference to board and faculty relations. The statutes were revised, but the relation between the two bodies since that time has not depended on the wording of the statutes, as might be illustrated by two examples. In March of 1926, while the matter was still very much alive, two students were suspended by unanimous vote for flagrant disobedience and repeated untruthfulness. The case was reported to the board by the president at its next meeting, and the decision was approved without question. In November of 1926 another case turned up that could not automatically be disposed of. Among other things - minor stealing was again involved. The

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case proved a difficult one to dispose of, and Professor Sauer then proposed that the board be called in to discuss the matter with the faculty. After hearing the case, the board decided to leave the solution to the faculty. This was in agreement with the faculty's understanding of the statutes. The board acted in an advisory capacity, lent assistance to the faculty in a difficult situation but did not dictate the form that discipline must take. A Serious Rift It took years for this upheaval of 1924 to subside. It was as serious a blow as the college has ever suffered. The faculty was disrupted by resignations and by strained relations among the members that remained to carry on the work of the school; friendships of long standing were broken; for a long time a cordial relation between board and faculty was impossible. The passage of time gradually wore away the tense feeling that existed. Slowly the gaps that had been left in the faculty, particularly in the fields of history and the classics, were filled. In the dormitory, life returned more quickly to its usual tempo. One impression was, however, not lost on the dormitory students. That was that even what might be thought to be only petty thievery can lead to major consequences. It is not easy to explain why so many boys should have been involved in the same kind of wrongdoing over such a short period of time. If there was any bright spot at all in the whole dark picture it was that, with one possible exception, the boys were not reckless and defiant. Even those who at first sought refuge in denial of their guilt could be reached finally through appeal to their consciences and to their Christian faith. In the meantime the rift in the Synod grew wider. At a meeting of the Third Party held in Wilton, Wisconsin, on January 18, 1928, charges were made, which, if substantiated, would have greatly discredited one member of the college board and through him, the entire board. The charge was publicly made that college funds had been so mismanaged that the college stood to lose between $60,000 and $80,000 of its invested funds. That charge was carefully investigated by the college board as a whole and by committees. It was found that there had been investments in mortgages on Northern Wisconsin and Dakota farm lands, that there was one personal loan, and one sizable

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loan on a second mortgage. A loan on a Watertown chicken farm was singled out as being especially bad. The investigation brought out that the loans on the farm lands were such as the courts were allowing for investment of trust funds. The custodian had been over-sympathetic, not sufficiently hard-headed, but certainly not dishonest. Every dollar was accounted for, and he had been no more trusting than he had otherwise been in investing his bank's funds. As for the chicken farm, $1,000 was recovered of what had been a loan of $1,900. At this time Wisconsin colleges, such as Beloit and Lawrence, were contemplating hiring a man to salvage what was recoverable from their investments in farm lands. These investments that were turning sour were not an indication of dishonesty on the part of the custodian of funds; they were a gentle breeze that forewarned of the wholesale collapse that began in October, 1929. The custodian was exonerated of all wrongdoing, but the board adopted resolutions restricting investments of college funds to low income but safe securities and placed the management of investment funds into the hands of a committee of three men appointed by the Synod.

CHAPTER

Depression

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and W ar

During the years from 1926 to 1945 life and work at the college were influenced first by the aftermath of the controversy between board and faculty and the turbulence in the Synod brought on by the rejection of the so-called Beitz Paper; then by the great economic depression; and finally by the Second World War. Resignations

In 1926 Professor S. Probst resigned because "the ruthless action of the board" took from him both pleasure in teaching and the hope of being able to teach effectively. The board attempted to dissuade him and accepted his resignation with regret. After the board's action in reversing the faculty's decision in the stealing case, Professor Elmer Sauer had continued to teach, although under much stress, as he said, and without much happiness in his work. It is possible, however, that he would have continued his connection with the college if he had not become involved in the disturbances connected with the publication of an essay by Pastor Beitz. This was a paper entitled "The Just Shall Live By Faith," that was first read in 1926 before the Wisconsin River-Chippewa Valley Conference and that was sharply criticized on the one hand and as zealously defended on the other. The opinion of the critics is expressed in a committee report in these words: "Concerning the Beitz Paper, we hold that the Beitz Paper, because of unclarity and confusion in respect to certain doctrines contained therein and because of its extreme exaggerations in describing assumed and real evils in the church, must be rejected as misleading, offensive,

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and causing injury." Pastor Beitz had been admonished by friends to change the paper so that it would express more clearly what he and his friends maintained that he wanted to say, but he refused to alter as much as a comma. The controversy moved from the conference to the district synod and into the Joint Synod, but peace and agreement were out of the question. Several persons were suspended and others were declared to have separated their connection with the Synod by adherence to the dissenting group. The latter was referred to as the Third Party until it organized and adopted the name Protes'tants. Although Professor Sauer was not one of the ardent defenders of the Beitz Paper, he was in sympathy with the men who had resigned during the g>ntroversy with the board and with those who were now banding together in defense of Pastor Beitz and in opposition to synodical officials and suspensions. In the summer of 1928 Professor Sauer had preached a number of times for one of the pastors who had been declared no longer in fellowship with the Synod, and when he announced that he intended to continue to practice fellowship with him and others in suspension, the board on October 10, 1928, passed this resolution: "Resolved that Professor E. E. Sauer be herewith suspended from our institution as a teacher, because he practiced fellowship with and preached for a suspended pastor, W. Hass, Oconomowoc, and upon due admonition flatly refused to remove the offense." In Professor Sauer the college lost one of its most effective teachers, and many pastors still remember the Greek that he drilled into them. It was with genuine regret that faculty and board parted company with him. Other Faculty Losses During the period now under discussion the faculty lost a number of other men through retirement and death. Because of a nervous ailment Professor Schlueter was forced to retire in 1927. Carl Abbetmeyer, who moved to Watertown in the summer of 1929 expecting to begin teaching, died in July of pneumonia without ever having entered a classroom. Adelbert Westendorf began teaching in September, 1930, but announced in October that he could not continue beyond the end of that school year because of extreme nervous tension.

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Roland Kremer's case was especially distressing. He had been a tutor from 1923 to 1925; he then accepted a call to the congregation in Witten, South Dakota. After only three years he was forced to resign because of a threat of tuberculosis. When Tutor Gerhard Redlin accepted a call in January, 1932, Pastor Kremer was asked to take his place, since he was then without a charge and the doctor had pronounced him cured. In the meantime the Synod had decided to revive the office of inspector, to relieve President Kowalke of that responsibility, and in 1934 called Kremer as inspector. But in 1937 the old ailment returned and in that year death took this very sincere and conscientious servant of the Lord. Roland Kremer had succeeded Walter Kleinke, who had become tutor in 1927 and because of various emergencies was asked year after year to remain in that position even after he had married. One conference suspected that he was being retained because he was at the same time the coach of the football team and sent a delegation to find out why the board and faculty were evading a synodical resolution regarding the tenure of tutors. When the circumstances were explained, the delegation departed well satisfied that no chicanery was being practiced. When Kremer became inspector, Kleinke was released. During Professor Kremer's time Oscar Naumann, now the president of our Synod, served as tutor for two years. He was also the assistant athletic director. In 1936 Professor Huth retired after twenty-five years of service. William C. Herrmann, who had been on the faculty since 1927, died in 1938. In the spring of 1939 Dr. Ott was seriously ill and for the first time in more than half a century did not attend the commencement exercises. That summer he was relieved of all regular classroom duties but was to continue, health permitting, as librarian and bursar. In 1943 he retired from all duties at the college. Professor Carl Bolle, whose name was inseparable from commercial branches and from music at the college for over forty years, retired in 1945. Hans Koller Moussa, who had been a member of the faculty and later a member of the board, died in 1928 after surgery.

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Accessions In 1926, after Professor Probst resigned and Professor Meibohm accepted a call into the ministry, the task of rebuilding the faculty began. Alexander Sitz accepted our call and for thirty years in his quiet and effective way taught German and history. In quick succession calls were extended to and declined by August Zich, Dr. H. Koch, Adelbert Schaller, Edwin Sauer, Henry Diehl, Frederick Brenner, and Edmund Reim. W. C. Herrmann and Elmer C. Kiessling were then called and both accepted in 1927. In 1929 Professor Kiessling asked for a year's leave of absence to continue studies at the University of Chicago, and Martin Franzmann, who had been filling the vacancy left by Professor Sauer, was asked to continue as Kiessling's substitute. Because of Professor Abbetmeyer's death Professor Kiessling had to give up his plan, and again after Westendorf's resignation he had to postpone making use of his leave. Not until January, 1935, six years after leave had been granted, was he finally able to make use of both the leave of absence and a University of Chicago fellowship to obtain his doctorate in June, 1935. Martin Franzmann, who had been ably filling vacancies on a temporary basis, was called to replace Professor Huth in 1936. He remained on the faculty until 1946, when he accepted a call to the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. To fill the vacancy left by Franzmann's departure, Walter Schumann, a man of much experience in the classroom and in the ministry, was called. While still a student at the seminary he had acted as substitute teacher. He was a tutor in the second year that that system was in operation, and a member of the faculty from 1925 to 1939, when he accepted a call into the ministry in La Crosse. In 1946 he was recalled to Northwestern to teach Greek and history. So that spot was satisfactorily filled. When Dr. Ott finally had to give up his beloved library because of the infirmities of age, Sam Lenz, a former student, was engaged as manager of the bookstore and librarian for a year. In 1944 Erwin Schroeder became librarian and since that time has devoted himself untiringly to recataloging the entire library and bringing it and the attached bookstore up to its present fine state of order and efficiency.What our library is today, is the work of just two men, Dr. Ott and Professor Schroeder, who besides teaching

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regular schedules gave uncounted hours of their time to do the work that ordinarily requires a staff. Special Department Needs Supplied Ever since 1919 the faculty had been emphasizing the need for a permanent director of athletics. It could hardly be expected that the faculty would always produce a man qualified to teach and at the same time be able and willing to direct a program of physical education. Tutors - W. Kleinke, for example sometimes had the required athletic ability; and for a year Walter Ott, a former student, offered his services as football coach free of charge, but such sources could not be relied on. In 1935 the Synod at last authorized the board to call a man as physical director, not just as coach. He was to be a regular member of the faculty but under contract on an annual basis. Leonard Umnus was engaged in November, 1935, and has now been directing athletic activities and coaching the teams with outstanding success for thirty years. In the 1860's the faculty was already calling attention to the need for a man to teach music, especially singing, at the college; but reliance was always had on the fortuitous presence on the faculty of a man with some talent for music, until 1943, when Hilton Oswald was called expressly to direct musical activities. Professor Oswald had been on the faculty since 1939. In 1944 he became musical director at our seminary, carrying on that assignment along with his other duties until two years before his resignation from Northwestern in 1963. He was replaced by the present director, Arnold Lehmann, who had joined the faculty in the previous year. In the late 1930's additions to the faculty were the following: E. Berg to replace Kremer as inspector; Frederick Blume for classics; and Dudley Rohda. When the so-called parallel classes were introduced in 1920 to care for students who were unable to take German and Latin through the medium of German, it was necessary to find a teacher who not only understood the language problems of such boys but who would develop a course, especially in German, fitted to our peculiar conditions. It was not until 1939 that such a man was found in the person of Professor Rohda, who has remained with us long enough to develop the course.

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Besides these changes in the faculty, there were others that noticeably altered the familiar picture of college life. One day in 1930 classes were dropped so that students and faculty might attend the funeral of Mr. Breutzmann, our faithful janitor for no one knows how many years. Breutzy felt personally responsible for everything about the college. On cold nights he would not leave the furnace room till eleven at night and be back at four in the morning to shovel more coal into hand-fed furnaces. He was loyal. One day while escorting visitors over the grounds he heard one of them refer to our buildings as shacks. "You take that back," he said, "or we stop right here." The tradition of good service under the Koeningers was continued when Mr. and Mrs. Julius Rohde took over the management of the dining hall in 1928. Besides attending to the culinary needs of students, both the Koeningers and the Rohdes served meals for unmarried professors in their own dining room. There were quite a few bachelors on the faculty in the 1920Âˇs. The Rohdes retired in 1940 and were succeeded by Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Bilse, under whose regime not only the kitchen and dining room but the whole physical plant at Northwestern has functioned at maximum efficiency. In 1940 graduates from the preparatory department joined those from the college on the stage of the gymnasium at commencement and were formally granted diplomas. Up to that time they had been sliding out of the prep department into the college without any particular notice being taken of the change. The Great Depression During these years the great depression had been laying its chilling hand on everything that required the outlay of money. The first notice of the depression appeared in the faculty minutes of December 5, 1932. It was there reponed that the board of trustees, to save fuel, had suggested closing the gymnasium during the winter or greatly curtailing its use. A motion was made and passed to extend the Christmas vacation to one month. Ways and means of collecting past-due accounts were seriously discussed without any noticeably good result. President Bergemann appeared in the faculty meeting and outlined his plan for cutting down synodical expenses as the plan affected

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the operation of the college. There were even rumors afloat in the Synod that the college was to be closed down completely. Attendance dropped abruptly when workmen lost their jobs, farm income disappeared, banks closed their doors, and not only the poor, but everybody began to feel the pinch. Whereas in 1927 to 1929 the attendance had been in the 270's, in 1932 it dropped to 209, and in 1933 it fell below 200. In the fall of 1933 just ten students enrolled in the beginners' class, one of them a girl and one a general education student from Watertown. Of the eight who entered with some intention of preparing for the ministry, two held out to the end and are still in the ministry - Professor Paul Kuehl at Northwestern, and Pastor Walter Schumann, president of the Dakota-Montana District of our Synod. In 1935 thirty-two of our theological candidates still had no calls because mission expansion had ceased and cuts were being made wherever possible. When conditions began to improve, available calls were eagerly accepted, so that in the course of six months, between November and April, four different tutors served at the college, each one accepting a call into the ministry as soon as it arrived. The federal government attempted to stimulate the economy with make-work projects, one of which was the National Youth Administration, designed to keep young people in college and off the labor market. Under the NY A program colleges received a certain allotment of money from the government which they paid out to students for necessary work done in the interest of the school. For example, at Northwestern one student with unusual musical ability was engaged to direct the male chorus, others worked in the library, some painted dormitory screens and washed windows, and each month they were paid between $10 and $20 out of the funds supplied by the government. The chief drain on the synodical treasury came from salaries and upkeep at institutions and missions, and when cuts in expenditures were made necessary by greatly reduced income, there was no other place where the Synod had authority to make cuts except at the institutions and in the missions. The institutions were instructed to make no repairs except where they were absolutely necessary to prevent serious damage to property. Proposed new projects had, of course, to be dropped at once.

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Cuts in salaries were made at intervals, in one instance a cut across the board of twenty-five percent. The total reduction amounted to more than one-third of the original salary. It was a pull, but we all lived through it, and the experience was a very valuable course in economizing and making things do. No one who survived that depression wants to repeat the experience, but he usually appreciates the lessons that he learned in those hard years. In the decade before the depression struck with its paralyzing force, the Synod, like almost everyone else, had gradually accumulated a sizable debt. Every year outgohad exceeded income, and routine current expenses were not being covered by contributions. Between 1926 and 1929 the Synod had also completed a number of major building projects. On the New VIm campus an addition to the boys' dormitory was built in 1926, and the present administration and classroom building was completed in 1928. Northwestern Lutheran Academy in Mobridge was opened in 1928. In 1925 and 1926 Michigan Lutheran Seminary built a modest refectory, completely remodeled its recitation building and built and purchased needed professors' residences. The Apache Indian Mission received an allowance for new buildings that had been needed for years, and in 1929 the new seminary in Thiensville was dedicated. It became the fashion to blame the new seminary for the "throttling debt," but all the money for those buildings was on hand before the Synod permitted building operations to start; so the seminary cannot bear the blame that hindered every activity of the Synod in the 1930's. While the depression was still bearing down heavily, two major attempts were made to relieve the Synod of its burden of debt. The Every Member Canvass (EMC) under the direction of Pastor A. Koelpin made an effort to reach every member of the Synod with an appeal for financial help. This campaign was in operation in 1933 and in the Synod meeting of that year it was reported that $255,841.41 had been collected, a very respectable achievement in the midst of hard times. In 1935 a Debt Retirement Committee (Professor E. Kowalke, Pastor Kurt Timmel, Mr. William Mueller, all of Watertown) was appointed to direct a campaign to do what the title of the committee suggested. The debt at that time was fixed at $640,000, which in the course of a few years was successfully liquidated, so that the

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Synod could get a fresh start. By the time the war broke out the Synod was again hopefully looking toward expansion of its missions and schools. The collection of enough money to build a new seminary and the liquidation of a large debt during a depression and in later years the erection of many new buildings, all debt free, is proof sufficient that in the church professional money raisers are not needed. The College in World War II After Pearl Harbor the new Selective Service Act of 1941 required that all men between the ages of eighteen and sixtyfive be registered for military service. When students reached their eighteenth birthdays they registered with the president of the college, who had been sworn in as an officer empowered to receive such registration for the local draft boards. The college, so far as the bona fide students for the ministry were concerned, was listed in the office of the Director of Selective Service as a divinity school, and in all but three instances it was possible to secure exemption from service of those who were taking the regular course with the intention of becoming pastors. The school was held to report to the local draft board the names of students who dropped out of this course or who were falling below the passing grade in their studies. There were a number of enlistments, but apart from a considerable increase in official correspondence, it was possible to continue quietly with our work. People quite naturally looked askance at our older boys when they appeared on the street and wondered why they were not in the army, but the boys were admonished to conduct themselves quietly at all times and not to attract unfavorable attention to themselves in any way. Intercollegiate football was discontinued during the war because colleges generally were not competing and there were severe restrictions governing transportation. In January of 1944 the college received an interesting communication from the headquarters of the Selective Service System. It read that the office was not prepared to say that a student who had been exempted as a divinity student would lose exempt status by reason of an extended summer vacation, but that it would not interfere if a local board drafted and inducted such a student as one who was not currently preparing for the

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ministry. This was not an order, but it was too plain to be called a mere suggestion. The following two summers (1944 and 1945) there were no summer vacations; instead, all students of college grade were required to attend a hastily arranged summer course. In 1944 eighty-three students were enrolled, including nine from Dr. Martin Luther College and two parochial teachers, and about the same number in 1945. According to this plan a year's work was covered in nine months, or three quarters; and there were graduating classes in March of 1945 and April of 1946. At the end of the war, with a little maneuvering, the schedule was restored to the customary two semesters. One class was given a vacation from April till September and another was held over for three months above its normal four-year period. The accelerated course was not unwelcome to the students because it made it less obvious that they were being exempted while others of their age were being sent to the war front. If they were kept busy at their studies throughout the year, they were just a little less likely to be called slackers by people who could not understand why ministers and students for the ministry should be exempted when others were called upon to risk their lives in battle. Another emergency course of an entirely different nature was added in the summer of 1945. In order to relieve the very serious shortage of teachers in our parochial schools, the suggestion was made to the faculty that a six weeks' course be arranged for girls who had graduated at Winnebago Academy in Fond du Lac or at the Lutheran High School in Milwaukee. Nineteen girls were recruited for the course from these two schools, besides a few from public high schools. Professors Albrecht and Stindt of the Dr. Martin Luther College faculty and Miss Ada Sievert of St. Mark's School in Watertown were engaged as teachers. The girls were housed in the isolation hospital and in the infirmary on the second floor of the old dining hall, under the supervision of Miss Elizabeth Johannes. At the end of the six weeks' period Professor Adelbert Schaller "graduated" them and assigned calls to all of them. War stamps, rationing of food and materials, registrations, draft, suspense - when a student was classified 1A instead of 4D and had to wait until the president could clear the matter

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with some distant draft board - and steadyapplicationto work becamethe order of the day. When VB Day (Victory in Europe) came on May 8, 1945, our campus was under a quarantine that had been imposed for ten days, and the students were prevented from attending the church servicesthat were held that evening.A serviceof thanksgiving was held on the college grounds instead. The summer session began not much later, on June 25th. On August 14, 1945, Japan too surrendered.It had been an anxious time for our country, and the news of victory and peace were received with more restraint and with more devout thanks than had characterizedthe end of the First World War.

CHAPTER XXVII

Rebuilding If a student of 1905 had been asked what kind of building was most needed on our campus, he would almost certainly have mentioned a gymnasium first and then a library. There was indeed a gymnasium of sorts on the grounds and there was also a room called a library, but both were far from adequate. As already recounted, the frame structure called the gymnasium had been built in 1877. Oscar Griebling in his diary reports the progress of the building and also says that the juniors built the structure because the seniors refused to support the plan. It seems too that this was to be not only a gymnasium but a place where students could enjoy a smoke without breaking any rules. The final job recorded in Mr. Griebling's diary was wheeling dirt into the building to make a level floor, a dirt floor, that is. In later years a wooden floor was laid and the interior was sheathed with good white pine boards nailed to the naked scantlings. By 1905 the building had greatly deteriorated, although it was still being used for military drill in cold weather and for exercise. A ladder, a pair of rings hanging from the ceiling, a leather-covered horse, parallel bars, and a horizontal bar, always called a turning pole by the boys, were available. When the building was torn down as a fire hazard in 1911, the good lumber in it was used in an isolation hospital that after many years of pleading by the inspectors was finally built at a cost of $1,450. The carpenter work was done by the college janitor, August Breutzmann, and by Leonard Koeninger, who was then a student. The scrap was used to construct a "fort" that made a glorious bonfire on the day that the cornerstone of the new gymnasium was laid.

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Club Provides a Gymnasium Both board and faculty had long recognized the need for an adequate building for indoor exercise and games, but at no time was there any indication of hope that the Synod might be persuaded to ask the congregations to furnish the money for an expensive building where the students might play. In 1906 the Synod's president, Philip von Rohr, had volunteered to interest former students in a gymnasium, and about the same time the students had drawn up a petition asking for a new gymnasium, but because of so many other needs the board did not have the heart to urge the matter upon the Synod. There seems to have been a feeling that such a building did not quite fit in with the spiritual purposes of the school. Among students and former students there had of course been talk of the need of a gymnasium, but nothing was done until the Northwestern Club of Milwaukee in 1909, at its third annual meeting, decided to make the gift of a gymnasium the chief purpose of the club. The Northwestern Club was the idea of Otto Ernst of Milwaukee, a son of Dr. Ernst. In 1907 he approached such men as Oscar Griebling, August Bendler, Professor Karl Huth of Concordia College, the lawyer Ernst von Briesen, Professor John Koehler, and E. A. Wurster, all former students of Northwestern, and with them and others organized the club, with Karl Huth as its first president and Professor John Koehler as vice-president. The club met annually in one of the Milwaukee hotels and had no other purpose than to keep alive the traditions of the college and their interest in its welfare and to meet each other socially. Once the idea of building a gymnasium and presenting it as a gift to their old school was broached, the club came alive. They procured the approval of the college board and the faculty and then went to work. The appeal for donations was made not to congregations but to individuals, all of whom had either been students at the college or were otherwise closely connected with it. Most of the gifts ranged between $5 and $25, and there were only twenty-two gifts of $100 and more. George Brumder, publisher of the Germania, a German newspaper, and of the German Bible and of the hymnal used in our congregations, contributed $3,000, to which his widow added another $4,000, which gave the project a tremendous start and insured its success. A former The Northwestern

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student, Henry Schroeder of Milwaukee, gave $2,000 and in addition supplied funds to install a bowling alley for the recreation of the faculty. By May 30, 1912, the cornerstone was ready to be laid, and on October 20 of the same year the building was dedicated. The cornerstone was laid to the accompaniment of speeches, songs, and music by the college band, followed by a baseball game, a sham battle and as a finale the triumphant blowing up and burning of the "fort" erected with the remains of the old gymnasium. The day of dedication in October was truly a gala day. A large delegation, mostly Northwestern Club members, began arriving in Watertown by interurban trains by ten o'clock in the morning and when the program of dedication began at two o'clock, well over a thousand people were gathered in front of the new gymnasium. All of the speeches that were held on that day, the history of the Northwestern Club, a complete list of contributors, and statements honoring the men whose labor and enthusiasm made the gift possible are recorded in a special Gym Number edited by Pastor A. Bendler and Mr. Otto Ernst and printed together with the regular issue of the Black and Red for October, 1912. This souvenir number describes the statue representing a "Sprinter on His Marks" that graces the entrance to the gymnasium, a gift to the college from St. Matthew's Congregation of Milwaukee. It also reproduces a telegram of congratulations addressed to Dr. Ernst by the President of the United States, William Howard Taft. The total cost of the new gymnasium, including the heating plant and bathing facilities, supplied by the Synod, the gifts of the statue and of the bowling alleys, was estimated at $30,000. The gymnasium was the Northwestern College Club's great effort; after that, interest waned and the club gradually faded from the scene. Plans for a Library

Very shortly after the dedication of the gymnasium the college began preparations for the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary in 1915. In September of 1914 Dr. Arthur Hoermann was commissioned by the faculty to write a history of the college in German, and Pastor Hans K. Moussa was asked to reproduce it

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in English. Another. project that was proposed as part of the observance was a collection with the purpose of raising $70,000 to increase the endowment of the college to $100,000. This latter project had been discussed at the Synod meeting of that summer, and there was also some enthusiastic talk of using the surplus of that collection to build a modest library-recitation building. Anniversary collections have repeatedly been proposed with great expectations of liberal contributions, but they have consistently disappointed their promoters. The enthusiasm over an event lying in the dim past is not warm enough to coax a generous flow of money from people for whom the event is hardly even a memory. There was a collection in 1915, but it did not add to the endowment fund and it certainly did not build a "modest library and recitation building." World War I and our involvement in it now put a stop to any building plans, and from 1921 to 1929 the Synod's efforts were consumed by building projects on other campuses. In 1928 Pastor Benjamin Schlueter, president of the Alumni Association, appeared in a faculty meeting with a proposal that the association act as a collecting agency among alumni and other friends. The faculty took no action at the time, but a library building was again a live topic of discussion. In May of 1930 the college board proposed that members of the faculty visit the district Synod meetings during the coming summer and present the need for a new library building. The faculty appropriated $900 from the matriculation fund for preliminary architect's plans, and the synodical council encouraged the faculty to stir up interest in the project in the districts. Various schemes for raising the necessary money were proposed but were not very vigorously pushed; in the end, about twenty years later, it was the congregations of the Synod who raised the needed money in a quiet and orderly way, which has since then proved to be not only the proper way to finance synodical projects but also the most effective way. The Proceedings of the 1931 Synod meeting report that the board submitted plans for a library and administration building to cost about $160,000, but the Synod was not yet ready to embark on another building program. There was a long discussion of the matter at this meeting, and the need of such a building was clearly recognized. It was also admitted that the

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college ought to be provided with a library in the very near future, but because of the prevailing economic conditions the Synod did not consider it advisable to start such a project at that time. The great depression was putting a stop to all such projects. During the depression a building could have been put up at half the cost of the same type of building twenty years later, but there was no sense in repining, because whatever the advantages of building might have been at that time, nobody had any money for any kind of expansion. So again the project went to sleep and the college made do for almost two decades with what by courtesy was called the library and the laboratory. The library proper was an ordinary classroom so crammed with shelves full of books that there was just room for one person to pass between them. In the basement and on the three fioors of the old recitation building there were storerooms and closets in which the overflow of books was stored, awaiting the library that was so slow in coming. There were of course no tables or chairs in the library and no space in the recitation building for a reading and reference room, but there was a room on the first floor of the 1905 dormitory furnished with tables and chairs and stocked with a good, though small, selection of the most necessary reference works. The laboratory on the second floor of the recitation building was in an even more pitiful state than the library, and we avoided displaying our library and our laboratory to visitors if we could possibly do so. In October of 1944 the building needs at all the synodical institutions began again to be discussed, and a committee was appointed to ascertain the needs at each institution. The committee reported to a special synodical convention meeting in St. Matthew's Church in Milwaukee, January 17 and 18, 1945, and the convention authorized a collection, setting one million dollars as a goal, but stipulating that no building should be started until all the money for that building was on hand. A proposal to include a chapel in the library building was defeated at this meeting, but the addition of a permanent stage to the gymnasium to provide a larger auditorium was approved. In 1947 the Synod authorized the collection of a second million dollars, sixty percent to be used for buildings and forty percent for church extension.

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Rebuilding: the First Phase By 1949 there was vigorous action on various fronts. In April of that year the new Northwestern Publishing House on North Avenue in Milwaukee was dedicated. In August the Synod in convention at St. Luke's in Milwaukee appropriated $350,000 for the building of Centennial Hall in New VIm. On October 19, 1949, the building plans submitted for the work at Northwestern by Toltz, King and Day of St. Paul were examined and approved by the Board of Trustees, the presidents of the institutions and presidents of the synodical districts. One week later the first materials were delivered on the campus, and on Reformation Day excavating for the new heating plant began. The program of work carried out on the Northwestern campus from 1949 to 1951 was more extensive than would appear from a look at the buildings. It included the boiler house with two new boilers, a new chimney, a complete rehabilitation and modernization of the heating system in the dormitories and the recitation building, the addition of a permanent stage to the gymnasium, and the library-recitation building. The addition to the gymnasium cost $86,000, the library building $290,000, the chimney, $5,670. The total cost, including classroom equipment and architects' fees, was $583,000, all paid for. In May of 1951 all library books and laboratory equipment were moved with student help from the old recitation building to the new quarters, a procession that was altogether triumphant except for the one feeling of regret that the work could not have been supervised by the creator of both library and laboratory, Dr. Ott, who had died in 1945 in his eighty-fourth year. The first class period to be held in the new building was, at the request of the graduating class of 195 1, the last Hebrew period of the year for that class. An extremely sturdy structure, this building contains, besides the library reading room and the stacks in the basement, the bookstore; the college offices; the laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology; four classrooms; and lounges for the girl students. After the noise and clatter on the wooden stairs and in the hallways of the old recitation building, it was sheer bliss to be able to conduct a class in the peace and quiet of the library that after forty years of thinking and dreaming was now a reality.

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In simple and dignified ceremonies the building was dedicated to the service of our Lord on Wednesday, June 6, 1951, the day before commencement of that year. After a sermon by Pastor John Brenner in the gymnasium on John 8:31 and 32, the dedicatory ceremony was held at the west entrance to the library. Pastor Gerhard Pieper, chairman of the college board, read the liturgy. Immediately afterward there was a meeting of the alumni and in the evening a sacred concert. On the next day the largest class that had up to that time been graduated from the college received their diplomas. The whole occasion was solemn and quietly happy rather than gay, the beautiful, quiet June weather contributing too to the spirit of these two days. As a footnote to the dedication of the library it may be mentioned here that for the next two years Professor Erwin Schroeder, the librarian, labored night and day, literally, to recatalog the entire library. On March 9, 1953, he could announce that the work was complete. There were 20,997 volumes in the library at that date. Preparations for the Second Phase The next building program included the present dining hall, the collegiate dormitory, and the chapel-classroom building. With the steadily increasing enrollment the dormitory was becoming overcrowded and it was becoming necessary to find a solution to the problem. Northwestern was being called a bottleneck that hindered the free supply of pastors because the limit had been reached in the number of students that could be accepted into the dormitory. In 1952, when the college board considered certain changes that might make the dormitories safer against fire and also furnish somewhat more room, it was found that the laws of the state required that a strict building code be followed if a building used as a dormitory or for classrooms were changed in a way that would appreciably extend the life of the building. The Industrial Commission had already ordered the installation of firedoors in the hallways and the replacement of fire escapes and would have required many more improvements if we had not agreed to shut off the third floor of the 1875 dormitory entirely for dormitory purposes and given assurance that we were contemplating a rebuilding of dormitories. If we had attempted to remodel the two old dormitories, the code

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required changes that would not only have been very expensive but would have reduced the permitted occupancy by about fifty persons. So the board dropped all plans to rebuild old buildings. We were happy to be permitted to make the minimum of required changes and to abandon the use of the third floor of the oldest dormitory. The situation having been made generally known through reports to conferences and district Synods and articles in the NortbwesterÂŤ Lutheran, the Synod of 1953 authorized the erection of a collegiate dormitory, a new and larger dining hall and kitchen, and a recitation building. The officials of the Synod were at the same time instructed to inaugurate a Building Fund Drive. The total to be raised for the buildings at Northwestern and at Michigan Lutheran Seminary and for an addition to the music hall at Dr. Martin Luther College was $1,150,000. Of this total, $950,000 was allotted to Northwestern College for the three buildings mentioned. Pastor J. C. Dahlke was named as chairman of the committee in charge of raising the money, and to the great credit of the committee, and of the congregations, it may be said that when the buildings were completed they had also been paid for. Hardly any feature of our new buildings has impressed visitors from outside our church circles so much as their freedom from debt of any kind. At this point a fine paragraph from the report of the Synod's board of trustees to the Synod at Saginaw in 1955 is appropriate. In regard to all appropriations the report said: The Lord has been good to us in the past biennium. Let us acknowledge His goodness gratefully and be encouraged by it as we plan the work before us in this biennium. But let us not misuse the Lord's goodness as an argument to become reckless builders. He tells us a wise builder counts his COSts before he begins to build. Let us follow the Lord's word as we vote our budget and then await His blessing.

As soon as authorization to build was given, a committee made up of Pastor Kurt Timmel, Mr. Harold Schumann, Mr. Hugo Zastrow and four men from the college went to work gathering the information that would be needed by the architects. The committee met weekly and in groups of two or three paid visits to dormitories and kitchens in Madison, Ripon, Milwaukee, Whitewater, and Chicago. As architect the Madison firm of

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Law, Law, Potter and Nystrom was chosen because of the fine reputation of the firm and because of the nearness of its office to Watertown. Meanwhile the board of trustees of the Synod instructed the college board to have plans prepared for renovating the old recitation building and to ask for firm bids for carrying out the work. The outer shell of the north end of this building was what had remained standing of the 1865 Ka/feemuehle and the rest was what had been added after the fire of 1894. Because there were no plans and specificationsof the structure in existence, the architects would have the greatest difficulty in drawing reliable plans for a remodeling job. One architect told our board: "It will cost you an awful lot of money to have those plans drawn." Rather than have detailed plans drawn, the board then asked a number of builders to estimate what it would cost to remodel the building according to the state code, using fireresistive materials throughout. Their estimates ran from $150,000 to $300,000 with no assurance that the estimates were at all accurate. An appraiser had estimated the value of the building at $106,000 without considering the use to which the structure should be put or whether it met the standards of the Industrial Commission. The building had been rather flimsily built, was noisy and shaky, and except for the brick shell was entirely flammable; so the college board declined to spend any money on plans or bids. Eventually the building was torn down to make room for the chapel and recitation building.

East Hall On Sunday, September 26, Mr. Edmund Seifert, for many years a member of the board, lifted the first shovelful of soil from the dormitory site before a gathering of about 700 persons. As Pastor Nitz said in his address, there was now no turning back. "We have put our hands to this work and will carry it forward in cheerful confidence that it is the Lord's work and pleasing in His sight." Throughout the winter, work on both the dining hall and the dormitory went forward with little interruption and with the finest cooperation and service from the architects and from the Precour Construction Company of Oshkosh, who were the lowest bidders for the general construction part of the project. The

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dining hall and kitchen were to be finished first, and everything was in place just one day before the opening of school on September 12, 1955. The Casper Kitchens Company of Milwaukee, under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Bilse, had planned and equipped the model kitchen. On January 20, in a light snowstorm, the students of the college department picked up their belongings and happily said good-bye to the well worn quarters in the old dormitories. On January 22, in below-zero weather, open house in the dormitory was held for over a thousand appreciative visitors. The furnishings of that building, apart from the built-in wardrobes and shelves, were gifts from various societies in our congregations, from individuals and from organizations. The total donated for this purpose and not collected from the congregations as part of the building fund, was $34,468.51. The building has proved satisfactory in every respect. It has no wasted space and no frills and yet is very attractive. The growth of the collegiate student body has been so rapid, however, that the building is already too small. In 1964 it was found necessary to move double-deck beds into many rooms of the new dormitory and place three men into rooms meant for two. We are glad to have the students but wish we could provide for them without crowding and stacking one above the other. The situation will not be relieved until present plans, calling for a new dormitory and the eventual removal of the prep department from the campus, are carried out. Chapel-Classroom Building In the summer of 1955 the Synod's board of trustees with some reluctance consented to the removal of the 1895 recitation building. On August 12 demolition of the old structure and of the original inspector's residence, the Ott house, was authorized, and the work began immediately. Regarding the removal of that landmark, the Northwestern Lutheran said: Everyone who watched the demolition of the building felt a little pang to see it go, but there were few regrets expressed. Somehowthis building never seemed able to command the sentimental attachment that its predecessor, the old Kaffeemuehle, enjoyed.This building has served its purpose and had to give way to the demands of a larger church body and to the stricter legal

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regulations governing school buildings. The building was like a suit of clothes that once cost us a lot of money and of which we were proud, but which we have outgrown and outworn. If we were not exactly happy to see the walls broken down, we were happy that they were coming down in a dignified way and were not being battered to pieces nor going up in smoke and flame.

When the Synod decided to build a new recitation building on the Northwestern College campus, it was made known that Mrs. Meta Kilgas Michelson, a resident of Kaukauna until she married Mr. Michelson and moved to Manitowoc, had bequeathed the sum of $96,000 to the college for a chapel. This sum was more than enough for the purpose. The original plans had not included a chapel. Now a chapel seating 400 persons was added to the recitation building but separated from it by a spacious and attractive entrance hall. A service in which these new buildings were dedicated "To the Glory of God, the Knowledge of His Son, and the Spread of His Gospel" was held in the gymnasium on August 21, 1956, at seven in the evening. The sermon was delivered by President Oscar Naumann. On September 11 classes were held in the new building and the first of the worship services was held in the chapel with a sermonette on I Corinthians 6: 19, 20. A building project always seems to attract students, for that fall the entering ninth grade class numbered 101, the largest entering class we had ever enrolled. Substantial private gifts made it possible to install stained glass windows throughout the chapel in 1956 and in 1963, and also in the latter year to place a fine pipe organ in the space provided for it in the original plans. The New Campus The rebuilding program from 1950 to 1956 included the library, heating plant, chimney, addition to the gymnasium, new heating equipment in dormitory and recitation building, dining hall and kitchen and equipment, collegiate dormitory, classroom building with ten classrooms and offices,chapel, furniture, walks and roadways, at a total cost of $1,793,462.46. All of this was contributed by our congregations with the exception of $96,000 and accumulated interest from the estate of Mrs. Michelson and

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$34,468.51 in private gifts from societies,individualsand other donors. It may interest those who are building in these later days that the cost of the dormitoryand the refectorywas $1.27 and a fractionper cubicfoot, or $12.50 a squarefoot. The rebuilding was a magnificent effort. We have already forgotten whatever effort we made, but the results are there and will remain for generations.

CHAPTER

XXVIII

Athletics When our college was founded in 1865 no provision was made for athletics or for physical exerciseof any kind. When the Synodbought fiveacresof land and erecteda schoolbuilding, it was already so far beyond its depth financiallythat it had to send Pastor Bading to Europe to solicit donations of money; playgrounds or a building for play were altogether out of the question.For the boys who were preparing for the ministry and lived in the dormitory there seems to have been neither time nor need for what we call exercise,because garden work was assigned to each of them, and besidesthat, the schedulewas so stiff that there was no time for play. When the board decided to discontinuegardening and commissionedProfessorHoenecke to landscapethe grounds, that ended garden work but still did not provideplaygroundsbecausethe landscapingproject included what we call the collegepark, bounded by College Avenue and Western Avenue,and that was the extent of the propertyowned by the college. In cold weather there was always wood to be sawed. Rock~ver was still clean enough to make swimming enjoyable for four or five months of the long school year, and when the river was clear of snow there were several miles of ice betweenrapids for those who liked skating. When the campuswas enlarged by thirty acresin 1868, there was plenty of room for the baseballteams that began to flourish about that time, even though the land was rented out for pasturage to neighbors who were glad to pay a small price for the privilege of turning their cows out to grass on the college land. It was not until 1937 that the last of the collegelivestock was disposedof and the campus was turned over wholly to the students.When Dr. Notz arrived in 1872, he was not only the

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inspector but was appointed by the faculty as a kind of physical director. Those who knew him in his later days will find it hard to picture him leading the boys out to the Turnplatz or playground that was opened in April, 1874, and directing them in the kind of calisthenics that was being used in the German army to keep the men supple. He does not seem to have kept at this very long or very vigorously, because there is no more mention of him as athletic director after his original appointment. It was about this time too that baseball took over and was played by every able-bodied boy in the school.

"turning" In the early days baseball was king from April till the close of school near the end of June, but in the remaining seven months regular and required exercise was concentrated in what was called "turning" and in the military company. "Turning" was the American version of a German expression (T urnen) used in all German communities for what we today are more likely to call gymnastics. The military company played such an important part in student life and activity for almost forty years that it deserves a separate chapter. Turning, a combination of calisthenics, setting-up exercises, and gymnastics, was hardly possible during cold weather, and when the students in 1877 asked for permission to build a shelter for their exercises, the faculty readily fell in with their plan, and so the first gymnasium came into being. There was at that time a Gymnastic Society, and for some years turning enjoyed enthusiastic participation of a large number of the student body. After 1885, Professors Ott and Weimar became instructors and leaders, and as late as 1897 the Black and Red still spoke of Dr. Ott as the instructor of the first division. There were two other divisions, one under the direction of John Mittelstaedt, the other under E. Eckelmann and Edward Fredrich. The same issue of the Black and Red said that turning has always been recognized as one of the best means for physical development and reported that the society had eighty members, but an entry in the faculty minutes of 1888 is evidence that even though all students might have recognized turning as a good means of physical development, by no means all students were interested in physical development. Three students appeared before the faculty one day and complained that

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many of their colleagues refused to take part in turning. The faculty .then decreed that all students must take part in the exercises, that members of the society pay annual dues of two dollars and all others pay one dollar a year to help defray expenses. This complaint of 1888 was already a hint of what was to happen to turning as a means of physical development. Gymnastics required considerable agility and strength, which is not a common combination; and those who were not gifted in this respect were doomed to spend their time with dumb bells and Indian clubs and with monotonous "up, down; up, down" exercises. When basketball was introduced in 1902 it at once began to compete with turning for student interest and for space in the gymnasium. When the new gymnasium came into use in 1912, the athletic director of that time fought what he knew was a losing battle with basketball and at first grudgingly yielded one-half of the gym floor and finally the whole floor. Gymnastic apparatus began to disappear from the gym floor about 1920, and today there are no signs of that means of physical development left. There are regular gym classes for all who do not take part in the more violent games, and setting-up exercises are a regular part of the program, but student interest is clearly dominated by games, such as volleyball, and particularly, basketball, during the cold months. Baseball Baseball became popular shortly after the Civil War. The Union soldiers had played the game behind the lines during the latter part of the war and brought their enthusiasm for it home with them. The game began to be played on our campus about 1870. There was no inter-college competition, but nearly every student belonged to one of the many teams. At one time there were six teams with such names as Silver Stars, The Columbias, and even one team that called themselves The Never Played Before. There is in existence a detailed record of a game played on May 3, 1873, between the Silver Stars and the Columbias. August Pieper and John P. Koehler, later professors at our theological seminary, were members of the winning team, Pieper as pitcher and Koehler as shortstop. The score was 66 to 36 in favor of the Silver Stars. August Pieper scored nine runs

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that day. Hits and runs were plentiful because the pitcher was restricted in his delivery, curve balls were hardly known, and the batter could indicate whether he wanted the ball delivered above the waist or below the waist. The great advantage to the batter was somewhat minimized by the rule that a ball caught on first bounce was an out, as well as one caught on the fly. Sometimes there were ten men on a team, the tenth man serving as a second shortstop. There were several good teams in the 1890's, when games were played with teams representing other colleges. It was considered entirely ethical to hire a pitcher, or even both pitcher and catcher, if there were no really good men for those positions in the student body. In 1897 Northwestern was represented by two first-rate players, Eddie Heimerl of Jefferson and Mills of Lake Mills, as pitcher and catcher. Heimerl's good left arm was for hire, and he pitched for Northwestern one spring and that summer was the star pitcher on the Kaukauna team. In a game with Concordia in 1897 Northwestern lost 16 to 3 when a bona fide student pitched. In another game that same month Northwestern won 20 to 9 when Heimerl pitched. With Heimerl in the box Northwestern won twice from Marquette that spring. A typical schedule of the late 1890's was a game with the University of Wisconsin, two games with St. John's, Lawrence, Milton, Seminary, Marquette, Whitewater Normal. If an excuse were needed for making E. Heimerl a member of the college team, it might be that his brother Louis actually was enrolled as a student. The first era of baseball came to an end when the boys resolved to hire no outside players but to develop the "splendid material which was at their disposa1." That was in 1899. That was the end also of such rules as those of the 1880's when four strikes or seven balls were allowed, when the catcher stood ten to twenty feet behind the batter until after a third strike had been called, when only the catcher and the first basemen wore gloves - small ones with hardly any padding, when a score might read Northwestern 66, Sacred Heart 44. Beginning with 1900 the college did develop its own material in every position and fielded some excellent teams. When an editor of the Black and Red pleaded for the introduction of basketball as a winter sport in 1902 and wrote that "we can

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boast that we always had a good baseball team," he was telling the truth. The playing field was just a few steps from the dormitory, there was plenty of room for several teams, the season ran till near the end of June, and the boys loved the game and never tired of practicing. It was their one game. Baseball reached its greatest height, both in student interest and participation and in success in competition in the years from 1902 till the early 1920s. The teams of 1902, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1916, and 1926 could with justice claim the championship of the state colleges, the state university alone being excepted. Success in baseball usually depended on having one brilliant performer in the pitcher'S box, because only one game, or at most two games, were played in one week. For example one year Northwestern beat Notre Dame 8 to 6, with Bill Kumm doing the pitching. The very next year, without Kumm but with a better team in the field, we lost to Notre Dame, 16 to O. Baseball players of Northwestern remember the names of August Pieper, John Pieper, William Kumm, Paul Horn, Phil Koehler, William Schumann, William Lueckel, Otto Kehrberg, Henry Rosin, Ernst Wendland, father and son. Most of them were pitchers, but the last three were catchers. Baseball was a good game because it took only two men to practice some phase of it and enjoy the practice; it wasn't necessary to play a game in order to get vigorous exercise from fielding batted balls; and above all it was an outdoor game that could be played with enjoyment for twenty years of one's life. Because of the shortness of the season favorable for baseball, Wisconsin colleges began to lose interest in the game. In 1911 the closing date at Northwestern was June 21; in 1964 it was June 4. That cut off two and one-half weeks from the best time for practice and playing games. After 1926 interest declined slowly at Northwestern as at other colleges. The game is still played, but it is no longer the king of sports. Softball commands as much interest as hardball. Basketball Basketball could not gain a firm foothold so long as there was no adequate gymnasium with a large floor on the campus. In 1902 an editorial in the Black and Red made a strong plea for the introduction of basketball. Training with dumb bells

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and Indian clubs, in the writer's opinion, was a monotonous way of getting exercise. He thought that the old gymnasium afforded ample space for practice and that the game, besides being well suited for winter play, would give those boys who had no ability for baseball and football an opportunity to play a game. The editorial evidently expressed the desires of the students as well as the opinion of the editor, and that winter there was a basketball team that played three outside games and won two of them. The next winter, 1903/04, there was also a team, an exceptionally good one for so small a student body, but of the members of the first team and its two substitutes, there was only one man who was not a baseball and football player. The highlight of that season was the Washington's birthday game with the University of Wisconsin, which ended at 41 to 31 in favor of the university team. After those two winters there was no basketball for some years, possibly because our own gymnasium could not be used for games and the local Turner Hall had to be rented for the purpose. Old-timers might be interested in the names of the members of the 1904 basketball team. They were R. Ernst, Henry North, W. Kumm, Henry Wojahn, and R. Breutzmann. E. A. Wendland and Ed Hinnenthal were the only substitutes. Interclass basketball began to be played with enthusiasm when the new gymnasium became available, but there was no intercollegiate basketball until 1926. Since then the game gained greatly in the number of participants on teams representing both high-school and college departments. Besides the large squads representing the departments of the school, there are teams representing sections of each of the eight classes, which play games throughout the long winter season and generate a keen rivalry. At the end of the season, shortly before Easter, the school sponsors a tournament that attracts grade school teams from parochial schools in a radius of about fifty miles, and not until then does the screaming enthusiasm that goes with basketball reach its ultimate height. Minor Sports Bowling is another game that commands some interest among older students, although unlike other sports it is not financed by the athletic department. Some good bowlers were developed

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in the early years of the century, although bowling alleys, like saloons and theaters, were officially out of bounds. The bowlers were sure, however, that their activities were known and condoned by the inspector, who was glad to see them active at something that could not be called mischief. In the new gymnasium there were two bowling alleys in the basement. Though intended for the faculty - the donor, Henry Schroeder, had been reminded that the gymnasium had no facilities for exercise by the professors - students were permitted to bowl there if invited and accompanied by a faculty member. When those alleys deteriorated and upkeep became expensive, they were removed. Students who are sufficiently solvent are transported by bus to bowling alleys on the other side of town, where once a week in the afternoon during a slack time at the alleys they may bowl at a greatly reduced rate. Ice hockey was tried for a few years during the 1930's, but the game never took hold because the nearest ice was a mile away from the campus. Now and then one sees a student leave the campus with skates slung over his shoulder, but skating is the occasional diversion of the individual, not a sport encouraged and supported by the college. Exactly the same remark applies to swimming. Since the local golf club permits students to use the course free of charge in spring if they are organized as a team and play in the company of a coach, there is some interest in that sport on the part of those who have some contact with the game at home. There have been a few unsuccessful attempts to create some interest in track athletics, and in 1911 Professor Sprengling even succeeded in persuading the boys to go out with pick and shovel and build a cinder track around the football field. For one year there was some running and jumping and shot-putting going on, but in those days baseball was on the throne and track athletics had no chance. Since then there has been no determined effort to revive that form of exercise. Tennis, a good game that can be played with enjoyment by expert and by duffer at almost any age, has commanded some interest ever since 1904, when John Whyte and Rudolph Ernst took time off from baseball to skin the sod off a spot where the gymnasium now stands and prepare a place for tennis on what proved to be a good clay court until the weeds took over

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during summer vacation. There are now two good courts on the campus, not nearly enough for those who are showing an interest in the game. Wrestling during the winter months has become surprisingly popular with students in the high-school department, who, under Coach Umnus's tutoring, have been very successful in their matches with outside teams. Football Football was played on the Northwestern campus in the 1880's, but it was a game that bore no resemblance to football as it is played today. There might be twenty-five or thirty men on a side. There were no sidelines, no referee, no timekeeper, no time-limit, only two goals. The purpose of the game was to advance the ball solely by kicking it toward the postS at the end of the field. A form of football more like the modern game was introduced for the first time in 1895, but no outside games were permitted until the fall of 1897. The Black and Red rejoiced that a new and bright era had dawned with the introduction of this manly game, although the faculty had only very cautiously sanctioned it, warning the students that permission might be withdrawn if there were any injuries. The boys were perfectly willing to accept both the permission to play and the warning that went with it. The team got a late start that fall but played three games between November 10 and Thanksgiving day, winning two of three. By 1899 the team had grown up and defeated Carroll, 38 to 0, and tied Ripon, 10 to 10. Until 1905 football was apt to be a rough game. The idea was to grind out the required five yards in three downs by power plays over guards and tackles and occasional end runs. There was very little deception and the forward pass was unknown. This slow grinding out of a few yards, with twenty-two men often in one confused heap, could be monotonous, although punting was frequent. But now and then something really brilliant could come out of such a melee. In 1902 the Northwestern team traveled to Milwaukee accompanied by the brass band and by fifty noisy rooters to play the big game of the season against Marquette College. As it happened, the team that won that game would have some right to claim the

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championship of the smaller colleges. Martin Raasch was playing guard in that game and figured in the play that might have been the turning point of the game. A play was called by Marquette directly over his position; he crouched and exactly in line with his eyes he saw the football tucked under the arm of the fullback. With all his might he struck the ball with his left fist, caught it in his right hand and promptly fell on it. When the referee had untangled the usual pile of bodies, he asked, "Where is the ba11?" "Here it is," said Raasch, "I've got it." That was something new for the officials. As usual in those days, one official was the manager of the home team, the other usually the manager of the visiting team. The two officials huddled and then both teams joined the huddle and debated the situation for fifteen minutes. The hassle ended in a compromise that still stands as a triumph of frustration. The officials decided to play the whole play over again from the point where it had started. Martin Raasch still thinks Northwestern might have won a close game if the officials had given him and his masterpiece proper recognition. Something similar happened in a Carroll game at Waukesha a few years later. Carroll had the ball near Northwestern's goal. The quarterback got his signals mixed and the ball carriers went in one direction while he turned in the opposite direction and stood there holding the ball. Hank Wojahn, the right halfback, had in the meantime broken through the line, saw the man waiting to give the ball to someone and barked "Here." The unhappy quarterback obeyed, slapped the ball into Wojahn's stomach, who happily ambled down the field for a touchdown. But such gifts were rare; usually you had to work for what you got. Until about 1930 Northwestern belonged to a conference called the Little Five, composed of Lawrence, Beloit, Ripon, Carroll, and Northwestern; and Northwestern fared reasonably well on the football field until the other colleges greatly outgrew it in enrollment. The other colleges quite understandably began to ask if Northwestern really should belong to the Little Five. By that time the Northwestern team that claimed the championship when it defeated Lawrence at Appleton, 6 to 5 in the fall of 1908, had been forgotten. It was quite a remarkable team, the first squad numbering only fourteen men and

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averaging 157 pounds in weight. After that effort a decline set in and it became obvious that new and more equal competition had to be sought, although there were occasional high spots, such as the tie game with Beloit the Saturday after Beloit had beaten Northwestern University at Evanston. In 1930 Northwestern boys began asking what was wrong, since they had won only two games in the last four years. One of the answers was that they needed a coach if they were to stand on equal ground with teams they were competing with. Coaches In the late fall of 1935 Leonard Umnus was called as director of all athletics and as coach. It was specified by the college board that he was to be not only a coach of the teams that represented the school but was to consider the physical training of all students to be his assignment. It was a big assignment, more than he could handle alone, and in 1960 Edgar Pieper was called to teach mathematics and to share the work of coaching football, baseball, and basketball in both departments. Northwestern no longer belongs to the conference that includes such large schools as Lawrence and Ripon, but it is still one of the smallest schools in its conference. But in whatever conference it belonged since the advent of Coach Umnus, Northwestern spells football for its opponents and is always the team they want most to beat. The record of the years from 1951 to 1954 explains why that is so. In those four years Northwestern was never defeated in twenty-eight games. There were some members of the class of 1955 who had played football for four years and had never been on the losing side. Earlier in this chapter appreciative mention was made of Dr. Notz and of Professors Ott and Weimar, who interested themselves in the games and the general physical welfare of the students. In these latter days members of the faculty who are still young enough to move gracefully have willingly taken over the coaching of the second and third teams, so that everybody who chooses to come out for sports receives some attention and does not have to feel neglected. Professors Sievert, Leyrer, Zell, and Kuehl have all given liberally of their time.

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It might occur to someone to wonder what the teams did before there were coaches. The captain of the team was the coach, and it was well understood by the members of the team that the captain was in command. It must also be said to the credit of those ancient teams that there is no case on record of rebellion or mutiny against the captain whom the players had freely elected to the post.

CHAPTER

The

XXIX

Military Company

The students of our day would find it hard to understand how a military company could occupy such an important place in student life and interest as that organization held for more than thirty years. The company flourished greatly during those years when there was no gymnasium that afforded space for games, and also for a very few years after the erection of the new gymnasium and before the glamor of basketball wooed the students away from the more stodgy forms of exercise. There actually was a time when a Black and Red editor could without too much embarrassment write of our military company as "the pride of half the state." Although that was a wild exaggeration, it did show that at least our own students were proud of their military company, and there is much evidence that several surrounding communities and even Watertown admired the N. W. U. Military Company. Equipment The military company was first organized in 1892 by August Schauer, a student who had seen some military service in the German army. Mr. Schauer later became a parochial school teacher and taught at St. Mark's school in Watertown from 1910 to 1933, so that he was in a good position to observe how his company flourished and then withered and died. Dr. A. Solliday, a Watertown dentist, who at that time was the state senator from this district, procured from the state the loan of sixty Springfield rifles, complete with cartridge belts and bayonets. Whatever organization it was in Madison that kept the records of the state's property, it must be commended for its diligence, because in 1917, when the United States became embroiled in

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World War I, the president of the college received a letter demanding the return of the rifles, which were then needed for drilling new recruits. As the company grew, more rifles were bought outright, so that the company had one hundred good rifles in its arsenal. George Brumder of Milwaukee contributed two swords and the co-eds supplied a large silk flag. The uniforms were a copy of the U. S. Army fatigue uniforms in use before the Spanish-American War. Thus the company was almost from the beginning ready for public appearances. Each student bought his own uniform of indestructible heavy wool, blue coat, somewhat lighter blue trousers and a stiff blue cap, all for a price of ten or twelve dollars. In time the uniform looked somewhat less than natty because it was often worn to classes. The purpose of the military company as explained to the students by one of the early captains was first of all, physical exercise, then habitual correct posture, a firm elastic gait, quick obedience to orders, the habit of punctuality, and experience in acting with others as a unit. Some of these objects were really attained, particularly the habit of correct posture and a firm gait. Anyone who had spent a few years as a member of the military company did not easily lapse into a slouch in his walk and perhaps never lost the urge to salute when he met someone in authority.

Drill The company faithfully followed the U. S. Army Drill Regulations. The officers met regularly to acquaint themselves perfectly with every maneuver and to practice it, so that they could with confidence instruct the privates. It could be said of the officersthat they made themselves letter-perfect in the manual of arms, so that whether it was a squad, or a platoon, or the whole company that was being drilled, the boys acted as a unit and looked like one. The time for drill was immediately after classes in the afternoon from four to five o'clock. New members drilled five times a week until they were so familiar with the manual of arms and the marching orders that they could join the company without disrupting the order. By the time cold weather Set in, the company was ready to drill as a unit and then it was divided into two platoons, each platoon drilling separately twice a week,

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while on Wednesday night after supper the entire company crowded into the little gymnasium and went through a snappy drill in the manual of arms. There was a special firing squad, trained to fire a salute on Washington's birthday and on Memorial Day, and also a squad picked from the rest of the company because of their special proficiency in executing the manual of arms with precision and snap. This squad was sometimes used to demonstrate to the rest of the company how things should be done and also to put on a special exhibition of drill when the company appeared in public. There is no denying that there was a certain esprit de corps in the company during its brighter years, so that it was felt to be a worthwhile honor to be picked to serve on the firing squad or on the exhibition squad. And when at the command of Order Arms the butts of a hundred rifles came down on the wood floor of the old gym with one single resounding thud, the whole company felt a little glow of pride at having achieved something. Discipline in the company during its best days was strict. There was no talking in the ranks, no malingering, no sloppiness in dress or in response to orders, because too many demerits for such breaches of military conduct would bring the delinquent before a court martial of company officers. The punishments were severe enough to be respected. No one relished pacing back and forth between the buildings with a rifle on his shoulder for an hour, and still less did he relish being sentenced to clean and polish thirty rifles before the next Saturday. The chief officers were usually older boys who deserved the respect of the rest of the students. They took their position seriously, had pride in turning out a well-drilled squad or platoon, and when called upon to mete out punishment, used good judgment.

Public Appearances When spring came, the company was ready to be seen in public, and invitations for such appearances were not lacking. If the weather on Washington'S birthday happened to be bearable, the band and the military company marched down College Avenue and Main Street and back again, a performance that was possible in the days when the worst obstacle to a parade was an occasional horse and buggy. This initial parade of the new season was in the nature of a rehearsal for the more splendid

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occasions that came with warmer weather. Both the band and the military company regularly appeared in the Memorial Day parade, except during those years when the Northwestern Club of Milwaukee made that day the occasion of their excursion to Watertown to stir up enthusiasm for their project of building a gymnasium for the college. On that day the band and the military company would meet the excursionists at the depot or at the interurban stop and escort them to the campus; there would follow a baseball game, a sham battle, and in the evening a concert by the band, a program that might be varied from year to year but that usually included some or all of those activities. For a number of years Memorial Day was spoken of at the college and by members of the Northwestern Club as Northwestern Day, not because there was any intention of changing the purpose of that holiday, but because that was the day when they expressed both their patriotism and their loyalty by organizing an excursion and celebrating the day together with the military band and the college soldiers. The part that the military company played in the life of the community is illustrated by the parade that the military company arranged to honor Dr. Solliday, who had volunteered for military service when the war with Spain broke Out and who returned from that service as Colonel Solliday. When the Colonel's train pulled in at the Milwaukee Road station, which was then located at the foot of Fifth Street, he was greeted by the martial music of the college band, by several salutes of the firing squad, and by the cheers of the members of the military company. The line of the parade formed with the college band and military company at its head. Next came the veterans of the Civil War, then a line of carriages, the Kriegerverein - a company of old German soldiers - and finally the Sinissippi band, a local organization. Triumphantly they proceeded up Fifth Street to Main Street, to the Colonel's home. Thus was honored the senator who had procured for the company their first sixty rifles. March-out The high point of the season for the company was the annual march-out to some one of the neighboring towns that lay within a distance of no more than fifteen miles from Watertown, to Lake Mills, Jefferson, Waterloo, Juneau, Helenville, or

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Oconomowoc. The band and the military company and sometimes also the male chorus would start out on foot on a Saturday morning and with one short rest period walk to their objective at a pace of about three miles an hour. While Mr. Heinbockel was the steward, he would accompany the boys with a team of horses and a wagon to carry the drums and the heavier band instruments, and occasionally also give a lift to some smaller boy who found the pace and the heavy rifle a bit too much for his small body. There were few who ever took advantage of a lift on the wagon; pride forbade that. The wagon also carried a lunch, which was distributed during the rest period. When the group left town it would march in military order to the city limits; the order would then be given to march at ease, and so to the accompaniment of songs and banter the march would continue till their destination was in clear view, when ranks would again be closed and with the band playing they would swing into town with a brave show of alertness, but with weary legs and tired bodies. Usually there was but one march-out each season, but one year the company and band marched to Helenville and shortly afterward also to Lake Mills. They made the fifteen miles to Helenville in five hours, but were brought back to Watertown on Sunday by the Helenville people, who supplied horses and wagons for the whole troop. Since these trips were made by invitation extended by members of the local congregation who obligated themselves to furnish food and lodging, the boys could not choose the day when they would start out. Sometimes they did encounter extreme heat, and on one occasion on the road to Juneau a terrific thunderstorm. Naturally they were thoroughly soaked, but those tough blue uniforms were not called fatigue uniforms in vain. They were made to stand much harder abuse than a mere soaking in a thunderstorm. An account in the Black and Red of a march-out on October 15, 1898, to Oconomowoc gives us a clear picture of what those outings were like. After a very delightful march of about seven miles a halt was made, and Mr. Heinbockel, who for the last five years acted as wagoner for the company, served refreshments to the boys. Thereupon the command to march was again given and with it permission to break silence in the ranks. The regular beat of drums now 'inter-

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mingled with songs and laughter. A variety of clarionet and cornet solos, together with the remarkable work of the drummer boy, made marching a great pleasure indeed. Thus the ensuing five miles, which concluded the trip, were passed without apparently fatiguing a single one of the men. It was shortly after eleven o'clock when the city of Oconomowoc was reached. At once silence and strict military order were restored in the ranks, the city was entered, and with colors flying and band playing the company marched directly to its headquarters, where Reverend Guenther and Teacher Daecke received their guests.... A considerable number of people who were not members of the inviting congregation also offered to entertain some of the guests. . . . In the evening the band turned out to render a selection of its choicest pieces to the public, which gladly took advantage of the opportunity. On Sunday morning the students attended church and in the afternoon, after having previously taken leave of their entertainers, they again formed in a body. At a command the band struck up a march, and the whole column of soldiers moved forward, not to halt again until, after three and one-half hours, it had reached Watertown.

The Oconomowoc Republican, which had no connection with the college and no special interest in it, gave this account of the boys' visit to Oconomowoc: Last Saturday about sixty cadets from the Northwestern University at Watertown enjoyed their fall march to this city. They were accompanied by their band. They were invited by the German Lutheran Church, and the cadets were cared for by the members of that church. The young cadets presented an imposing sight in the regulation army uniforms, and the difficult military maneuvers gone through by them elicited much applause from the interested spectators. They remained over night and attended church next morning in a body, the band furnishing music. On Sunday afternoon at three o'clock they formed in line and marched back to Watertown. Their gentlemanly actions while in the city together with their proficiency in drill, certainly reflect great credit upon the institution to which they belong.

Although the exercises included maneuvers with the rifle with attached bayonet and although in sham battles, which became a regular feature of later march-outs, there was much firing of blank shells, there is no record of any bodily injury connected with military drill, with one notable exception. Preparation for a sham battle included loading a large number of blank shells with a small charge of powder and a wad of paper. In 1909 the arsenal was located in a small room at the

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northeast end of the first-floor hall in the 1875 dormitory. Four members of the military company were engaged one afternoon in loading shells in this room, when somehow a spark was created that ignited the supply of gunpowder, four pounds of it. There was a flash and an explosion and all four boys were seriously burned. Henry Schroeder and Edwin Hertler especially were in serious condition from deep burns for some time after the accident. Rudolf Lederer and Edmund Reim, although painfully burned, were not so seriously injured. The explosion did not set fire to the room but it was violent enough to force one wall somewhat out of place. Apart from this one serious and unfortunate accident, all other wounds on the battlefield were simulated with the use of much red ink and white cloths.

Departing Glory The first inkling of the beginning of the end of the military company came in 1911 when military drill was made compulsory for all preps, an indication that voluntary enlistment was no longer filling the ranks. During World War I drill was briefly discontinued while the introduction of a Student Army Training Corps under the direction of a United States Army officer was being considered. When that plan had to be dropped, military drill was resumed and olive drab uniforms were substituted for the time-honored blue. After World War I it was harder than ever to keep up interest in military drill. That war had demonstrated to everyone who could read that there was no glamor in war, that war no longer meant flapping flags, bright uniforms, and martial music; war now came to mean filthy shell holes, slime, mud, vermin, mutilated bodies, shell shock, and horrible death. Playing at soldier had little appeal for boys who were old enough to understand what war is. Besides, the new gymnasium made games possible, and the monotony of military drill without the excitement of competition had little chance to survive in the face of such a lively game as basketball. The faculty minutes of 1922 record that all through the year there was more or less trouble connected with military drill. Students refused to appear for drill, they refused to accept punishment imposed by a court martial, one even furnished a doctor's certificate advising discontinuance of drill because of a nervous condition, and the entire band on one occasion

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resigned from that organization and handed over their instruments in protest against the requirement that they participate in drill along with the military company. In spite of such rebellion the company continued to drag out its existence for a few years. In 1928 the faculty recommended discontinuing the company, but the college board suggested a reconsideration of that decision and a further trial in the hope of injecting new life into the system. But the military company was dead, and in 1929 it ceased to be. It had had an honorable and a useful place in student life in its day, but World War I, competitive games, the coming of the automobile and the growing objection to much walking, all contributed to the revolt against the military company and to its demise. Not even a rifle has been saved, or a sword, as a memento of what once was really great on the Northwestern campus. The company was both loved and hated in its day, and hate finally prevailed. Honor Roll of Captains To be captain of the military company was something of a distinction on the campus. One did not attain to that position merely by reason of long service and by automatic promotion; advancement was a combination of promotion because of length of service, coupled with merit. Since the captain's position was one of service, one of giving rather than of taking and receiving, at least a record of captains' names should be kept. This list is as complete as it was possible to ascertain. August Schauer, 1892-1894 L. Casper, 1895 Edward Fredrich, 1896 John Messer, 1897 Gerhard Hinnenthal, 1898 Ed Buerger, 1900 Alfred Sauer, 1901 Richard Buerger, 1902 Chris Sauer, 1903 Reinhold Breutzmann, 1904 Adolf Sauer, 1905 Henry Diehl, 1906 Philip Koehler, 1907-1909 A. Hanke, 1910 John Maasch, 1911

Leonard Koeninger, 1912 William Beitz, 1913 Otto Medenwald, 1914 W. Huth, 1915 Otto Gruendemann, 1916 Edward Duxe, 1917 Fred Brandt, 1918 Max Stem, 1920 Walter Voigt, 1921 Jacob Van Kooy, 1923 H. Grunwald, 1924 August Frederking, 1925 R. Bittorf, 1926 George Rosenhauer, 1927

CHAPTER

XXX

The Black and Red In Henry Sieker's reminiscences of three years at Northwestern between 1893 and 1896, which were published in three issues of the Black and Red in 1905, the author wrote that his class in 1895 was responsible for the first college paper to be published by Northwestern students. The paper, called the College Review, was inspired by a feud that the juniors were carrying on that year with their superiors, the seniors. The paper was a handwritten account of college activities and opinions contributed by members of the junior class, and it was deposited in the reading room for all to enjoy. After the third issue, when peace was restored between the two classes, the paper ceased to appear, since there was now no longer a good reason for the labor involved in producing twenty-six pages of handwritten comment on student life, just to spite the seniors. First Efforts The distinction of having produced the first college paper at Northwestern that had thus been claimed for the class of 1896 was immediately challenged by Pastor (later, Professor) William Huth, whose "Correction" was published in the very next issue of the Black and Red. The correction listed several productions earlier than the College Review. Foremost among these early productions was Der Studenten Schnick-Schnack, which may be rendered in English as Student Chit Chat. Twelve numbers of this paper appeared in 1875, and the introductory article of the first number mentions six other papers that had preceded this one: Die Concordia, Die Fliegenden Blaetter, Der Student, Ho Angelos, He Angelos, and Der Bote. Editors of Der Student were Ad. Hoyer, Christian Sauer, John P. Koehler. It appeared

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weekly from September 14 to December 7, 1874. Besides comments, short articles, news items, it also contained advertisements: August Pieper had paper for sale; Christian Sauer, ink; William Huth, pens and blotters. All of these papers were written in ink on foolscap paper and were illustrated with pen and ink sketches in color. The title page was elaborately decorated in color. Comments on student life, humorous and critical articles made up the contents, except for the last page, which offered a few borrowed jokes, puzzles and rebuses, after the manner of current German magazines. These papers were passed from room to room in the dormitory, and readers were expected to contribute a cent or two to cover the slight expense of production. There was only one copy of each issue, and all of them were short-lived and were never intended to circulate outside the student body. Statement of Purpose

The Black and Red, the college paper published by the students of the collegiate department, made its first appearance in June, 1897, and is now appearing in its sixty-eighth volume. The introduction to the first number explains the origin and the purpose of the periodical. It reads in part as follows: Black and Red, the emblematical colors of the Northwestern University at Watertown, Wisconsin, was chosen as the title of our new paper because it is published by the wearers of these colors, the students of the said institution, and edited by a committee appointed by them. The long-felt want to have a college publication of our own having found its expression at last year's meeting of the alumni association at Watertown, it was then and there resolved to have a college paper started in the course of the present year, and accordingly a managing committee was appointed to take the necessary measures leading thereto. The result is the present first number. As to the object to be pursued we should point to the fact that so far the communication between the former students of Northwestern University and the institution itself has been rather loose. It may be taken for granted that none of them have forgotten their Alma Mater ... but many, perhaps most of them, hear and know very little of what is now going on at the old school. The chief object of our paper, therefore, will be to establish some means of communication between the institution and its former pupils, to furnish information of what is going on in the college to those living at a distance, and at the same time to keep

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its readers informed, as far as possible, of what has become of the former students. At the same time we shall endeavor to furnish such reading material as will interest the literary and scientific tastes of our readers.

The purpose of the paper thus stated on the first page of the first number has been pursued with surprising fidelity through the sixty-eight years of its existence. It is not likely that later editors consciously followed the program announced in the opening editorial, as most editors had perhaps never read that introduction to the college paper. The general uniformity of form and style through the years shows that the first editor well foresaw what future students and alumni would wish their paper to be like. There were, of course, numbers that were dull, devoid of any interest for students or alumni; there were articles that were stuffy or pretentious, and some of the critical observations seem to us to be a little lofty in tone, somewhat condescending. The jokes are often incomprehensible to anyone who is not completely familiar with all the details of the situation that is being treated. The value of the paper should, however, not be judged by these obvious defects, nor by an occasional dull number, or even by a whole volume. A number chosen at random may prove to be very disappointing, but a more thorough search or a leisurely browsing through the set of sixty-eight volumes will convince one that the paper has very successfully achieved its purpose of presenting to the reader a good picture of the life and interests of the students at Northwestern College. The paper may sometimes be dull and stuffy, but it is never vulgar, never just flippant, and never irreverent toward sacred things. Even though excesses and transgressions are not aired in newspaper style, there is no pretense that such things do not occur. Neither is there any pretense that the students are always satisfied with the required course of studies or with the rules and regulations, but when complaints are aired, they are expressed with restraint and decency. As one pages through number after number, one may be amused by some attempt at high-flying rhetoric or by a bit of fiction that falls flat, but one need never feel ashamed or embarrassed. Old-timers might burst out laughing if they read some youthful effort of theirs that was printed in

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the Black and Red fifty years ago, but they would have no need to blush and wish that those pages could be torn from the record. It is true that the president of the school reads the material submitted before it goes to the printer, but it happens infrequently that an article or even a portion of one has to be rejected as unfit for publication in a student paper that is meant for the general public as well as for the students. On the whole the character of the general run of students through the years is reflected faithfully enough in the pages of the Black and Red. The editors of the paper are chosen by the students, subject to the approval of the faculty. The staff is made up of five seniors, three juniors, and two sophomores. Shortly before the end of the school year this staff submits to the faculty a list of the names of the five men they have selected to replace the five departing seniors - two juniors, one sophomore, and two freshmen. The staff consists of an editor-in-chief, two assistant editors, an alumni editor, a sports editor, a campus and classroom editor, a business manager, an art editor, and two advertising managers. The outgoing staff makes the nominations, but the faculty approves or rejects. Since the selection of editors is made on the basis of good scholarship and expresses the faculty'S confidence that the person chosen will be a worthy representative of the student body, a position on the staff is a distinct honor. Appointment to the editorial staff and selection as one of the two orators at commencement are the only public honors extended by the school. Modest honors, it is true, but honors nevertheless, and they may rightly be so considered. Table of Contents A typical table of contents is that of the December number of 1957. The cover is an attractive design in green and white quoting Isaiah 9: 6, "All they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord." Under the Scripture passage is a small drawing of the wise men and their camels. Tiny letters in one corner identify the artist as "Skeezix." The title page extends Christmas greetings to all the friends of the Black and Red. This number is unusual in that it is printed in red ink on green paper. First comes the campus calendar, which lists all special campus

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activities outside of the classroom. Then comes the section with the heading Literary, which contains a story, several articles, and an editorial. News and Views, containing comments on campus activities, comes next. An installment of the Autobiography of O. J. R. Hoenecke appears in this issue; then Alumni Notes; Campus and Classroom, which is the depository for whatever comes under the head of humor; and finally the section on athletics, which never suffers from neglect. This material covers twenty-eight pages, and then there follow twenty pages of advertisements, without which the paper could not be published unless subsidized. Even so, it usually struggles with its financial difficulties. The first three volumes of the Black and Red contained as many contributions by alumni as by students, but the editors of the third volume determined to correct this imbalance. Alumni were still invited to contribute, but more pressure was now put upon students to submit material, with the result that the seventh number of this volume tells all about the activities of the military company, the literary societies, and the turning society, besides recording many personal items, such as a slight injury sustained by the captain of the football team, the progress that the juniors were making in Hebrew under Professor John P. Koehler in six periods each week, and the visit that three students paid to their homes in Juneau on Thanksgiving Day. "With this issue," wrote the editor-in-chief, "the Black and Red may hope to enter upon a new era." That hope was justified, because from that time on the paper ceased to depend on the alumni and printed what the editor by flattery, pleading, cajolery, and possibly even threats, could get his fellow students to contribute. The editor could always depend on a column about athletics, but the rest of the material very often reflected the editor's gift of persuasion. When all other efforts failed, he would in desperation write something himself. The space allotted to athletics could easily be filled with box scores and an account of what happened in a game. Concerts, meetings of literary societies, Arbor Day, and so on could be treated as news, and no great effort was required to procure a report on such events. The literary section was not so readily filled.

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Literary At no time during the life of the paper was fiction strongly represented, and what stories did appear seemed labored and certainly unprofessional. The purpose of the school to prepare men for the study of theology, and the heavy course in languages and history do not encourage a strong interest in the writing of fiction. That may be one reason why fiction so rarely appears and why it is inferior in quality to articles that are historical in nature. Although little stress is laid on the writing of poetry in the required course, the poetry that appears in the paper is usually quite presentable, especially poetry with religious content or poetry that translates or imitates well-known poems. A good example of the first kind is a German poem that appeared in the February number of 1906. Two of the seven stanzas read as follows: Siehl die goldne Wintersonne Will im Westen untergehn Stroeme himmlischsuesser Wonne Ueber meine Seele wehn. Lange steh ich noch und schaue Hin zum goldgefaerbten West, Herr, mein Gott, auf den ich traue Lass mich stehn im Glauben fest.

Another of nine stanzas, which appeared in the Campus and Classroom column of October, 1956, greets the students who have returned to college for another year. The first stanza, reminiscent of Chaucer, follows: When autumn with its heat and rainless skies The lawns to gardeners' displeasure dries, And scores of motorists are laid to rest, Who failed to pass Labor Day's grim test, The teachers everywhere dust off their books, And students practice comprehending looks And take their leave of Carol, Jane, or Leah Once more to woo the fickle maid Sophia.

The second stanza begins with the lines: "A soph came first, long, scrawny, and a grease / Whose ever-searching mind was not at peace," and in that vein the poem continues, while the poet good-naturedly laughs a little at himself and at his fellow students.

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Articles of historical content and accounts of personal experiences and travels are almost always of good quality. These articles reflect not only the students' interests; they also reveal the literary taste of the time when they were written. In the earliest numbers the language of straight accounts of events at the school, or of editorials on subjects that were of personal interest to the editor was honest English, not distinguishable from the language in the latest numbers. But when an author tackled a subject like Memory, then a strange language was likely to be employed. A student striving to write well and to use what seemed to him to be a literary style would write a sentence like this, describing a party given by a senior girl for her classmates: "The parlors were tastefully decorated with cut flowers diffusing a delicious fragrance of spring." Describing a baseball game: "The game was marked with gentlemanly conduct of both teams, which made it very agreeable to the spectators." Commencement Day is described in these ecstatic words: As soon as Aurora makes her appearance on that day all about the premises of the college is in a bustle and stir. Smiles flickering over the physiognomy even of the most sombre and melancholy student are noticeable. . . . Our hall was not draped with colors and ribbons; the walls were not hung with magnificent pictures, elaborate paintings and other appurtenances; even the proscenium was devoid of floral decorations. All this was deemed non-essential by the managers, knowing that the brilliancy of the graduating class would be sufficiently imposing.

Classical studies were not without influence on English diction, as this excerpt from an article written in 1903 will show: "Over yon hill the lagging moon appeared, as it followed Helios' effulgent chariot along the starry track." A student writing about the seminary and seminary life extolled the cultural advantages of Milwaukee in these words: "All places, of course, can scarcely be seen for lack of time. But the majority of the students take advantage of the opportunity offered them to see Forest Home, justly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the state." It seems that seminary students also frequented the Soldiers Home, where "three or four times a week a band takes its stand upon the pavilion and plays patriotic airs as My Country 'tis of Thee, The Star SPangled Banner, and Yankee Doodle." However, the same

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number that contained these gems also offered such straightforward English as: "The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed the greater part of Europe in fierce wars, and towards its end war clouds are again lowering over Europe." This kind of language is characteristic of this periodical, which at one time boasted that it was the only college periodical within the Synodical Conference, and the only German-English college periodical in the country. In the early issues the humor was hardly understandable to anyone who was not intimately acquainted with the foibles and little weaknesses of the boys in the dormitory. In this respect there is an improvement in the later volumes. It is possible to be amused without being in on the secrets and private affairs of the student who happened to be made the butt of a joke. School Chronicler The Black and Red is a valuable depository of historical items that have been preserved only there, and the paper has also rendered our Synod a service by printing the proceedings of the earliest Synod meetings and by preserving the valuable autobiographies of o. J. R. Hoenecke, Wm. Luebke, Martin Sprengling, George Shield, Edgar Guenther, Ernst Heilmann, Waldemar Heidtke, Dr. J. B. Bernthal, and Henry Sieker. There are also many obituaries of former professors, items of personal interest concerning faculty members, biographical sketches, and so on, including many fine pictures. Although the Black and Red represents all departments of Northwestern College, preparatory as well as collegiate, the trend of late years is to confine itself to the affairs of the collegiate department, since the preparatory department is now publishing its own paper, called the Hornet - originally the Shrdlu, the first issue of which was published in 1931. This paper is mimeographed and makes no attempt to build up a circulation outside of the walls of the school. The preparatory department also publishes an annual, The Sprinter, which appeared for the first time in 1946. It includes pictures of all prep classes, athletic teams, societies, and organizations of that department, and features the graduating class. For a few years between 1900 and 1910 the freshman class used to put together a handwritten book containing an article

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or a story by each member of the class. The handwriting in every case is extremely careful and legible and in some cases actually beautiful. The colored pen and ink sketches are sometimes very clever. The whole was bound together between stiff paper covers and held in place by cute bows of ribbon in the class colors. There are only three of these quaint books in existence, the most interesting one being that of the class of 1909, which contains articles by Dr. Henry Koch and Professor Paul Peters. They were serious productions and the intent seems to have been to establish a precedent for freshmen classes, but that end was not achieved. The representative periodical of the school was and still is the Black and Red.

CHAPTER

XXXI

Societies The first literary society at Northwestern of which there is a definite record was organized in 1886 and was known as the Northwestern Literary Society. In the preamble to the constitution the members declared themselves to be "an association for mutual improvement in elocution, debate, and for enlarging our fund of general intelligence, in the pursuit of which objects we desire to exhibit a due consideration for the opinions and feelings of others." Except for its emphasis on proper parliamentary procedure at its meetings and on the cultivation of good manners "in all our intercourse," this society did not differ greatly from all those that followed it through the years. There were recitations and readings, a prepared debate followed by a general debate on the same subject, criticism and discussion, and selection of a topic for the next debate. Typical subjects for debate were the proposition that Grant was a greater general than Lee, and that the secession of the South was justifiable. Among the members of this society were O. J. R. Hoenecke and his brother Walter, M. J. Hillemann, John Plocher, and John Schwartz. The last entry in the carefully kept book of minutes reads: "The meeting was opened by the president. The motion was passed to adjourn sine die. H. Schwartz, secretary, pro tern." On that rather pathetic note the society passed out of existence. Lack of interest caused the demise of more than one literary society, such as the one that was organized in 1890 and its successor in 1892, which gave up the attempt to organize when only eight persons showed up for the first meeting. Not until 1897 was another attempt made to found a literary society, this time with more success. The Beta Rho society came into being

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in that year with the declaration that "it is our purpose to further our knowledge in literature, to enable the practice of extempore speaking, to generate the power of quick thinking while occupying the floor." The members hoped to have weekly meetings, alternately English and German. Although debating was again emphasized, there were also to be orations, declamations, and dramatic readings. By 1902 this society too began to complain about the utter lack of interest on the part of its members, and the meetings were called dull, dry, and not up to standard. After a debate on the question "Which is the greater fool, the dude or the tough?" one critic summed up his criticism of the program as "Not very edifying." When the Beta Rho society succumbed to the fatal lack of interest, the freshmen of 1902 decided to form a society of their own; there was a Sigma Phi society in 1903; the freshmen of 1904 imitated their brethren of 1902 and formed a society which they enlarged in the following year by inviting the next freshman class to join them, and these two classes managed to survive for a few years, first as the Phi Lambda Sigma society, and then as the Eureka society. The meaning of the Greek letters was not explained, and one Black and Red editor perhaps found the correct explanation of the fondness for Greek letters as the name of a society when he said they were a "handy handle for a society." In 1906 two societies were formed on the theory that competition and rivalry would serve as a stimulant and would overcome the apathy that had proved so deadly to other societies. Whether or not it was competition that kept these two societies alive, they continued to exist until 1936, although in 1916 they did merge under a new name, again in Greek letters - the Phi Gamma Rho society. It was not the Greek letters and the new name that gave this society the will to live; it was the enthusiasm of Professor Kiessling, who supplied it with ideas, coached the members, and was in every respect their leader and director. This society was now more a dramatic society than a debating club, and it successfully presented plays by Goldsmith, Shakespeare, Molnar, Shaw, Sheridan, Marlowe, and Moliere. Between 1937 and 1948 there were no literary societies. It is not clear why that was so; perhaps the depression and WorId

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War II had something to do with it. In 1948 the Tres Artes society was formed and lived for a few years, but it too went into a slow decline. Then in 1951, with vigorous faculty support, two societies were formed, the Forum in the college department, and Rostra in the preparatory department. These societies tend to choose themes for their programs, such as Mark Twain, The Gay Nineties, and Modern Poetry. They present six or eight programs and a play or operetta each year and at present writing are still very much alive. Rostra regularly wins a string of A's in state forensic meets. Other societies on the order of literary societies were the Harmonia society of 1898, formed to practice breathing exercises and to develop elocutionary powers, and the Study Society made up of juniors and seniors to present speeches, essays, and treatises for their own edification. There was also a German Club of some distinction in 1916.

The Band The life of the literary societies has always been precarious; they seemed to require pressure from without to continue in action. The band was more fortunate in commanding the interest of the students, and its history is unbroken since the day it was founded by Professor Preller in 1878. The first requisite was money for instruments, and enough was collected from students and townspeople to make a modest start; then the players paid four dollars a year rental until enough instruments had been bought and paid for to equip a small band - the Northwestern University Brass Band. The music was copied out by hand in the first years. Professor Preller was long remembered for his favorite admonition to the cornetists, "Schmettere muss es" - it has to blare. Amos Easterday followed Preller, and after him W. Weimar both directed the band and played an instrument, likewise Professor Plum, an accomplished cornetist. Professor Weimar once more took over the band when Plum left, and he was followed by Professors Frank, Bolle, Westerhaus, and finally by Professors Oswald and Lehmann, the present expert conductor of the band. As long as the military company existed the band was a military band; it drilled with the company on Wednesday evenings and accompanied it on the marches to neighboring

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towns. After the demise of the military company, the band gave less attention to marches and gradually developed into a concert band. There is something about a band that stimulates an audience, and at the concerts of the musical organizations the appearance of the band in resplendent black and red uniforms invariably creates a stir of pleasurable interest, and especially the children in the audience come awake again. Before the advent of radio and record players there was always the sound of some band instrument coming from the open dormitory windows. Perhaps no twO instruments were playing the same tune, and what one heard was more like noise than music, but it was a characteristic and not unpleasant sound in the hours after dinner and before the evening study period. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon there frequently was an impromptu concert that drew a small audience around the band stand, and on wintry afternoons on a Saturday or Sunday four or five band members would gather in a study room and play their way through the march-book, or the whole band might give a concert in a dorm hall to relieve the tedium of a Sunday afternoon. Because of the predominance of the military march in its repertoire, the band might be a bit uncertain when it attacked a concert piece. Today it is more sure of itself and adds much to the color and enjoyment of the concerts. An offshoot of the band is the pep band, which performs at football games and occasionally at other student affairs. The band used to be in great demand for church picnics and for mission festivals when they were held out of doors; that has changed in late years. This popular organization has, however, flourished and become a very competent body of performers. The Orchestra The history of the orchestra is somewhat like that of the literary societies; it had a hard time sustaining its life. It would thrive for a time and then wilt. In 1898 there was an orchestra of six members, in which Professor Julius Gamm, the first violinist, was reported to have wielded a "powerful bow." This little orchestra was still in existence in 1900, and in that year it joined with the band in hiring a director to coach it for a period of four weeks. All that is known of this man is that his name was Mr. Grethen. Between 1905 and 1915 the

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orchestra was blessed with a succession of competent violinists, such as Ernst Dornfeld and Alex Sitz, and for a part of this period Mr. Duetzmann, a violinist with the Milwaukee Symphony, directed the orchestra, but as a rule the orchestra suffered from a weakness in the violin section. But it continued to participate in student concerts under the direction of Prof. Wendland and then of Prof. Herrmann until the latter's death in 1938. Soon after that the organization disbanded, and the college was without an orchestra for more than two decades until Prof. Lehmann revived it in 1964. His group of some twenty musicians is again appearing on concert programs.

The Chorus For more than fifty years after the founding of the institution no provision was made in the class schedule for instruction in music. That is strange because from the very beginning the board and the Synod were being urged to provide for instruction in singing. Noone ever said that such instruction was not needed in the church, but there was barely money enough available for the absolute essentials, and it was felt that somehow the students would pick up a little knowledge of music on the way without expensive instruction. In 1903 a Mr. Salbach was engaged to come out from Milwaukee to give an hour's instruction on Monday afternoon to the whole student body. That effort fell flat because the hour was taken from the students' free time, and the poor instructor's efforts met with more resistance than enthusiasm. Regular instruction in singing was not introduced in the schedule of the preparatory department until 1920, and music appeared on the collegiate schedule for the first time in 1945. When Professor Bolle joined the faculty in 1902, music received the impetus that it needed. As a parochial school teacher he was an enthusiast for all forms of music, for vocal music in particular. He started with an octet in 1902 and in 1903 organized a chorus of one hundred members. In December this chorus appeared in a concert with the band and the orchestra and made a fair showing. A director from Milwaukee had been hired for the group, but when he was not reengaged the next year the chorus expired. In 1904 an editor of the Black and Red complained that "we have an orchestra, a band, a militia, a

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turning society, and even a walking society" but no chorus and no instruction in vocal music. But interest among the students had not died, and in 1907 the students themselves urged the revival of the chorus. In 1908 Professor Bolle again organized the group and since then the male chorus has been a prominent part of student life and as highly esteemed by students and the public as any organization on the campus. Artistically, the singing of the male chorus at the college concerts is always the highlight of the evening. Every other year the male chorus makes an extended tour at Eastertide, traveling by bus and presenting a program of sacred songs in our churches on the way. The music presented on these tours and at some of the local concerts is the music of our church and a preaching of the Gospel, and the chorus thus becomes a worthy emissary, not only of our school but of the Lutheran church too, and of the whole Church of our Lord Christ. Besides the male chorus of the collegiate department there is also a large chorus made up of boys from the high-school department, who hold their own most admirably when they appear on the same program with the chorus of the older students. A mixed chorus includes almost all of the girls that are enrolled and a number of volunteers from the male chorus. These three choruses appear regularly on the concert programs at least three times a year. Besides these representative organizations there are usually voluntary, semi-official groups of singers, such as a quartet, or octet, or a glee club, devoted to less dignified singing than the large choruses and serving to amuse rather than to edify.

Artists In the 1920's all organizations joined in bringing famous artists to our campus. The first of these was Fritz Kreisler, the beloved violinist. The magic of the Kreisler name and a vigorous ticket-selling campaign by students and interested townspeople ensured a packed gymnasium. The successof the Kreisler program encouraged the concert committee to attempt more such ventures. Among the famous artists and organizations that appeared in the next few years were Madame Schumann-Heink and Anna Case, lieder singers; Mischa Elman, violinist; Alberto Salvi, the best-known harpist of the day, who appeared twice; Reinald

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Werrenrath, baritone; Harold Bauer, pianist; the Don Cossack Chorus; the Ukrainian Chorus, not so well known, but superior to the Don Cossacks; the St. Olaf Chorus twice; the Navy band; the small Minneapolis Symphony orchestra; and the Tony Sarg Marionettes. A remark by one of the Tony Sarg troupe tells why these programs had to be discontinued. He said that the largest assembly they had ever played to was in Mexico City; the smallest, in Watertown. These were all high-priced artists. The novelty of seeing famous artists in person was wearing off, the radio was becoming a standard piece of household furniture, and the depression was settling down over the land, all of which made it impossible to sell enough tickets to cover the costs. The Kreisler success had left a large surplus, but deficits kept cutting that down till nothing was left, and that ended the great artists programs. In recent years Northwestern has often assisted in bringing a series of Community Concerts to Watertown. Alumni Society Dr. John Bading and Eugene Norz, alumni living in Milwaukee, addressed a letter to all graduates of Northwestern suggesting that they form an alumni society. On June 24, 1879, in accordance with the suggestion made in this letter, the following graduates met in Watertown at the time of commencement and founded the alumni society: John Bading, A. Baebenroth, o. Felland, J. Gensike, W. Harms, A. Hoyer, Karl Huth, K. Koch, J. P. Koehler, 1. Lampert, Eugene Notz, Chr. Sauer. Several of these men were still at the seminary. Meetings of the society were held sometimes in Watertown at the time of commencement, sometimes in connection with the Synod meeting. In 1890, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the college, the meeting was held in Watertown in connection with the commencement, and since then that has been the time and place for all regular meetings. Now and then the meeting took the form of a banquet at a Watertown hotel, which was entirely in accord with the expressed purpose of the society to promote good-fellowship among the alumni, to keep up familiar acquaintance with former fellow students, and to preserve a feeling of loyalty to the Alma Mater. Besides promoting good fellowship the society wished also to foster the scientific interests of the graduates and arranged

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to have members present periodic lectures at the meetings. Professor Bothne lectured to the society on Norse Mythology, Pastor Spiering on Missions, Professor Weimar on Systematic Breathing Exercises for Speakers and Singers. There was a lecture on St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany; a description of a European tour; a lecture on the art of reading to an audience. Professor John P. Koehler, who presided over the society till 1909, sometimes delivered a presidential address. In one such address delivered in German he said: "Now I hold that a living faith is the link which really holds together the whole history of the world, according to the word of Christ, that the Christians are the salt of the earth." In that same address he also said that their coming together was justified even if they met for no other reason than to express their love for their Alma Mater and to foster social feeling and comradeship. His last address as president of the society was on the subject, "Mind Your Own Business." What he said on the subject is not recorded, but it is certain to have been interesting. Pastor William Huth succeeded Professor Koehler as president. Hans Koller Moussa followed him and was succeeded by Benjamin Schlueter. Today Professor Walter Schumann presides. In 1901 and 1902 the society had some especially lively discussions on the proposal to found first an academy and then a college that should make it possible for all our young people to get Christian instruction on every level from the grades through college in all those subjects that are usually taught in college. The society decided to start with an academy and proposed to finance it and conduct it without the help of the Synod. A committee was appointed to draw up a plan and to report at the next meeting. Before the next meeting was held, the members lost much of their enthusiasm, a motion to reconsider the resolution was passed, the committee never reported, and the matter was dropped. That was the last attempt to realize the original ambition to make Northwestern a university; a few years later the name was changed to Northwestern College. Loyalty to Northwestern was frequently expressed in a tangible way. The monumental New English Dictionary was the society's gift to the library, likewise the equally monumental Pauly-Wissowa Encyclopedia of Classical Antiquities. The society contributed $1,100 to the library for the introduction of the

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card index system of the Library of Congress, and when the library was built the society put all of its wealth - $8,000 into the building fund. There were other such projects, the latest being the sponsorship of this anniversary history. In 1911 a group of eleven students toured the state during the summer, giving concerts to stimulate interest in the college. In the last few years students have been appearing before church groups during the school year on a similar mission. Some five or six, from a company of fifty volunteers, present a program consisting of a lecture with slides and songs. The aim is to acquaint our people with the kind of work done at Northwestern and to interest young boys in coming here to prepare for the ministry. The project is part of the recruitment program to relieve the manpower shortage in the Synod. All programs are carefully supervised by college authorities and are given only on the invitation of the local pastor or congregation. These are the societies that in some way influenced the lives of generations of students and that established traditions and customs. The colorful Vesuvius (smoking) Club lasted for thirty years. There were many other clubs, societies, and organizations that sprang up like mushrooms in muggy weather and then disappeared from the scene. Such were the Kingfisher Club, a Chess Club, a Walking Society, a Hockey Club, German bands, jazz bands, quartets, sextets, and octets. Any former student will be able to add to the list. They were of little importance and of short duration, but while they lasted they contributed in their way to the enjoyment and appreciation of life in the dormitory.

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XXXII

Our Property The first piece of land purchased for the seminary and the college was a plot of about five and one-half acres bounded on the south by Western Avenue and on the west by College Avenue, at that time known as the Old Milwaukee Road. It extended along Western Avenue up to the point where the large old oak tree stands and where the sidewalk makes a sharp little jog to the north. The northern boundary ran directly east from a point on College Avenue, past the large evergreen tree just south of the Ernst house, through the prep dormitory and along the sidewalk that leads to the north entrance of the collegiate dormitory. The spot where the line strikes the prep dormitory is marked by an arrow chiseled into the concrete sill of the second basement window north of the main entrance to the dormitory. The buildings that now stand on the original five and one-half acres are the new chapel-classroom building, the west half of the library, the 1875 dormitory, and a little more than one-half of the 1905 dormitory. This land was acquired from John Richards for $687.50. The second piece of land to be bought was the Alcott property of thirty acres lying north of the original plot. This was bought on December 19, 1868, by Adam Martin, John Bading, Adolf Hoenecke, E. Thiede, August Gamm, and George Gamm and by them deeded to the Northwestern University. The purchase price is in one instance given as $6,475, and in another as $6,300. It is possible that the difference of $175 represents the price paid to Mr. Hawley in November of 1868 for a triangle one-half acre in size that lay between the straight north-south

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line of the thirty acres and the oblique line of College Avenue. The north-south line of the thirty acres runs through the front of the Ernst house, through the two houses at 505 and 501 College Avenue, and then north to Main Street where Dewey Avenue enters. Main Street was the north boundary and Concord Avenue at the foot of the hill marked the eastern limit. The south boundary was an extension of the line that ran through the prep dormitory, just missing the north wall of the collegiate dormitory and continuing down the hill to Concord Avenue. No one at that time believed that the college would ever need all the land it then owned; it was said with positiveness that the college could never use more than sixteen or seventeen acres; and so the Synod authorized the sale of twenty-six lots lying along Main Street between Concord Avenue and Dewey Avenue. The reason for the sale was to raise money to help payoff the mortgage on the property. The last of the lots was sold and paid for as late as 1885. The oldest structure on the campus, the Ernst house, which was built in 1872, stands on this property. The two houses at 501 and 505 College Avenue are partly on this property and partly on the triangle that was bought about the same time. The entire playing field, the gymnasium, one-half of the prep dormitory, the heating plant, the dining hall and kitchen, and the three residences from 507 to 511 Tower Road occupy what remains of the thirty acres after the sale of the lots on Main Street. A less important sale of ground involved the wide end of the triangle referred to above. A neighbor, Mr. William Kohls, needed a little land alongside his house and also for an alleyway, and the college obliged him by selling him a strip twentyone feet wide at the street and narrowing to five feet at the rear of his lot, besides providing for a ten-foot alley which was to be used by both the buyer and the seller. The sale price was $125. St. Mary's hospital some years later bought a strip of land for a driveway to serve as an exit behind the hospital into Concord Avenue. For this, the hospital paid $500. It was stipulated that if that land should ever be used for any other purpose than a driveway, ownership should revert to the college. Between this driveway and the campus fence there is a small piece of ground that the Catholic sisters, who at that time managed the hospital, used as a flower and vegetable garden. It

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was understood that they were to pay $1 a year rental for the privilege, and for some years the dollar was duly paid, but with the change of personnel at the hospital that agreement was long ago forgotten. The Old Cemetery The next section of our campus to be acquired was the old cemetery. This was a rectangular piece of land measuring 360 feet north and south, and 264 feet east and west. It included all of the ground now occupied by the east half of the library, all of the collegiate dormitory, and the two houses numbered 503 and 505 Tower Road. The north wall of the dormitory almost exactly marks the north boundary of the cemetery, and the two residences just mentioned stand at the eastern edge of the cemetery. As early as 1891, Mr. Boughton, one of the early settlers in Watertown, suggested to Dr. F. W. A. Notz that the college ought to try to get possession of the cemetery in order to round out its property. That was not an easy matter. It is true that the state legislature had vacated the plot so far as its further use as a burial ground was concerned. Individuals had had burial rights there, but no one held title to any of the lots. The land had originally been deeded to the city in 1844 by Silas Newcomb for cemetery purposes, and so it was only through the city that possession of the land could be acquired. There had been no burials there since the 1870's, a considerable number of the graves had been opened and the remains transferred to other burial grounds, and people who might have had a personal interest in the land paid little attention to it. As a consequence it grew up into an interesting jungle of locust trees, lilacs, prickly ash, ordinary day lilies, weeds, tall grass sheltering such wild flowers as violets and crane's-bill, together with some quite vigorous poison ivy along the fence that separated the cemetery from the college property. In 1917, when St. Mary's hospital asked the college to sell a piece of land to the hospital, the college offered to give the hospital an equal piece of land if the hospital could persuade the city to give the college ownership of the cemetery. Fortunately, the hospital dropped the matter there, otherwise the college

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campus might have been a hundred yards narrower at its northeast corner than it now is. In 1920 a member of the local board of the college conceived a scheme to get possession of the cemetery that also fortunately was unsuccessful. Two sheds were moved a few feet to the east so that they stood on cemetery ground, a wire fence with a gate at the Western Avenue side was drawn about the plot, and a notice was inserted in the Palmyra paper that the college had taken possession of this land. Palmyra lay in the extreme opposite corner of Jefferson County, and it was not very likely that any Watertown people would see the notice. The scheme was to get the property by squatter's rights after twenty years of uncontested possession. The maneuver was legitimate enough according to law, but it was deservedly unsuccessful. A suit at law instituted by persons who had friends or relatives still lying buried there was decided against the college, which was ordered to remove the fence and the shed and was enjoined from trespassing on the property. The two or three persons who claimed some interest in the cemetery did at intervals send a man to cut the weeds in the cemetery, but before long it was again left to run wild. The cemetery was our next-door neighbor and it had a kind of romantic effect on the students because of its wildness, the crumbling headstones lying among the weeds, the wild flowers, and the seclusion offered by some of the more shady spots. This romantic attraction dated back as far as 1878 because a graduate of that year wrote an ode of twenty-four stanzas for publication in the Black and Red many years after he had spent some time in the neighborhood of the old cemetery. The ode celebrates some fond memories and then slips into a contemplation of life, death, and eternal life and salvation. Students frequented the cemetery, although it was weedy and unkempt. They went there to read, to study speeches, to memorize Greek vocables, and also to play cards out of sight of authority, and in the case of younger boys, to practice a little smoking on the sly. When the matter came to court, these innocent diversions took on a rather sinister aspect in the testimony of some who were determined to block any effort of the college to acquire the grounds. The card playing became "gambling" in the report of one of the neighbors, who obviously was not acquainted with

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the empty state of a student's pocket in those days. Another witness was sure that Dr. Ott's basement was paved with marble slabs stolen from the cemetery. Whatever testimony was brought was hardly less ridiculous than the two examples mentioned, but the facts were plain enough - the college, as matters stood, had no claim to ownership of the cemetery. In 1947, when the new building program was being planned, it became obvious to the city authorities that the use to which the college intended to put this ground would greatly improve the appearance of this section of Watertown, and they were much more amenable to the transfer of the cemetery to the college. The plot was finally deeded to the college with the one stipulation that five known graves should be opened and the bones found there reburied in a plot in Oak Hill Cemetery. If in the course of building operations more bones should be brought to light, they too were to be taken to the Oak Hill burial place. Seventeen such graves were found that still contained bones, all of which were carefully collected and reburied in separate small boxes.

The Koehler Property The next piece of land to come into the possession of the college was the Koehler property, which lay on the hillside directly east of the cemetery and adjoining it. Like the cemetery, it was 264 feet in depth, south to north, and extended down the hill to Concord Avenue. Professor Koehler bought this piece of land sometime between 1888 and 1900 while he was a professor at the college. He had intended to build a house on it for himself and had begun by making an excavation at the northwest corner of the site and having a load of field stones hauled to the place for a foundation. His acceptance of a call to our theological seminary brought an abrupt end to that plan. The land from then on lay unoccupied except that for some years the college cut the wild hay that grew there and during the first W orId War planted it with corn and potatoes, in the meantime paying the taxes on it. Professor Koehler had assured the college that if he ever decided to sell the land, he would first offer it to the college, and shortly before the depression set in a move was made toward purchasing the property, but financial difficulties

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of the Synod prevented any kind of expansion for several years. No definite sum was ever offered to Professor Koehler, and he never set a fixed price on the land. There the matter rested. When Professor Koehler died in 1951, it was found that he had bequeathed the land to his Alma Mater, thus again showing the high regard in which he had always held the school where he had studied and where he had begun his eminent teaching career. Our Present Campus The college campus is now an unbroken unit except for the site of the city water tower. That tower was built in 1895 and is now due for replacement with a new reservoir on a site slightly to the east of the present location. Some years ago the college board and the city manager agreed on an exchange of property, the college to obtain the site of the present tower and the city to receive a somewhat larger piece of ground on which to build a new tower. When that exchange is made, the college will have an excellent site for the residence of the college president, which in the not too distant future ought to be provided. Besides the campus proper, the college owns seven pieces of property, mostly in the immediate neighborhood of the campus, the chief one being a plot 408 feet deep and 203 feet wide, between Richards Avenue and Twelfth Street, about two acres. Part of this was the Schroedel property, bought in 1909 for $1,600; the rest, a smaller portion including a brick residence known as the Smith house, was bought a little later for $2,800. The house was rented for a few dollars a month until 1945, when it was remodeled at an outlay of $6,000. Since then it has served as a professor's residence. There are five other houses on this plot. Since the rebuilding of the college began in 1950, the campus has been so much improved that students of fifty or even twentyfive years ago would hardly recognize their old school. The Concord Avenue hillside has been graded and leveled and sowed with good grass, which is kept mowed through the summer. It has also been planted with shrub beds and rose beds and resembles a hillside park rather than a wild hayfield. The playing field likewise has been graded and leveled, so that the football

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field and the baseball diamond are now on level ground. It is doubtful if there is a finer playing field to be found on the campus of any college in the state. The grounds between the college buildings have also been greatly improved by careful planting and by regular mowing of the lawns. Students of the early 1900's will remember that the first job to be done in preparation for fall sports was to pull the weeds that had grown up on the playing field during the summer, mostly ragweed and horse weed, all of it a foot or more in height. That was a job that kept the lower classes busy for a few days. The tractordrawn mower now goes over the entire playing field in half a day and keeps it in perfect condition. This is not to say that the field was neglected in 1905. There were no rotary mowers in those days, there were no tractors, there were only two janitors, there was very little money, and if any work was done on the field, it had to be done by hand by the students themselves. If they wanted to play, they had to work; so they worked. The following items, culled from the minutes of the local board, throw interesting and humorous sidelights on business connected with the ownership of college property. 1869: The college petitions the city of Watertown for a wooden sidewalk in front of its land on Old Milwaukee Road (College Avenue) between Western Avenue and Main Street. 1879: The board resolves to plant two acres of college grounds in potatoes. 1904: Hitching posts for horses are to be placed along College Avenue. Old furnace flues are to be used if available.... Ralph Owen and Arnold Eickmann, who are working for the college during the summer, are to receive $1.50 a day while doing cement work, instead of the regular rate of $1.25 a day.... The students have petitioned that the playing field no longer be used as a pasture for the college cows. Not granted. The cows are still needed. 1906: Pasture privileges are to be sold for not more than three strange cows, that is, cows not belonging to the college. The heifer is to be sold to the butcher. At a charge of $20 a year for hay, Dr. Ott may keep his cow in the college stable. In the same period directions are given for building a pigsty, twelve feet by thirty-two feet, behind the stable, and a new chicken coop. Mr. Koeninger is to tear down that part of the old coop that is positively bad, and he and Mr. Breutzmann are to build a new one.

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Register of Buildings The following schedule lists all the buildings that the college has owned and occupied during its one hundred years: The Kaf/eemuehle, the original college and seminary building, built in 1865, destroyed by fire in 1894. A frame dormitory housing thirty-two students, 1868, destroyed by fire, 1874. The Ernst house, 1872, cost $2,750, slightly enlarged since, still in use as residence. Dormitory, 1875, still in use as dormitory except for the third floor. Outhouse, 1875, screened from view by lattice work and lilacs, removed in 1905. Barns and sheds, built at various times since 1880, all removed in 1937. Frame gymnasium built by students in 1877, removed in 1911. Dining hall and kitchen, 1888, enlarged in 1905, served as emergency dormitory and classroom in 1955, removed in 1956. Recitation building, replaced the original college building in 1894, removed in 1955 to make room for new buildings. The Ott house, originally the Inspector's house, 1895, $2500, removed in 1955 to make room for the chapel. Bandstand, built by students for $100 in 1901, removed in 1923. Dormitory, built in 1905, still in full use. Gymnasium, built in 1912, permanent stage added in 1950. Infirmary, built in 1912, mostly of lumber salvaged from frame gymnasium, used as residence by building superintendent and also by Professor Fleischer in early 1950's, sold to Mr. Loeb for $4,500. Barracks, erected in 1923, prefabricated, removed to present blacktopped parking place to be used as garage and storehouse, removed altogether about 1950.

The Building Program of 1950-1956 1.

The Library-Classroom Building, 1950; the Heating Plant, (first day of operation Sept. 10, 1950); stage addition to the Gymnasium, rehabilitation of heating and ventilating equipment in the old dormitory and the old recitation building, 1950 Total cost $ 583,000.00 The Dining Hall (first meal served Sept. 10, 1955) and the Collegiate Dormitory, including roadways, walks, garage, grading, furniture and equipment, 1956 818,559.00

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Chapel-Classroom Building, including furniture and furnishings, grading, heating and utilities changeover, and removal of old buildings, 1956

391,903.00

Grand Total $ 1,793,462.00 The Meta Kilgas Michelson bequest for the chapel amounted to about $100,000, including the accumulated interest; there were private donations of $1,500 and donations from societies and individuals for dormitory furniture amounting to a total of $ 135,968.00 Remainder, drawn from synodical building fund $1,657,494.00

Residences located off main campus: 501 College Avenue, built in 1903 505 College Avenue, built in 1903 607 Twelfth Street, bought in 1926, $7,000 613 Twelfth Street, built in 1910 615 Twelfth Street, built in 1913 617 Twelfth Street, bought in 1911, remodeled in 1946 814 Richards Avenue, built in 1910 812 Richards Avenue, built in 1913 810 Richards Avenue, built in 1913 801 Richards Avenue, bought in 1926, $7,800 803 Richards Avenue, built in 1926, $6,500 1317 Western Avenue, bought in 1921, had been Trinity Lutheran Parsonage 819 Harvey Avenue, bought in 1930, $6,350 815 Harvey Avenue, bought in 1931, $6,650, sold in 1962 503 Tower Road, built in 1955 505 Tower Road, built in 1955 507 Tower Road, built in 1956 509 Tower Road, built in 1962 511 Tower Road, built in 1962 905 Eighth Street, bought in 1960 809 Clyman Street, bought in 1961 128 Concord Avenue, built in 1964 132 Concord Avenue, built in 1964 136 Concord Avenue, built in 1964

CHAPTER

XXXIII

Odds and Ends A poem published in the Black and Red tells the story of an elderly man who one day stopped his horse at the college well and asked a student to hand him a cup of water from the old well for old time's sake. The man had once been a student at Northwestern and his memories of the school seemed always to include the college pump. That would have been quite natural for anyone who attended the school only in the lower grades before 1910 because it was the duty of the youngest boy in each study room to make a trip to the college pump immediately after bell sounded before the afternoon and evening study hours and bring back the large earthenware pitcher filled with drinking water for the room. If there were germs in those days, no one paid any attention to them, but all drank directly from the pitcher. Before sitting down to table after grace had been said, it was again the duty of the youngest boys at the table to run to the pump for a pitcher of cool drinking water. Until well into this century the college pump was the only source of drinking water. Neighbors used to come to the college well with pitchers, preferring the cool, palatable well water to the city water. There were occasions too when some hotheaded youngster would have his head held under the spout while his tormentors pumped water over him. At one time the pump was surmounted by a windmill. When this stout black framework was removed on March 19, 1907, a student recorded the event in the Black and Red and included this rather complacent observation regarding the workmen: "The physiognomy of their faces portrayed less mental activity than the faces of those who ordinarily frequented the pump." The pump itself was removed in 1945. Its importance as a gathering place and a source of refreshment explains the

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wish expressed by some students that the pump be spared, even though not used, and remain as a memorial. The pump stood just north of the walk and not very far east of the entrance to the chapel.

The Old Elm The Old Elm was another feature of the college campus that is remembered with a kind of affection by every student who attended Northwestern between 1865 and the day in September, 1939, when it had to be cut down. This was a wide spreading tree, not the more common vase-shaped type of elm. It was a noble giant with a girth of more than twenty feet at shoulder height and spreading from the tip of one branch that swept the ground on the south to the tip of the limb on the opposite side something over one hundred feet. The tree was known far beyond the limits of Watertown. Shortly before it was removed a woman in Texas wrote to the president of the college asking for a picture and actual dimensions of the tree. A severe windstorm in 1939 revealed that there was a long horizontal crack in the trunk only a few feet above the ground, and although the tree was anchored by a heavy chain to its neighbor to the north, it was feared that it might fall and cause injury or even loss of life. The Old Elm stood in the space between the statue of the Sprinter and College Avenue. The spot still looks empty to us who remember the old monarch. None of us who knew that tree has ever seen another elm like it. Another tree has been planted near the spot where the old elm stood in the hope that a hundred or more years from now the old patriarch may have a worthy successor. Planting of trees has never been neglected at Northwestern. In 1964 a freshman who failed to show proper respect for a sophomore was assigned by way of punishment to the useful task of counting all the trees on the campus, and when he numbered the last tree with chalk, he had reached 442. Professor Adolf Hoenecke started the systematic planting of trees on the campus in 1866 when he laid out the curving walk leading to the corner mail box and lined it with soft maples. It was he who banished the vegetable garden from in front of the main building and planted the space with flowers and rosebushes. To the class of 1885, Dr. Ott's class, belongs the credit for setting out the long

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row of hard maples along Western Avenue and College Avenue that still make autumn a blaze of color on those streets. Dr. Ott continued the work of his class after he became a member. of the faculty. The elms on the north and west boundaries of the campus were put there at his direction. He took pleasure too in planting specimens of little known trees and shrubs, such as the gingko tree that stood alongside his house and the beautiful corktree that now sets off the chapel. He was instrumental too in making Arbor Day a part of the college schedule. Since 1893 Arbor Day has been regularly observed. It is a day that the student looks forward to, although it is not at all a day of loafing. On a day in spring when the frost is well out of the ground and the dead leaves are fairly dry and the day promises to be fair, it is announced that this will be Arbor Day. Well in advance of the day the junior class has organized the work, assigned to each class its special duty for the day, and made itself responsible for overseeing the job. By early afternoon the entire campus and the professors' lawns have received a thorough spring cleaning, trees have been planted, others dug out, the baseball diamond has been readied for play, debris has been hauled away by city trucks, the girls have housecleaned their rooms, and the season's work has been done in a day. The last item on the program is the elaborate but far from solemn ceremony connected with the planting of the sophomore class tree. Arbor Day is a useful institution, a gay holiday, and there is nothing about the college that so clearly proclaims that winter is past and spring has come. College Seal In 1871 the Synod in session in Manitowoc instructed the college faculty to decide on a design for a college seal, so that the Synod and the college might have separate seals, the college to use the new seal and the Synod to use the old one. It appears, however, that this assignment was not carried out until 1885, when the college asked Pastor Mayerhoff to submit a design. It was a wise and fortunate choice, for Pastor Mayerhoff so simply and accurately caught the spirit and purpose of the school that after eighty years the seal today is as satisfying and appropriate as it was on the day it was adopted. The symbolism is not so abstruse but that it can easily be interpreted. The design avoids

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confusion, and each item occupies a spot of its own without any intricate interweaving. The emphasis on classical languages is suggested by a Latin name for the college which fills a band around the edge of the circle, by the Roman numerals for the date of the founding of the college, and by the figure of a Greek temple that occupies the center of the seal. The lyre in the pediment of the temple stands for music. The twelve columns almost certainly were intended to represent the twelve apostles, possibly also the twelve minor prophets. The three stars stand for the Holy Trinity, and dominating the whole are the Hebrew letters for Jehovah and the dove of the Holy Spirit which is shedding his bountiful rays over everything below. The whole expresses the purpose of Northwestern College - a well-rounded education, classical in character, but under the complete control and influence of the Holy Spirit working His wonders through the inspired Word of God. The seal is used not only to authenticate official documents, such as the diplomas, but is freely used as a means of identification and decoration on the covers of catalogs, on student periodicals, on jewelry, and conspicuously in a huge reproduction artistically executed in the floor of the entrance to the chapel building. No one ever made it a rule or suggested the custom, but students do carefully avoid trampling on the seal when passing through the lobby on the way to chapel or to classes. The college song was chosen in 1927 from a number of songs that had been submitted in competition by students and former students. The words and the musical setting had been proposed by Professor C. Bolle and his daughter Ruth; the arrangement for the college band is by Helmuth Schaefer of the class of 1917. The song is used chiefly at football games and is intended to stir up and maintain enthusiasm at those games, although the concluding line can be interpreted as expressing not only present enthusiasm but in general a determination to see things through: "Not until we win the victory will we yield." Homecoming The annual Homecoming has been an institution since the 1930's, although celebrations of a sort in connection with the main football game of the season date back almost to the

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beginnings of intercollegiate football at Northwestern. In 1902 the band and an enthusiastic contingent of students accompanied the football team to Milwaukee and paraded at the head of the team up the main street of the city, which was then called Grand Avenue. The students had plenty of enthusiasm, but their team lost the game. In the early 1900's the students used to hold what they called a "shirt-tail parade" down College Avenue and Main Street the night before the chief game of the season. Students would dress up in some kind of comic costume, perhaps just pulling an old pillow case over their heads or wrapping themselves in a bedsheet. In this get-up they would do a snake dance down the street, weaving back and forth from curb to curb. Participants thought they were well disguised, but students reported with glee how a girl spectator standing on the curb squealed: "Oh, I know who that is. That's T.... I know him by his pigeon toes." The snake dance was succeeded by a street parade with moving floats, but increasing automobile traffic and the crowded condition of the streets made that kind of parade undesirable. Instead of parading down the streets, the students now construct elaborate stationary displays that carry out an assigned theme. Each of the eight classes constructs one and erects it on a spot on the campus that has been assigned. In 1964 the assigned theme was the impending centennial of the college. This display of ingenuity, humor, and artistic sense has proved to be of great interest to homecoming visitors, and all through the morning, groups may be seen wandering over the grounds from exhibit to exhibit and often coming back for a second or third inspection. The homecoming celebration begins on Friday night with a tremendous bonfire of cartons and crates that have been collected from merchants by the freshman class. Saturday is a holiday, and in the morning, quite early, the last touches are given to the campus displays, which are now ready for inspection and for the verdict of the judges. The afternoon is given over to the football games, first the high-school game and immediately after that the college game. After the games there may be a concert by the band in the gaily decorated gymnasium while the guests find their places at the banquet tables. The sauce to meat being ceremony, there must be speeches after the meal, and this is the time when the old grads are graciously permitted for a few

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brief moments to come into their own and fight the old battles over again. Homecoming day pays its respects to football in a grand way, but the day has come to be more than a day for football and for reminiscences; the day is luring more and more former students back to the campus for a visit to the old school and for renewing of old and precious friendships. Commencement

Commencement is another occasion when people gather in numbers on the campus. The day of graduation is an important one and is marked off in a student's life together with confirmation, and later with ordination and installation as pastor of the first congregation. Commencement has been observed with special ceremonies since the first class graduated in 1872. There have been changes in details since then, but the basic form remains much as it was in 1872. Twice (in 1874 and in 1887) there was only one graduate, and three times (1875, 1884, 1888) there were only two graduates. In those years graduation was of necessity quiet and informal, but in all other years the occasion was observed with some ceremony. The program of the first commencement set the pattern for later graduation exercises. There was a prayer and the benediction, hymns, an address by the president of the college, and orations by the graduates, as is still the custom today. Apart from the exercises themselves, the early programs were quite different from those of today. On Saturday in 1872 there was a public examination of all students in the classical department, followed on Monday by a similar examination of the students of the academy. On Tuesday morning the graduates were examined before a gathering of the faculty, the college board, and visiting pastors, and on the evening of that day at the formal exercises the graduates received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The day of graduation was a day of happiness and thanksgiving for these four young men and also for the Synod, which at last was assured that the venture that had cost so much effort and heartache would live and grow and continue to produce workers in the Lord's vineyard. As the total number of graduates increased with the passage of years, commencement day lost its aspect of anxiety and tension that must have been caused by thought of the rigorous examina-

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tion that preceded it. Today graduation day has none of that air of tension and suspense that goes with examinations. It has become more like a holiday. On the day preceding graduation the alumni hold their business meeting and afterward the annual alumni luncheon at which representatives of classes that are celebrating an anniversary speak for their class, usually in a reminiscent mood and always with a gratifying expression of loyalty and appreciation. In the evening all student musical organizations join in giving their last concert of the year. Private class reunions are often held during the day or after the concert. In 1964, for the first time in more than a half a century, commencement exercises were held out of doors. The weather was beautiful and so was the site in front of the north entrance to the library, with graduates sitting on the terrace. In the one hundred years of its existence Northwestern has graduated 1510 students with the Bachelor of Arts degree, most of whom have entered the service of the church as pastors or as teachers in the Synod's schools. The classes of 1951 and 1952, two of the largest graduating classes, may be taken as an example. Of the sixty-six members of these two classes, all but five entered the ministry. At least eighty of any hundred names that might be chosen at random from the list of pastors and professors in the Northwestern Lutheran Annual are names of Northwestern graduates. Thus the college keeps faith with the Synod that founded it and maintains it. Northwestern has never sought formal accreditation, though there have been movements afoot in that direction. The faculty minutes of January 8, 1904, record that at the request of Dr. Ott a special meeting was held to consider his proposal that the faculty apply to the state university for the special designation of "accredited college." Since no agreement could be reached, the matter was tabled. Our graduates, with their excellent classical and liberal arts training, have always been able to transfer to universities whenever they desired to do so.

CHAPTER Four

XXXIV

Anniversaries

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the college was held on the seventeenth and the eighteenth of June, 1890. The celebration began with the graduation of the class of 1890 on the morning of the seventeenth. This class numbered fourteen members, by far the largest to graduate from Northwestern up to that time. Twelve of these men later entered the ministry, and four of the twelve also served as professorsat our college and at the seminary - Julius Gamm and Arthur Hoermann at Northwestern, O. J. R. Hoenecke at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, and August Zich at our theological seminary. On the afternoon of commencement day the alumni held their meeting, at which three members delivered prepared lectures, and in the evening of that day the society met again for a banquet and more speeches in the old gymnasium.On the eighteenth at an outdoor serviceProfessor Ernst delivered an address in which he outlined the history of the college and also discoursed on the purpose and goal of the instruction at our school. Pastor Philip von Rohr, president of the Synod,followed with a sermon on Psalm 119:65, and Pastor Jaeckel of Racine closed the service with a sermon on Genesis 32: 10. At noon and through the afternoon there was a picnic on Concordia Island (now Tivoli Island), which at that time was an amusement park. Here Pastor Bading gave an account of his more amusing experiences on the trip to Europe and to Russia to collect money for our first college building. Professor Franz Pieper reviewed some of the struggles that he and his classmates had with the ancient languages. Mr. Koerner spoke on certain features of the notorious Bennett Law, which had been enacted in 1889 and threatened the continued existence of our parochial schools. Pastor Bendler spoke in English and

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proved to the audience that a lad whose mother tongue was German could become a master of the English language. The list of speakers closed with an address by Francis Hoffmann of Jefferson. In the evening the assembly came together in the college park, which had been lighted with Chinese lanterns that hung here and there among the trees, and in this pleasant setting they watched a display of fireworks and listened to the college band. The account of the day's festivities ends with the words from the 90th Psalm: And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it. The name of Francis Hoffmann should not be passed over with the mere remark that he was the last of a list of speakers on this day. Francis Hoffmann was an ardent admirer and supporter of Abraham Lincoln and became lieutenant governor of Illinois from 1860 to 1864. After retiring from politics and from the banking business in Chicago, he settled down on a farm JUStnorth of the city of Jefferson, Wisconsin. From here he edited the Haus und Bauernfreund, a feature of the Germania, the chief German-language newspaper in Wisconsin, and the only newspaper that found its way into the homes of many Germans. Under the name of Hans Buschbauer he wrote in a very familiar and homely style about the life and problems of the German farmer in Wisconsin - conversations, comments, advice, arguments, stories. He would write in High German or Low German, whichever suited his mood and his topic, and everybody who knew the Germania knew Hans Buschbauer. He died in 1903, and in his will he bequeathed his valuable library to Northwestern College. On his tombstone in Union Cemetery, Jefferson, are engraved these words: Hier ruht ein deutscher Mann. 1915

The fiftieth anniversary was observed in a very special way, as it well deserved to be, because by 1915 the college was at last firmly established, had survived formidable difficulties, and had provided a steady flow of dedicated young men into the classrooms of our theological seminary and thence into the pulpits of our churches. Its work had been sound academically and spiritually; its growth and achievements were not at all spectacular

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in the opinion of the world; but there were men present at this fiftieth anniversary who had lived through the first desperate years of poverty and frustration, and what they now saw at the end of fifty years was so far beyond what they had dared to hope forty and fifty years earlier, that they could say with all sincerity that this was indeed the Lord's work. The celebration began with a concert on Friday evening by the band, the orchestra, and the chorus under the direction of Hans Duetzmann, accomplished musician from Milwaukee, who directed the musical organizations at the time. Commencement exercises followed on Saturday morning. Richard Janke delivered the Latin oration, Alfred Schweppe the English, and Henry Nitz the German. On this occasion a member of the faculty, Professor Carl Bolle, was also granted the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Two members of the first graduating class, Franz Pieper and Erdman Pankow, were present at the exercises. On the afternoon of commencement day there was an academic procession from the recitation building to the gymnasium, one of the few times that there has been such a procession on our campus, with all graduates and guests wearing their academic robes and the appropriate colors. Dr. Arthur Hoermann had been chosen by the faculty to deliver the festival oration, an assignment that he carried out with his usual oratorical fire and enthusiasm. Representatives were present from the seminaries at Wauwatosa and St. Louis, from the Concordia colleges at Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, from Dr. Martin Luther College and Michigan Lutheran Seminary. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon Professor Eugene Krauss of St. Louis and Professor Olaf Brandt of St. Paul, and the Concordia Seminary of St. Louis conferred on President August Ernst the degree of doctor of philosophy. In the evening the alumni and their guests gathered for a banquet and a few happy social hours. At this meeting former students presented the college with the large oil paintings of Dr. Ernst and Dr. Notz that now hang on the walls of the faculty room. On the next day, Sunday, there was a huge gathering on the college campus for a jubilee service. Pastor Bergemann delivered a sermon on Matthew 16: 15-18, in which he saluted Our Institution: A memorial of our faith in the Son of God; a Memorial of our love to Him and His Word. Pastor Carl Gausewitz, preaching on John 8:32, dwelt

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on that freedom which is theirs who accept the truth that is in the word of Christ. Following the service the assembly remained on the college grounds for a picnic lunch and for an afternoon concert by the college band. That was in 1915; the First World War had not yet directly touched us; internal troubles had not yet disturbed relations within the Synod; and intersynodical disagreements had not yet disrupted the sincere fellowship which united all those present for the occasion, so that one writer could end his account of the festivities with these words: "Thanks to God who gave us our school and preserved it and permitted us to observe this happy jubilee." 1940

The seventy-fifth anniversary was observed in connection with the commencement exercises of 1940, but with considerably less ceremony than had attended the earlier anniversaries. The theological seminary took this opportunity, although a little belatedly, to observe its own seventy-fifth anniversary jointly with Northwestern College. The jubilee service was held in the gymnasium on the afternoon of commencement day. The Northwestern Lutheran commented: "The jubilee service was so humble, so simple in its arrangement that it was pleasant and edifying. Nothing was done that could detract from the preaching of the Word." The attendance was disappointing. With I Corinthians 2:6,7 as his text President John Brenner in a German sermon carried out the theme: The sole purpose of our schools is to teach the wisdom of God. Professor Schweppe, president of Dr. Martin Luther College, followed with an English sermon on Matthew 16: 15,16. "Our college and our seminary," he said, "are so precious to us because of the unequivocal answer they give to the question: Who say ye that I am?" These two sermons, a hymn by the assembly, a short liturgy, and songs by the combined choruses of the college and the seminary constituted the observance of the seventy-fifth anniversary. 1965

The one hundredth anniversary of Northwestern College is being observed during the 1964-65 school year. Although at this writing no detailed plans have been drawn up, preparations were in a general way made two and three years ago. The Wisconsin

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Evangelical Lutheran Synod has decided to hold its 1965 meetings on the college grounds and will in some way take note of an event that is of importance not only in the life of the school but in that of the entire Synod as well. As its contribution the Alumni Society has decided to undertake the preparation and publication of a centennial history of the college and will assume the cost. The faculty has designated Monday, May 31, as Northwestern Day. A full program of events is being arranged for that day by a faculty-student Centennial Committee. The senior class, which has the honor of being graduated in the one hundredth year of the school, has offered to serve in whatever capacity it can contribute toward making this a memorable year. It has also contributed a $1000 endowment fund to the library, the interest to be used for annual book purchases. We have now celebrated four anniversaries of our school, each one coming at the end of a period of twenty-five years. We cannot say that each succeeding anniversary marked some some new height gained, some new achievement accomplished, some new discovery made. It has not been the purpose of our school to make new contributions to the sum of the world's knowledge. We have not pretended to be engaged in the search for hitherto unknown truths but have pledged our lives to the proclamation of a truth that has been known ever since Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Insofar as our school has been faithful to the truth in Christ, insofar has it been successful as an institution of learning and has carried out the assignment given to it by the Church and by the Lord of the Church. At the end of one hundred years what have we to boast of? If the men who have gone forth from our classrooms have become and remained faithful stewards of the gifts of the Gospel of Christ, that is our boast and our pride. If our work should now be tried by the fire of God's judgment and should be found to be not of wood, hay and stubble, but of gold, silver, and precious stones, then we shall dare to say: "Lord, thou didst deliver unto us two talents, behold we have gained two other talents besides them."

CHAPTER XXXV

The

Last Few Years

The last few years of the first century of Northwestern College have not been greatly different from those which immediately preceded them. There was no notable change in policy or procedure when Carleton Toppe took over the presidency in 1959. A native of Waterloo, Wisconsin, Professor Toppe entered the Northwestern College high school in the autumn of 1926 and graduated from the college with highest honors in 1934. After the three-year course at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1937, he served as assistant to the pastor and also taught for two years in the parish school of First German Lutheran in Manitowoc before accepting a call into the ministry at Bloomer, Wisconsin. Four years later he was called to Elmwood, Wisconsin. He joined Northwestern's faculty as professor of English in 1948, became college registrar in 1954 and its fifth president at the retirement of President Erwin E. Kowalke five years later. President Toppe received his M.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin and has been an editorial writer for the Northwestern Lutheran since 1957. In this last period, as in all other periods, there were problems for which precedent offered no solution. If there was a difference between problems of one decade and those of another, it was that some were coupled with strife and heartache, while others - most of them, happily - were matters of policy that concerned the curriculum, the regulation of the dormitories, and the physical needs of the college. In the past ninety years the college has been spared the desperate struggle of the first decade, when the lack of money and the apathy of the congregations

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threatened the very existence of the school. There were other periods, like the years from 1907 to 1910, when the faculty was torn by inner dissension, and again from 1924 to 1930, when strife and discord both at the college and in the Synod cast a dark cloud over both bodies. Such unhappy times have been blessedly few, and in the main the work of the classroom could be carried on in an atmosphere of harmony and singleness of purpose. The college could not remain unaffected by the controversy over church fellowship between the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods, which began in 1938, when the Missouri Synod appeared willing to accept the American Lutheran Church's qualified acceptance of Missouri's Brief Statement as a sufficient basis for pulpit and altar fellowship, and culminated in 1961, when the Wisconsin Synod severed fellowship relations with the Missouri Synod. It was understood that the controversy should not be carried into the classroom unless the subject under discussion there naturally required reference to the synodical troubles. There were differences of position in the faculty, but debate on the subject in faculty meetings was avoided; discussions were instead carried on in private, and efforts to bring about harmony and agreement were confined to person to person argument. An open break in the faculty was thus avoided, while the differences were quietly acknowledged as existing. In the summer of 1961, before the break between the two Synods became official, two members of the faculty accepted calls from institutions of the Missouri Synod, one to Concordia College at River Forest, the other to the Concordia Seminary at Springfield, Illinois. Their position had been expressed frankly and simply by one of the two men when a discussion with him showed that agreement was not possible and he said: "I share the Missouri position." When they apprised the board of their acceptance of these calls and asked for a peaceful release, the request was not granted because thereÂˇ was still a disagreement between them and the board in the matter of their public rejection of the Synod's position regarding the principles of church fellowship. The loss of these two men left a serious breach in the teaching force which is now slowly being rebuilt. Outside of this regrettable break, the work at the school was not noticeably disrupted by the synodical troubles.

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Enrollment Pressures Many of the current problems that arose since the completion of the building program in 1956 are connected with the burgeoning enrollment. The figure of four hundred, which was thought to be an ideal enrollment for a school like Northwestern has been exceeded. Most of the facilities of the institution are now geared to that ideal figure. When Northwestern celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the enrollment stood at 202; at the time of the seventy-fifth anniversary it was still only 214. Those figures have now been more than doubled. As the enrollment increases, the pressure is increasingly felt in the dormitories, in the classrooms, in the gymnasium, in the dining hall, and even in the kitchen. An increase of only ten students in one year may start a formidable chain of problems, for each student not only has to be taught, he must also be housed and fed. This is not only his school, it is his home for every hour of the day and night. When buildings once become filled, it is a difficult matter to find suitable space for a few more beds, a few more desks and chairs, a few more tables in the dining room, not to mention desks in the classrooms and instructors to take care of the overflow in divided classes. The school is now faced with the problem of providing more space everywhere. When the recently completed buildings were in the planning stage about fifteen years ago, it was quite generally understood that as soon as they had reached their capacity of four hundred, the high-school and the college should be completely separated. For one hundred years these two departments have been operated together under one faculty and for many years in the same buildings. If such a combination were the pedagogical heresy that educationists have said it is, then the evil fruits should have had ample time to reveal themselves in the seminary classrooms and in our pulpits, for that is where our graduates go. Judging by the results, however, our system seems to have worked rather well for our particular purpose. Yet it does have certain weaknesses. There is a possibility that methods proper for college teaching will creep into the high-school instruction and that highschool methods will be used in some branches on the college level. Whatever the merits or defects may be of the high-school and college combination, a separation of the two is being seriously considered. Even if the separation cannot take place in the very

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near future, more dormitory space will have to be provided soon if the enrollment grows even a little each year. The new dormitory for students of college age is already too small for that department. The dormitories for preparatory students are not only too small for the present enrollment; they are fast becoming worn out. They would be due for replacement, even if they were large enough for present needs. The Place of Languages In the hundred years of the life of the college, the curriculum has undergone only one really drastic change. That was in 1869, when it was decided to shape our course after the model of the German Gymnasium, with its emphasis on languages and history, rather than after the usual American college, which is characterized by the arts and science course. This is not to say that the curriculum remained static since that decision was made. Although the basic pattern remained unchanged, the curriculum was under constant scrutiny, and modifications were introduced whenever changed conditions made them necessary. When German became a foreign language for our entering students, not only the medium of instruction had to be changed from German to English, but the entire German course had to be revised. German and Latin, Greek and Hebrew are still required subjects, just as they were fifty years ago, but pastors who were students at that time will notice that there is no German in the first two years of high school, and that there is no Latin required in the last three years of college, and no Greek at all in the high school. Students of those early years would perhaps have been delighted to have the opportunity that in 1961 was made available to juniors and seniors to vary their course somewhat by choosing from a group of electives. A student might.for example, in his senior year choose to drop Greek and concentrate on German instead. Other choices were also made available to the two upper classes, and the normal course load was set at twenty hours per semester. These may be thought to be but slight changes, yet they do show that the program is not unchangeably rigid and that it does yield to necessity. Our problem is not so much one of making necessary or just desirable adjustments, as of maintaining intact the principles that underlie the choice of subjects that we believe are needed

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for the education of a Lutheran minister. As far back as memory and the records go, there has been some pressure to change or to ease the language requirements. In 1916, when the subject of overburdening of students was being discussed in the Synod, President Ernst wrote in his report that our students did not take kindly to the study of languages, that they were trying to get through the language courses with the least possible effort, and that they were ready to drop them altogether if a language caused too much trouble. That remark was dated 1916, but it perhaps would have applied with equal exactness to 1896 or to 1961. Acquisition of a foreign language in school is never an easy process, and it has been observed that not all students love hard work or have a special gift for learning languages. It is easy to build up an argument against the heavy language requirements in our course, and it not easy to convince a student that such subjects as Latin and German are needed in his preparation for the ministry. It becomes impossible to convince him if his parents or even his pastor sympathize with the boy who finds the going difficult. It can be shown that students for the ministry have dropped out of school because of very low grades, and the argument then is that they might have passed and entered the ministry if they had not had to take languages as part of their course. The issue, however, is not one of Latin or no Latin, of German or no German; it is rather a question of the kind of course we want in our schools for the training of the men who are going to occupy our pulpits, who are to "labor in the word and doctrine," and to whom will be entrusted the sacred task of transmitting to the next generation the "word of the truth of the Gospel." The work of a Lutheran pastor who looks to men like St. Paul and Martin Luther as his ideals of evangelical pastors, has preeminently to do with the Word, and that means with language. He must firsr of all receive and understand what the Holy Spirit communicates to him by means of the written word of Scripture (sola Scriptura), and then he must be able to communicate that by means of language to young and old, to learned and to unlearned. His work is teaching, and to teach well he must be a master of language. Languages must remain the cornerstone of a sound preparation for the ministry, not JUStone language, but all those languages that the holy men of God employed when

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they wrote down what the Holy Spirit moved them to write, and that those men employed who gathered from Scripture the doctrine that we have learned and that makes us Lutherans. A Confident

Tomorrow

What of the future? There will of course be problems; so much we can safely predict. There will be committee reports and faculty meetings at which these problems will be solved, at least until conditions change and new problems arise. Quite recently a policy of prohibiting student marriages was adopted; the operation of automobiles by dormitory students has been regulated; and there is some form of control over off-campus jobs and over representation of the college by student organizations. New problems may arise at any time in the area of athletics, extra-curricular activities, dormitory discipline, and so on; but they will find a solution, and if the solution proves to be faulty, the fault can be corrected without much difficulty. Of much more importance than the routine regulation of internal affairs will be the decision that must soon be made regarding the separation of the college department from the preparatory department and the possible relocation of one or the other of them. Whatever is done about separating the two departments of our school and about the possible relocation and rebuilding of one of them, there can be no question about what must be the determining force in the shaping and preservation of our basic educational policy. That force is the Gospel of Christ, which our school is to represent both in our church and before the whole world. That Gospel is not going to change in the lifetime of our school, or for that matter in the lifetime of the world. Customs, morals, living conditions will change, governments will come and go, but the Way to Life is not going to change, nor will the Gospel that reveals that Way to Life. There is not a new Gospel for each new age. There was a vast difference between the conditions of life in the Corinth where Paul preached and in the Wittenberg where Luther taught, yet both men preached the same Gospel and knew but the one great truth of Christ and Him crucified. Likewise, the difference between what is being called our space age and the age of Luther is just as vast as was the difference between Wittenberg and Corinth, and yet the

THE LAST FEW YEARS

275

same Gospel applies to people who streak across the sky in jet planes as to those who used to trudge through the mud behind a yoke of oxen. If we but remain faithful to that Gospel and continue to make the proclamation of that Gospel the purpose of our existence as an educational institution, then our educational policy will take care of itself, and we can enter our second century with complete confidence.

APPENDICES Enrollments, 1865-1965 In the early decades Northwestern students were listed under as many as six headings: college, preparatory, academic, normal, commercial, and special. The normal, or teacher training, course lasted only about fourteen years, up to 1893, when the Synod's department of education was transferred to New VIm. Enrollment figures were counted together in the catalogs: for the preparatory and academic departments, 1870-1872; for the normal and academic departments beginning in the late 1870's; for commercial and special students after 1912. From 1946 to 1955 only two departments are listed in the catalogs. In the latter year the so-called remedial course (for those who have make-up work to do in the languages) was introduced. Since it is part of the college department, it is not given separately in this list. YEAR

1865/66 1866/67 1867/68 1868/69

College

Preparatory

Academic

Normal

Total

66 68 11

1869/70

1870/71 1871/72 1872/73 1873/74 1874/75 1875/76 1876/77

95 winter term 55 spring term 95 65 fall term 95 winter term 64 spring term

18 18 11

22 29 34

121 118 59 89 61 64

79 72 97 123 115

132 136 156 172 180 216 200

278

CENTENNIAL STORY

41 38 34 32 31 31

52 52 56 60 55 43 49 57 48 47 43 45 61 60 61 (59) 55

91 84

1877/78 1878/79 1879/80 1880/81 1881/82 1882/83 1883/84 1884/85 1885/86 1886/87 1887/88 1888/89 1889/90 1890/91 1891/92 1892/93 1893/94

27 25 32 39 53 54 48 43 (51) 66

1894/95 1895/96 1896/97 1897/98 1898/99 1899/00 1900/01 1901/02 1902/03 1903/04 1904/05 1905/06 1906/07 1907/08 1908/09

56 50 60 55 56 57 42 52 48 54 56 68 89 93 96

85 85 119 141 125 120 125

44 43 28 17 19 16 22 5 15 14 15 12 17 31 22

1909/10 1910/11 1911/12

91 80 77

100 93 87

19 17 1

68 90 92 61 50 57 65 64 65 65 14 11 13

63 63 (49) 47

184 174 154 160 176 166 131 124 130 144 146 163 180 185 178 182 168

SpeciaI Students

58 61 60 55 50 67 62 71

5 6 8 9 9 14 15 15 7 8 19 20 17 34 40

163 160 156 136 134 154 141 143 155 161 209 241 248 278 283

Commercial

31 35 39

241 225 204

Commercial and Special

1912/13 1913/14 1914/15 1915/16 1916/17 1917/18 1918/19 1919/20

68 71

85 71

75 70 65 69

100 118 101 96 74 69 73 108

34 41 46 35 52 54 51 89

202 230 232 202 201 193 189 256

279

APPENDIX

1920/21 1921/22 1922/23 1923/24 1924/25 1925/26 1926/27 1927/28 1928/29 1929/30 1930/31 1931/32 1932/33 1933/34 1934/35 1935/36 1936/37 1937/38 1938/39 1939/40 1940/41 1941/42 1942/43 1943/44 1944/45 1945/46 1946/47 1947/48 1948/49 1949/50 1950/51 1951/52 1952/53 1953/54 1954/55 1955/56 1956/57 1957/58 1958/59 1959/60 1960/61 1961/62 1962/63 1963/64 1964/65

61 72

58 73 95 114 108 117 112 101 92 89 105 117 129 127 117 117 119 107 112 110 107 86 77

95 131 109 133 164 152 135 133 111 116 122 133 135 135 148 180 189 187 192 222

121 124 123 156 158 134 113 114 119 89 96 93 80 59 75 90 87 87 77

88 93 104 126 119 167 177 194 184 178 145 153 168 171 179 191 189 241 232 252 263 247 276 257 265 238

70 62 56 57 59 52 42 48 40 49 41 35 24 22 17 25 25 18 13 19 12 11 8 2 6 5

252 258 237 286 312 300 263 279 271 239 229 217 209 198 221 242 229 222 209 214 217 225 241 207 250 277 325 293 311 309 305 303 304 290 307 311 374 367 387 411 427 465 444

457 460

280

Faculty Members,

CENTENNIAL STORY

1865-1965

Abbetmeyer, Carl, 1929. Died before being installed. Ave Lallemant, Theodore, 1911-12 Baer, George, 1963Behnke, Robert, 1964Berg, Ehrenfried, 1938-45 Biedenweg, W., 1893-95 Binhammer, Theodore, 1919Blume, Frederick, 1939-48 Bolle, Carl F., 1902-45 Brohm, Theodore, 1871-79 Deibert, J., 1876-78 Easterday, Amos, 1868-69; 1871-83 Easterday, Oscar, 1878-83 Eickmann, Martin, 1903-15 Eickmann, Paul G., 1924Ernst, Augustus F., 1869-1924 (President, 1870-1919) Ernst, Charles, 1892-97 Ernst, George, 1890-92; 1893-94 Fleischer, Herman, 1925-54 Frank, Herman, 1903-19 Franzmann, Gerhard, 1959Franzmann, Martin, 1936-46 Gamm, Julius, 1894-1902 Gebhardi, 0., 1881; died Jan. 1882 Gehrke, Ralph, 1948-61 Graebner, A., 1875-78 Hantz, ]., 1883-89 Henkel, William, 1912-20 Herrmann, William, 1926-38 Hoenecke, Adolf, 1866-69 Hoermann, Arthur, 1902-16 Horn, Gerhard, 1955-58 Hoyer, Otto, 1895-1905 Huth, William, 1911-36 Jungkuntz, Richard, 1949-61 Kaltenbrunn, ]., 1865-73 Kammeier, W., 1881-91 Keller, George, 1881-84 Kiessling, Elmer, 1927Kirst, Eugene, 1954Klapproth, A., 1876 Koehler, John Ph., 1888-1900 Koehler, Karl, 1921-24

Kowalke, Erwin E., 1913(President, 1919-59) Kremer, Roland, 1933-37 Kuehl, Paul, 1961Kuhn, Albert, 1897-1912 Kuhlow, Otto, 1914-18 Lehmann, Arnold, 1962Malchow, Daniel, 1954-60 Martin, Adam, 1865-69 (President, 1865 -69 ) Meibohm, Hugo, Âˇ1924-26 Meumann, Theodore, 1867-72 Meyer, John, 1902-03 Moldehnke, E., 1865-66 Moussa, Hans K., 1908-10 Muehlenbruch, W., 1884-85 Notz, F. W. A., 1872-1911 Notz, William F., 1904-13 Oswald, Hilton, 1939-63 Ott, John Henry, 1885-1943 Panning, Armin, 1962Parisius, Herbert, 1919-24 Peters, Paul, 1922-24 PfeifIer, Carl, 1900-03 Pieper, Edgar, 1960Pless, Waldemar, 1945-49 Plum, H., 1891-94 Preller, A., 1876-81 Probst, Sigmund, 1917-26 Quam, Sylvester, 1964Rohda, Dudley, 1939Sadder, W., 1883-85 Sauer, Elmer, 1915-28 Scharf, Erwin, 1956Schlenner, Orville, 1956Schlueter, Theodore, 1908-27 Schmeling, Henry, 1921-49 Schmidt, A., 1875-76 Schroedel, Andrew, 1889-93 Schroeder, Erwin, 1944Schumann, Walter, 1925-38; 1946Seemann, 1865-66 Sievert, Rudolf, 1947Sievert, T. W., 1946 Sitz, Alexander, 1926-56

APPENDIX

Smith, Joel, 1873-76 Snyder, T., 1879-83 Sprengling, Martin, 1910-12 Stellhorn, W., 1869-74 Sullivan, John, 1964Tacke, Ewald, 1949-54 Thompson, Lewis, 1866-71 (President, 1869-70)

281

Toppe, Carleton, 1948(President, 1959-) Umnus, Leonard, 1935Weimar, William, 1885-1903 Wendland, Ernst, 1913-59 Wente, Henry, 1905-10 Westendorf, Adalbert" 1930-31 Westerhaus, Gustav, 1916Zell, William, 1960-

Tutors, 1915-1965 Andreae, Valentine, 1917-18 Bodamer, Walter, 1921-23 Braun, Jerome, 1961-63 Breiling, Edwin, 1941-42 Bretzmann, Roland, 1939,one month Brick, Delmar, 1943-44 Cares, Gerhard, 1941, one month Eggert, Rupert, 1950-52 Eickmann, Paul, Sr., 1919-21 Falk, Erich, 1922-24 Fenske, Reinhold, 1917-19 Franzmann, Werner, 1929-30 Gensmer, Richard, 1936-39 Hahn, Edward, 1919-22 Hartwig, William, 1915-17 Hillemann, Roland, 1928-29 Hillmer, Alexander, 1924-26 Kehrberg, Otto; 1917-19 Kleinke, Walter, 1927-34 Koelpin, Arnold, 1958-60 Kolander, Frederick, 1920-22 Kremer, Roland, 1923-25; 1931-32 Kuske, David, 1956, 2nd semester Kuske, Paul, 1953-55 Lindemann, Edward, 1960-61 Meier, Albert, 1924-26 Mueller, Richard, 1926-28 Naumann, Oscar, 1934-36 Nitz, Marcus, 1957-59 Nitz, Paul, 1952-53 Nommensen, Winfred, 1948-50 Otrersraetrer, Marvin, 1955-56

Pagels, Otto, 1942-43 . Panning, Armin, 1957-59 Parisius, Herbert, 1915-16 Peter, Henry, 1956-58 Petrie, Jackson, 1945-46 Polzin, Ralph, 1959-60 Raabe, John, 1937-39 Redlin, Gerhard, 1931 Roth, Ronald, 1961-62 Scharlemann, Herbert, 1953-56 Schnitker, Hugo, 1926-28 Schumann, Walter, Sr., 1916-17 Schumann, Walter, Jr., 1944-45 Schwark, Melvin, 1961-64 Schwartz, Marcus, 1939-40 Schweppe, Carl, 1915-17 Sievert, Robert, 1963-64 Tacke, Ewald, 1922-24 Thierfelder, Frederick, 1941, two weeks Voss, Robert, 1950-51 Wagenknecht, Myrl, 1963-64 Westendorf, James, 1964-65 Westendorf, Rolfe, 1960-61 Wiechmann, Richard, 1962-63 Wietzke, William, 1951-53 Zank, Walter, 1918-20 Zehms, Roger, 1964-65 Zell, William, 1947-48 Zenker, Allen, 1956-58 Zickuhr, Walter, 1941, six weeks Zink, Harold, 1930-31 Zorn, Kurt, 1925-27

282

CENTENNIAL STORY

Instructors and Assistants,

1865-1965

Adelberg Reinhard, 1870-72 Bergmann, Paul, 1910-11 Bierwagen, Hans, 1958-61 Bliefernicht, Edmund, 1904-06 Eckelmann, H., 1873-74 Ernst, George, 1890 Ernst, Rudolf, 1907-08 Frank, Herman, 1901-02 Franzmann, Martin, 1928-30; 1935 Franzmann,William, 1894-95; 1945 Fricke, James, 1961 Gaebler, Max, 1865-68 Hardege, R., 1889-90; 1891-93 Jungkumz, Theodore, 1955-56 Kehrberg, Willard, 1955, one term

Kom, Reinhart, 1963-64, one term Lembcke, E., 1899-1901 Lenz, Raymond, 1943-44 Melzer, Edgar, 1910-11 Moussa, H. K., 1902-03 Notz, Eugene, 1874-75 Peterson, Gale, 1957-58 Rehm, Merlin, 1959-61 Schumann, Walter, Sr., 1912-13, 1914 Siegler, Paul, 1961-62 Sommer, Orvin, 1939 Strasen, C, 1869-71 Tiefel, George, 1956-57 Weber, Richard, 1962-63

Office of Inspector and Dean, 1865-1965 1865-1866 1866-1869 1869-1872 1872-1887 1888-1894 1895-1899 1899-1903 1903-June 1915-1918 1919-1933 1934-1937 1937-1938 1938-1944 1945-1949 1949-1954 1955-1958 1959-

Adam Martin, President and Inspector Adolf Hoenecke, Inspector and Theological Professor A. F. Ernst, President, Inspector, Professor F. W. A. Notz, Inspector and Professor, with Ott and Weimar as assistants after 1885. Professor John P. Koehler Professor O. Hoyer O. Hoyer, John Meyer, J. H. Ott, W. Weimar, H. K. Moussa, all active during this period. 1915, Professor Martin Eickmann President Ernst was inspector, assisted by tutors President Kowalke, assisted by tutors Professor Roland Kremer, office of inspector revived President Kowalke and tutors during R. Kremer's illness. E. Berg and two tutors as assistants. The inspector now called the dean. W. O. Pless and tutors Ewald Tacke and tutors Gerhard Horn, till October 1958. A third tutor added for collegiate dormitory, 1956. Carl Leyrer and tutors. Installed February 1959.

APPENDIX

283

Stewards and Managers Mrs. Koester, till October 1, 1866. Mr. Schoenfeld, 1866. Mrs. Bartelt, 1869-1870. Mr. Markworth, 1870. Mrs. Pieper, 1871-1874. Mrs. Voss, till May 1880. The wife of St. Mark's parochial teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Stroede, 1880-1882. A committee-Dr. Ernst, Dr. Notz, and Mr. Schroeter - did the buying and managed the funds during this time. Mrs. Voss, 1882-1889. The same Mrs. Voss as above. Lena Woltmann, 1889. Dr. Hoermann attended to the buying. Mr. Heinbockel, till August, 1900. Mrs. Pinckert, 1900-1906. Dr. Ott attended to the buying. Mr. and Mrs. John Koeninger, 1906-1927. Mr. and Mrs. Julius Rohde, 1927-1940. Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Bilse, 1940-.

Graduating Classes The following list was compiled by Northwestern College Board member William A. Schumann. Number of graduates each year and the year in which that number graduated, starting with the highest number. 43 41 40 35 33 31 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19

1962 1965 1964 1954 1951-52-53-63 1961 1929-42 1939 1937 1928-38-44-58 1949 1943-59 1934-47-55 1909-1910-36-50-60 1930-40 1931-45-56 1900-15-57

17 1918-21-33-35-41 16 1911-17-22 14 1890-1912-16-26-48 13 1907-08-23-32 12 1894-97-1913-14-27 11 1891-1906-20-24-25-46 10 1881-1919 9 1879-92-96-1905 8 1893-95-1902-03 7 1878-80-86-98-1904 6 1873-85-1901 5 1877-82-89 4 1872-99 3 1876-83 2 1875-84-88 1 1874-87 Total from 1872 to 1965-1,509

PICTURES

Aerial before

view of the college the

Aerial

beginning

campus,

of the

view of the college

1949, shortly

building

campus,

program.

1964

Northwestern only

three

has had presidents

in 94 years.

August F. Ernst 1871-1919

Carleton Toppe 1959-

Erwin E. Kowalke 1919-1959 Author of Centennial Story

Prof. Adam First president

Martin

of Northwestern

Dr. E. Moldehnke First professor Seminary

of the Lutheran in Watertown

Prof. Lewis O. Thompson Second

president

Prof. Adolf Hoenecke Moldehnke's

successor

first inspector

and

Graduating House

Brockmann the

class

in 1861.

of the Only

(second

Wisconsin

row,

Synod

John Muehlhaeuser Founder and first president the Wisconsin Synod

Hermannsburger

one

of their

extreme

from

Mission

number, right),

Germany

that

John of

John

came

year.

Bading

Second president of Synod First chairman of college board

The college

campus,

with the 1875 dorm and

as seen Avenue in the late 1870's

the

Kaffeemuehle,

from Western

Burnt out shell of the Kaffeemuehle, struck by lightning, July 30, 1894

Our

oldest

band

picture.

This photograph,

taken

at the

shows the band of 1885. The director, William F. Weimar, is the man with the baton. entrance

of the Kaffeemuehle,

Plaque furnished by the Alumni Society and affixed to the house, 1964

Northwestern's first home at 814 N. 4th St.

The Recitation This

roomy

structure

Building

replaced

the

Kaffeemuehle.

Razed in 1955 to make way for a new building.

The old elm stood in front of the gym. It was removed in 1939.

South

side

1887.

The upper

of Main Street

looking

sign above

east

from the

bridge,

the horse at left reads:

"$25

fine for riding or driving faster than a walk on this bridge"; the

smaller

one

The barber pole point to Seager's

below

it: "Public

telephone

station."

and slanting sign at the extreme barbershop "on the bridge."

right

Fountain and pavilion, Concordia Island Park (later called Tivoli Island). Northwestern celebrated its 25th anniversary with a great

festivity on this island in 1890.

scene of many student

and civic celebrations

It was also the in later years.

FACULTY OF 1875 Dr. F. W. A. Notz

Joel Smith Theodore

Brohm

K. Bolle

Dr. J. H. Ott

Dr. W. Notz

M. Ei:kmann

President A. F. Ernst

Eugen Notz Amos Easterday

FACULTYOF 1904 H. Frank O. Hoyer A. Kuhn President A. F. Ernst Dr. F. W. A. Notz E. Bliefernicht Dr. A. Hoermann

FACULTY Standing,

from

T. Meibohm, Sitting:

left: S.

E. Sauer,

Probst,

A. Hillmer,

C. Bolle,

T. Binhammer,

Eickmann, T. Schlueter,

1925

Schumann,

E. Wendland, H. Schmeling,

Westerhaus,

A. Meier,

Kremer W. Huth,

President

E. Kowalke,

J. H. Ott FACULTY OF Standing,

from

Westerhaus, A.

Sitz,

P. E.

Sitting:

left:

Eickmann,

Kiessling.

President

walke,

Bolle,

scher,

Wendland,

Binhammer,

1946

KoFleiT.

Schmeling

Standing,

from

left:

Pless,

J. Petr ie, T. Si evert.

L. Umnus, H. Oswald, F. Blume, D. Rohda, E. Schroeder Sitting:

II)

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COLLEGE BOARD

Rev. Kurt Timmel

Rev. Reginald Siegler

Rev. F. Naumann

Secretary

Chairman

Vice-Chairman

Rev. Karl Gurgel

John Degner

William

Rev. Elmer Prenzlow

Arthur Hintz

A. W. Schweppe

Schumann

OLD BUILDINGS

The refectory 1887-1956

"Pest House" (Isolation hospital), 1912-1955

"New Dorm" of 1905. Now known as West Hall or "Old Dorm."

"Old Shack" or gymnasium 1877-1911

Band shell (Removed in early 1920's)

NEW BUILDINGS The chapel and classroom building (1956)

The gymnasium with the statue of the sprinter (1912) Building enlarged 1950

East Hall, collegiate dorm, occupied January, 1956

Steward's residence dining hall (1956)

and

The library building (1950)

m .o

E III ..s:: OIl

--' ""0

....

Iii

'iii

N _j

~ 0. III >.. c:

III o._~

U .... Q) Q)

o 0 u ::..:

--'

OIl

.... Q)

a:l

u..i

III 0

""0

'u c:

The college

orchestra,

band

haus,

1920,

of 1933.

does

not

Prof. E. Wendland,

The director,

appear

on the

director

Prof. G. Westerpicture.

Prof. Arnold

Lehmann

directs the male chorus

These

players,

entire

college

shown career

with Coach in the early

Leonard 1950's

Umnus, went without

through

their

losing a single game.

One of many championship baseball teams of the early years of the century. The player third from the right is E. E. Kowalke.

One

teams, W.

Kumm,

Sitting:

our

1904.

earliest Top

row

R. Ernst,

left:

H. Wojahn.

A. Bartz, E. Below: Heino North.

R. Breutzmann,

Wendland.

basketball from

Rooting

Tense

moments and

for

the

team

at a homecoming

game

in football

basketball

CENTENNiAL SEAL The

key

northwe::t,

knowledge, is

anchored

pointing to

compass pointing to the four corners of the earth. The head of the key forms a cross. The meaning could be summed up in this sentence: "A century of classical, Christ-centered education at Northwestern, in obedience to the call to preach the Gospel to the world."

Cast of She Stoops to Conquer, first major dramatic

production given at Northwestern,

1928

Arbor day - Cleaning up in the shadow of the Sprinter

On the way to the gymnasium on commencement day

Football

Basketball

Dorm council

team,

1964

1964-65

Black and

Red staff, Vols. 68-69

'" a.>

.s:

(5 a.>

.s:

I-

"'tl

s::

III

..0 a.>

.s:

I-

'"~ (5

..s::

"'tl a.>

.._ <l>

C.._ CL Vl

::> .._ o .s: v

CL <l>

c':

t:t:

2 VI Qj c

INDEX

INDEX A

Abbetmeyer, Carl, 169, 170, 191 Abelmann, Dr., 184 Academic dept., 48, 52, 246 Academic procession, 144, 266 Accreditation, 263 Adelberg, R., 46, 67, 124 Albrecht Brothers, 10 Albrecht, 197 Alcott, Mr., 60, 63, 64, 248 Allison, Rev. J., 47 Alumni Association, 202 Alumni Notes, 234 Alumni Society, 245, 246, 263 Anniversaries, centennial, 267, 268; diamond jubilee, 267; golden jubilee, 143, 265, 267; silver jubilee, 264, 265 Apathy, 29, 35, 52, 63 Arbor day, 117, 254, 258, 259 Armitage, Bishop W. E., 47 Athletic director, 192; first regular one, 150; see also coaches "Aula," 144 B

Bading, John, 20, 22, 26, 27, 28, 30, 42, 119, 169, 211, 248, 264; alumni society-charter member, 245; early years, 4, 6, 8; fund raising, 23, 24, 25, 32, 54; Northwestern, 18, 33, 57, 58, 137, 143; President of Synod, 14, 59, 68, 71, 125 Bading, John Jacob, 73 Baebenroth, A., 245 Ballou, 33, 34 Band, 241, 242 Bandstand, 139, 167, 255

Barracks, 167, 255 Bartelt, Mrs., 65 Baseball, 213-215, 217 Basel Mission Society, 25, 53 Basketball, 215, 216; first intercollegiate game, 216; first introduced 213, 214; grade school tournament, 216 Bauer, Harold, 245 Beitz Paper, 188, 189 Beitz, William, 188, 189, 229 Bendler, August C, 118, 200, 201, 264 Bennett Law, 123, 264 Bensen, 60 Bequests, 140, 167, 168, 204, 255 Berg, E., 152, 192 Bergemann, G., 193, 266 Bergmann, Paul, 152 Berlin Missionary Society, 10, 16, 17,25, 51, 53 Bernthal, J. B., 237 Beta Rho Society, 239, 240 Bethke, WiIIiam, 113 Biedenweg, W., 131 Bilse, Mr. and Mrs., 193, 208 Binhammer, Theodore F., 123, 152, 162, 167 Bittorf, R., 229 Black and Red, 91, 92, 118, 162, 177, 201, 212, 214, 218, 226, 230-238, 251, 257; confined to collegiate affairs,237; first efforts, 230; German - English periodical, 237; literary, 235; purpose, 231, 232; staff, 233 Blakewell, Edward, 177, 178 Bliefernicht, Edmund, 148 Blume, Frederic, 192

312

CENTENNIAL STORY

Cemetery, old, 250-252 Blumenfeld, David, 43 Bolle, Carl, 148, 170, 173, 190, Chadbourne, 47 Chapel, 114, 116; bequest for, 209, 241, 243, 244, 260, 266 256; stained glass windows, 209; Bolle, Ruth, 260 see also chapel-classroombuilding "Bolshevik," 185 Chapel-Classroom Building, 206, Bonfire, 261 208-209, 255; dedication, 209; Bookstore, 116, 117 first classes, 209 Bothne, 246 Charboneau, 31 Boughton, 250 Charters, 27 Bowling, 216, 217 "Cheer for Old Northwestern," 260 Brandt, Fred, 229 Chess Club, 247 Brandt, Olaf, 170, 266 Chicken coop, 135, 254 Brauer, 59 Chorus, 243-244 Braun, Henry, 111 Christiansen, 167-168 Brenner, Frederick, 191 Coaches, 220-221 Brenner, John, 133, 163, 177, Coeducation, 112 205, 267 College Review, 230 Brenner, Philip, 16 College seal, 259-260 Breutzmann, August, 193, 199, College song, 260 254 Commencement, see graduation Breutzmann, Reinhold, 216, 229 Commercial courses, 149, 172 Brief Statement, 270 Community concerts, 245 Briesen, Ernst von, 200 Brockmann, John H., 16, 119, 147 Concordia Encyclopedia, 74 Brohm, Theodore, 69, 76, 124, 125 Concordia Seminary, 13 Brumder, George, 64, 69, 200, 223 Conrad, Jacob, 5-6 Cows, 111, 254 Brunn, Frederick, 29 Craemer, 29 Buehren, W., 7 Custodians, 193 Buenger, Carl, 113 Curriculum, 37, 43, 65, 75-76, Buerger, Ed, 229 112, 117, 165, 171-179; early Buerger, Richard, 229 thoughts, 9, 37; elective system, Building fund drive, 206 179, 272; English instruction, Buildings: 31-33; 1950-56 pro45, 51, 62, 167, 176; examinagram, 255, 256; professors' resitions, 175; first curriculum, 26; dences, 149, 256; rebuilding proGerman instructions, 51, 57, 59, gram, 204; register of buildings, 61, 62, 160, 164, 176, 192; im255 portant place of language, 272, Bursar's office, 115 274; remedial, 179 Butler, J., 47 C Campus and Classroom,234 Career, 80-81, 98-100, 117 Case, Anna, 244 Casper, 1., 229 Catalogues, first college, 62 Cemetery, Oak Hill, 252

Daecke, 227 Dahlke, J. C, 206 Dammann, 19, 20, 59 Davies, Joseph, 152 Day, 204 Dean, see inspector

313

INDEX

Dedication day, 33 Degrees, honorary and special, 168-170 Deibert, J., 127, 169

Deitloff, Mrs. Mathilda, 168 Denke,49 Diehl, Henry, 191~229 Dining hall, see refectory Discipline, 94, 95, 96, 99, 101, 118, 133; blue laws, 93; cars, 274; class strike over vaccination, 156; collapse of, 48; punishment, 99, 100; responsibility for, 183185; sophomore strike over flogging, 138; students on the loose, 135; study hours, 94, 95; Sunday rules, 94; see also Career Dormitories (chronological), frame dormitory, 60, 70, 76, 78, 85, 102, 255; 1875 dormitory, 78, 81, 85-91, 92, 255; 1905 dormitory, 141-147, 255; East Hall, 207, 209, 210, 255 Dorm life, 48, 49, 87, 88, 89, 242; bath and toilet facilities, 89, 91, 111, 146, 155; central heating, 111; gas lighting, 111; student pranks, 82, 83, 89, 90, 97, 98 Dornfeld, Ernst, 163, 243 Drinking, 96-97 Dr. Martin Luther College, 166 Drowning, 97 Duetzmann, Hans, 149, 243, 266 Duxe, Edward, 229

Eickmann, Martin, 141-142, 146, 148, 157, 161, 166; assumes inspectorship, 136, 138; inspectorship, 153-155 Eickmann, Paul, 164 Elective system, see curriculum Elm, old, 258 Elman, Mischa, 244 Endowments, 202; endowment fund, 39, 42-43 Engelhardt, 26 English instruction, see curriculum Ernst (father of Pres. Ernst), 60 Ernst, A. F., 60, 62, 68, 76, 78, 80, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 112, 115, 120, 124-125, 129, 136, 139, 142, 152, 157, 159, 160, 162164, 166, 179, 183, 200-201, 248, 264, 266; called, 60, curriculum, 171-173; honorary degree, 75, 169; inspectorship, 133; president, 67, 81, 85, 119, 122123, 156, 173, 175-176, 273 Ernst, Charles, 108, 129, 131, 133 Ernst, Elizabeth, 111 Ernst, George, 124, 130 Ernst house, 77, 167, 255 Ernst, Otto, 200-201 Ernst, Rudolph, 216-217 Esbjoern, Lars, 13 Eureka Society, 240 Every Member Canvass, 195 Examinations, 117, 175 Explosion, 228 Expulsions,49-50, 100, 135, 181-182

Easterday, Amos, 61-62, 69, 112, 120, 123, 127-128, 130, 169, 241 Easterday, Oscar, 63, 123, 127-128 Eckelmann, E., 212 Eckelmann, H, 126 Eckstein, Ernst, 99 Eddy, j, 47 Eichelberger, Mrs., 167-168 Eickmann, Arnold, 254

Fachtmann, G., 15, 20, 21, 22 Faculty, 120-131, 148-152; accessions,191-193; disagreement with board, 185ff.; educational meetings, 163, 164; overburdening, 176; resignations over Missouri question, 270; serious losses, 186, 188, 189, 190 Falk, Otto Herbert, 91, 92 Feld, 156

314

CENTENNIAL STORY

Felland, Ole, 169, 245 Financial problems, 11, 17, 18, 21, 27, 28, 29, 32, 38, 39, 42, 47, 52, 57, 63-65, 66, 69, 143, 145; depressions, 193-195; fund raising in Europe, 15, 22, 24, 25; lecture series, 47; Peshtigo fire, 71, 72; stock company, 44; see also room and board, scholarship scheme, tuition First German Lutheran, 269 Fleischer, Herman, 255 Flogging, 100, 137, 138 Football, 218-220; abolished, 154; discontinued during war, 196; field, 64, 253, 254; first squad, 219 Forum, see literacy societies Frank, Herman, 123, 134, 137, 148, 149, 161, 166, 174, 241 Franklin Settlement, 7 Franzmann, Martin, 174, 191 Franzmann, William, 114, 133 Frederking, August, 229 Frederich, Edward, 212, 229 Frey, George, 179 G Gaebler, Max, 26, 46, 121 Gamm, August, 26, 42, 64 248 Gamm, George, 23, 28, 63, 64, 248 Gamm, Julius, 131, 148, 242, 264 Gardner house, 26 Gausewitz, 59 Gausewitz, Carl, 266 Gebhardi, 0., 128 Geiger, 85 Gemeindeblatt, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 46, 59, 103, 105, 122, 172 General Council, 55, 56 General Synod, 55 Gensike, J., 245 German Club, 177, 241 Germania, 200, 265 German instruction, see curriculum German Lutheran Church in Oconomowoc, 227

German mission societies, see mission societies Gersdorf, 125 Gettysburg, 10, 12, 21 Gettysburg College, 58 Gettysburg Seminary, 14, 16 Gieschen, Herman, 114 Goettingen, University of, 67 Goldammer, 8, 15, 19, 32, 38, 72 Golf,217 Grabau, 3 Grace Church in Milwaukee, 18, 19, 24 Graduation, 118, 175, 236, 262, 263; first class, 73-75; Latin oration dropped, 178, 179; outdoors, 263 Graebner, A. 1., 77, 126, 127 Graebner, William, 113, 142 Grethen, 242 Griebling, Oscar, 107, 199 Grimm, Jakob & Wilhelm, 67 Groth, G. C, 111 Gruendemann, Otto, 229 Grunwald, H., 229 Guenther, Edgar, 237 Guenther, 227 Gustavus and son, 41 Gustavus, Mr., 42, 64 Gymnasium, 132, 154,255; dedication, 201; new gym, 200, 201; Old Shack, 102, 106-107, 133, 199, 212, 255; permanent stage, 203, 255; "turning hall," 86, 102, 107, 212 Gymnasium, German, 61, 62, 68, 93, 172 Gymnastics, 107, 212-213 Gym number, 118, 201 H Haase, Adolph, 114 Hagedorn, Paul, 114 Hanke, A., 229 Hantz, J., 128 Hardege, R., 131

315

INDEX

Harmonia Society, 241 Harms, Louis, 8, 16, 24 Harms, W., 245 Hartwig, William, 159 Hass, W., 189 Hass- und Bauernfreund, 265

Hawley, 248 Hebdomadary system, 158 Heidtke, Waldemar, 237 Heilmann, Ernst, 237 Heimerl, Eddie, 214 Heimerl, Louis, 214 Heinbockel, 103, 104, 108, 135,226 Henkel, William, 152, 160,163,166 Hensel, Oswald, 163 Hermannsburg Mission House, 52 Herrmann, W. C, 119, 149, 178, 191, 243 Hertler, Edwin, 228 Heyden, Anton van, 146 Heyer, 20, 21 Hillemann, M. J., 239 Hinnenthal, Ed., 216 Hinnenthal, Gerhard, 229 Histories: jubilee history, 150, 201 Hockey Club, 247 Hoenecke, Adolf, 17, 21, 24, 27, 46, 50, 52, 59, 61, 117, 121, 122, 132, 133, 140, 169, 174, 248, 258 Hoenecke, O. J. R., 234, 237, 239, 264 Hoenecke, Walter, 239 Hoermann, Arthur, 115, 144, 148, 150,162,201,264,266 Hoffmann, Francis, 265 Homecoming, 260-262 Horn, Paul, 215 Hornet, 237 Hoyer, Otto August Daniel, 73, 74, 113, 131, 134, 136, 148, 149, 230,245 Huber, Daniel, 7 Huebner, Pastor, 71, 72 Humphrey, Mr., 45 Huth, Karl, 174, 200, 245 Huth, William, 152, 229, 231, 246

Ice Hockey, 217 Illinois State University, 12 Illinois Synod, 12 Imbusch,25 Infirmary, 197, 199, 255 Inspector, 49, 50, 81, 87, 132-134, 153-155,157; first inspector, 121; residence, 113, 208; revival, 190; becomes dean: see list of inspectors, 282 Instructors, 45-46

J Jaeckel, 168, 264 Jaeger, 41 Jahnke, Richard, 161, 266 Janitors, see custodians Jennrich, Anthony, 114 Johannes, Elizabeth, 197 Joint Synod, 109-110 K Kaffeemuehle, 31-33, 76, 79-81, 84-

86, 100, 102-106, 109, 113-114, 121, 207-208, 255; burning, 84, 102-105; dedication, 33; groundbreaking, 31 Kaltenbrunn, John, 46, 61, 77, 121, 126 Kammeier, William, 95, 128, 131 Karzer, see Career Keller, George, 128 Kehrberg, Otto, 215 Kieckhefer, 15 Kiessling, Elmer 177, 191, 240 Kilgas, Emil, 114 King, 204 Kingfisher Club, 247 Kittel, H., 55, 57 Kitzerow, 19 Klapproth, A., 92, 97, 127 Kleinke, Walter, 190, 192 Klingmann, Julius, 143, 147 Kneyse, Cantor, 143 Knoche, 98

c.,

CENTENNIAL STORY

316

Koch, Henry, ll4, 191, 238 Koch, K., 245 Koehler, John P., 4, 6, 9, 32, 59, 76, 108, us, 130, 133, 135136, 148, 158, 200, 213, 230, 234, 245-246 Koehler, Karl, 165, 167, 169, 184, 252-253 Koehler, Philip, 8, 215, 229 Koelpin, A., 195 Koeninger, John, 147, 193, 254 Koeninger, Leonard, 199, 229 Koerner, 264 Kowalke, Erwin, 150, 152, 162-163, 176-177, 190, 195, 269 Kraft, 81 Krauss, Eugene, 169, 266 Kreisler, Fritz, 244 Kremer, Roland, 190, 192 Kuehl, Paul, 194, 220 Kuhlow, Otro, 83, 149, 152, 162 Kuhn, Albert, ll9, 149-150, 172 Kumm, William, 215-216 Kunz, 16 Kusel, Daniel, 19, 20, 31, 64, 85, 147 Kuske, Karl, 178 L

Lallemant, Theo. Ave, 152 Lampert, 1., 245 Lange, Belno, 178 Langenberg Society, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 51, 53 Larson, ll8 Latin farmers, 3 Law, Law, Potter, and Nystrom, 207 Lederer, Rudolf, 228 Lehmann, Arnold, 149, 192, 241 Lebre und Wehre, 59 Lembcke, Edward, 137 Lenz, Sam, 191 Lewis, Mrs. Fannie, 168; scholarship, 140 Leyrer, Carl, 220

Library, 16, 18, 106, us, 1I6, 129, 167; beginnings, 47; centennial class endowment fund, 268; new building, 202-205; recataloguing, 191, 205; rescued from fire, 105; shelf space limited, ll5, 203; student assistants, 130 Library-Classroom Building, 255; see library Lincoln, Abraham, 265 Literary societies, 239-241; Forum, 241; Rostra, 241 Lochner, 59 Loeb,255 Loehe, 29 Lohmann, 30 Loy, 71 Luebke, William, 237 Lucas, 57 Lueckel, William, 159, 215 Luther, Martin, 9, 273, 274 M

Maasch, John, 229 Male, chorus, 244 Markworth, Mr., 69 Marriages: student marriages prohibited, 274 Marti, A., 169 Martin, Adam, 39, 40, 44, 45, 48, 67, 125, 144, 171, 248; first president of Northwestern, 33, 34, 36, 43, 46, 47, 58, 61, 62, 68, 121; resigns as president, 57, 122 Mayerhoff, 259 Medenwald, Otto, 229 Meibohm, 191 Meier, 98 Meiss, 1, 5 Melzer, Edgar, 152 Messer, John, 229 Metzger, George, 168, 170 Meumann, Theodor, 19, 21; chairman of faculty,67, 122; professor at Northwestern, 42, 51, 52, 61, 171; release from faculty, 69

INLlEX

317

New dormitory, see dormitory of 1875 Niedent, 95 Nitz, Henry, 207, 266 Normal Department, 110, 111, 112 North, Henry, 216 Northwestern; begun as seminary, 15, 16, 33, 45, 59, 67, 112; decision to build, 18; first president, 33, 121; first professor, 23, 26, 33, 121; first students, 26; general college, 35, 36, 58; location, Milwaukee Journal, 92, 138 19-23, 69; name changed, 36, Milwaukee Sentinel, 138 113, 178; need felt, 9, 13, 14; Milwaukee Medical College, 112 purchased, 22, 31, 60 Mission House, 7 Northwestern Club, 200, 201, 225 Mission societies, 3, 4, 10, 15, 16, Northwestern College Board, 161 17, 22, 24, 25, 29, 51; break Northwestern Day, 268 with, 53-55 Northwestern Literary Society, 239 Missouri Synod controversy, 270 Northwestern Lutheran, 206, 208, Mitchell, 25 267, 269 Mittelstaedt, John, 212 Northwestern Lutheran Annual, Mixed chorus, 244 263 Moldehnke, E., 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 38, 47; death, 51; Northwestern University, 36, 227 first professor at Northwestern, Northwestern University, brass band, 241 23, 24, 45, 121; inspector, 49; itinerant missionary, 16, 21, 22; Notz, Eugene, 120, 126, 245 resignation, 50 Notz, Dr. F. W. A, 76, 77, 81, Monich, Frieda, 170 82, 83, 118, 120, 125, 126, 133, 156, 166, 169, 174, 211, 220, Monitors, 153 250, 266 Moussa,Hans Koller, 134,137, 150, Notz, Minnie, 111 151, 162, 190, 201, 246 Notz, Dr. William, Jr., 144, 148, Muehlenbruch, W., 128 151, 152 Muehlhaeuser, John, 6, 8, 9, 12, 15, 21, 22, 23; founder of Synod, 4, 5; president of Synod, 1, 10, 11, o 13, 14 Oconomowoc Republican, 227 Mueller, William, 195 Oertel, 5 Musical organizations, 149, 192; see Old Shack, see gymnasium also: band, chorus, orchestra Orchestra, 242, 243 Orton, Harlow, 47 N Oswald, Hilton, 192, 241 National Youth Administration, 194 Ott, J. Henry, 43, 104, 105, 107, Naumann, Oscar, 190, 209 112, 113, 115, 118, 120, 128, Needham, 107 131,143,181,212,220,252,254, Meyer, G., 19 Meyer, John P., 105, 114, 137, 148 Michelson, Meta Kilgas, 209, 256 Military Company, 212, 222-229; discontinued, 228-229; drill, 223; list of captains, 229; marchout, 225; organized, 113; powder explosion, 228; public appearance, 224-225; purpose, 223; sham battle, 227; strict discipline, 224 Mills, 214 Milwaukee, 19-21, 69

CENTENNIAL STORY

318

258, 259, 263; early life, 129; inspector, 93, 94, 133; library, 116, 191, 204; personalia, 147; retirement and death, 130, 190 Ott house, 113, 208, 255 Ott, Walter, 192 Outhouse, 87, 91, 255 Owen, Ralph, 254

Pro-seminary, 29, 30, 52 Protestant movement, 185, 186, 189 Punishment, see discipline

Q Quehl, Pastor, 19 R

P Pankow, Pastor, father of E. A. Pankow, 73 Pankow, Erdmann A., 73, 74, 127, 144, 266 Parisius, Herbert, 159, 163, 184 Passavant, Dr., 11, 12, 13 Peshtigo, 71 Pest house, see infirmary Peters, Paul, 167, 238 Pfeiffer, C, 148 Phi Gamma Rho Society, 240 Phi Lambda Sigma Society, 240 Pieper, Mrs., 73, 80 Pieper, Anton, 74 Pieper, August, 74, 134, 158, 213, 215, 231 Pieper, Edgar, 220 Pieper, Franz, 73, 74, 75, 76, 124, 140, 169, 264, 266 Pieper, Gerhard, 205 Pieper, John, 215 Pieper, Paul, 163 Pieper, Reinhold, 73, 74, 140 Pinckert, Mrs. 135, 147 Pingel, Louis, 81, 111 Pipe organ, 209 Plocher, John, 239 Pluess, Pastor, 1, 5, 7, 8 Plum, Prof. H., 131, 149, 241 Pranks, see dorm life Precour Construction Co., 207 Preller, Prof. A., 127, 241 Probst, Sigmund, 152, 162, 164, 167, 188, 191 Proctors, 48 Property, 249Âˇ256

Raasch, Martin, 219 Recitation Building, 106, 109, 114, 117, 207, 208, 255; dedication, 118 Redlin, Gerhard, 190 Refectory bell, 135 Refectory Building, 76, 102, 195, 206, 208, 209, 210, 255 Reichmann, J. G., 7 Reim, C. G., 4, 11, 16, 20, 22 Reim, Edmund, 191, 228 Renner, Otto von, 169 Reynolds, 12, 13 Richards, John, 31, 248 Rohda, Dudley, 192 Rohde, Mr. and Mrs. Julius 111, 193 Rohr, Ph. von, 119, 142, 143, 200,264 Room and board, 37, 48, 65 Rose, David, 113 Rosenhauer, George, 229 Rosin, Henry, 215 Rosin, Rupert, 178 Rostra, see literary societies Ryder, W. H., 47 S Sacred Heart College, 97 Sadder, W., 128 Saint John's Church in Milwaukee, 11 Saint John's Church in St. Paul, 74 Saint John's School, 173 Saint Luke's in Milwaukee, 204 St. Mark's Church, 24, 42, 67, 94, 118, 137, 139, 143

INDEX

St. Mark's School, 80, 111, 161,

174, 222 St. Mary's Hospital, 250 St. Matthew's Church in Milwau-

kee, 55, 59, 137, 201, 203 St. Matthew's of New York, 11 St. Olaf Chorus, 245 Salbach, 243 Salvi, Alberto, 244 Sauer, 6, 8 Sauer, Adolf, 229 Alfred Sauer, 229 Sauer, Christian, 229, 230, 231, 245 Sauer, Edwin, 152, 191 Sauer, Prof. Elmer, 152, 162, 164,

319

Searles, Dr., 112 Seemann, 46, 51 Seifert, Edmund, 207 Selective Service Act, 196 Senn, Dr., 85 Sham battles, 227 Shield, Dr. George, 168, 237 Shinny, 97

ShrJlu, 237 Siegler, A. F., 26, 49 Siegler, Frederick, 111 Siegler, Richard, 143, 168 Sieker, Adolphus, 11 Sieker, Henry, 81, 101, 230, 237 Sieker, John Henry, 11, 12, 19, 20, 186, 188, 189, 191 32, 38, 40, 41, 42, 53, 64, 144 Schaefer, Helmuth, 260 Sieker, Otto, 11 Schaeffer, Prof. C. F., 11, 12, 13, 14 Sievers, Pastor, 59 Schaller, Adelbert, 191, 197 Sievert, Ada, 197 Schaller, Prof. John, 97, 144 Sievert, Rudolf, 220 Schauer, August, 222, 229 Sigma Phi Society, 240 Schlueter, 164 Sinissippi band, 225 Schlueter, Benjamin, 202, 246 Sitz, Alexander, 152, 191, 243 Schlueter, Theodore, 151, 160, 166, Small pox, 62, 155, 156, 157 189 Smith, Joel, 77, 126, 127, 169, 253 Schmeling, Henry, 163 Smith, Wilder, 47 Schmidt, A., 46, 127 Snyder, Thomas, 112, 123, 127, 169 Schoenfeld, 64 Solliday, Dr. A., 222, 225 Scholarship scheme, 39, 44, 61, Spiering, Pastor, 246 Sports, 192 63, 64, 70 Sprengling, Martin, 114, 151, 217, Scholarships, 43 237 Schroedel, Andrew, 131, 253 Schroeder, H., 157, 201, 217, 228 Sprinter, the, 201, 237 Stealing, 180, 181, 182, 185 Schroeder, Erwin, 191, 205 Stellhorn, F. W., 59, 67, 69, 120, Schulz, Harold, 85, 179 124, 126 Schumacher, Herbert, 178 Stern, Max, 229 Schumacher, William, 131 Stewards, 65, 147, 193; student Schumann, Harold, 206 fight with, 108, 135 Schumann, Walter, 103, 152, 159, Stiemke, William, 147 191, 194, 246 Stindt, Prof., 197 Schumann, William, 215 Strasen, Karl, 46, 59, 94, 124 Schumann-Heink, Madame, 244 Streissguth, 8, 13, 20, 21, 22, 28, Schwartz, H., 239 38, 53 Schwartz, John, 239 Strube, 95 Schweppe, Alfred, 266 Schweppe, Carl, 159, 267 Student Chit-Chat, der Studenten Seal, see college seal Schnick-Schnack, 230

CENTENNIAL STORY

320

Student life, see dorm life Study Society, 241 Suspensions, 135, 138, 181 182 Swimming, 97, 217 ' Synodical Conference organized, 71

T Taft, .William Howard, 201 Tennis, 217, 218; club, 140路 courts 140, 218 " Theilig, 19 Thiede, E., 248 Thiele, 130 "Third Party," 185, 189 Tholuck, Dr., 51 Thompson, Lewis 0., 47, 51, 61, 62, 63, 67, 69, 122, 125 Thuemmel, 12 Timmel, Kurt, 195, 206 Timmel, Raymond, 177 Toerris, George, 7 Toltz, King, and Day, 204 Tony Sarg Marionettes, 245 Toppe, Carleton, 149,269 Track, 217 Tres Artes Society, 241 Trinity, 161 Tuition, 37, 48 Turning, 212, 213 Turning hall, see gymnasium Tutors, 159, 161 Tutor system, 157, 159路 tOOstrict, 160 ' U Ukrainian Chorus, 245 Umnus,Leonard, 174, 192,218,220 Uplegger, Karl, 178 V

Vacations, 27, 86路 abolished during war years, i96, 197; Christmas lengthened because of depression, 193 Van Kooy, Jacob, 229 Vesuvius (smoking) Club, 247

Voigt, Walter, 229 Vorberg, G., 54, 57 Voss, Mrs., 80 Voss, Luther, 178 W Waegener, 22 Waldmann, 16 Walking Society, 247 Wallmann, Inspector, 8 Walther, 29, 59, 77 Watertower, 253 Watertown, 19-21 Wa~ertownDemocrat, 33, 35,36,73 Weimar, William, 86, 98, 107, 108, 118, 120, 123, 128, 129, 130, 144, 148, 149, 212, 220, 246路 band director, 241; inspector, 94, 133 Wemmann, John, 1, 5, 8, 9 Weitbrecht, G., 6 Weltbuerger, 43 Wendland, Ernst A., 123, 149 152, 215, 216 ' Wente, H., 150, 151, 156 Werrenrath, Reinald, 245 Westendorf, Adelbert, 189, 191 Westerhaus, Gustav, 149, 152, 162, 164, 165, 167, 241 Whyte, John, 217 Wichern, Dr. 30 W~etzke, Wilfred, 178 Wllson, Woodrow, 152 Windmill, 257 Wisconsin-Missouri accord 59 Witt, John, 114 ' Wittfaut, Frank, 119 Wojahn, Henry, 216, 219 Wrede, William 1 5 8 9 Wrestling, 218' , , , Wurster, E. A., 200 Z Zastrow, Hugo, 206 Zell, William, 220 Zich, August, 191, 264