I am a day late. Yesterday, October 26, 2024, was the 100th anniversary of the cornerstone laying for the present-day campus of Concordia Seminary in the Clayton neighborhood of St. Louis. This special date was pointed out to me by a Facebook post made by the Concordia Historical Institute. Today, I plan to share with our readers some facts about the buildings that have existed over the years to house the institution known as Concordia Seminary.
First, we take a step back to look at the first building for Concordia. In 1839, some young Lutheran pastors-to-be built a one room cabin on the property owned by Christiane Buenger. It was an 11 acre parcel of land located on the east side of Altenburg. They built the cabin to be a special school. Its mission would be to train future Lutheran church workers. That school opened on December 9, 1839. In a little over a month, it will be the 185th anniversary of that first day of school.
That school would eventually be called Concordia Seminary. It existed in Altenburg for 10 years. Concordia Seminary, Altenburg graduated five young men who were ordained to become Lutheran pastors. Then, in 1849, it was decided to move this institution to St. Louis. Then, in 1850, a building was dedicated to become the first building for the Seminary in St. Louis. It was located in south St. Louis on Jefferson Avenue. It is a neighborhood that now includes Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Concordia Publishing House, and a hospital that was once called the Lutheran Hospital.
As the Seminary added more students, that building was expanded a few times. Here is a later picture of that expanded building.
Then, in 1883, the Missouri Synod decided that a new and larger building was needed. They razed the old building and built the new one in the same location. When that building was dedicated, there were 15,000 people in attendance. Rev. C.F.W. Walther delivered one of the addresses on that day. That building is shown below.
As that building aged, the Missouri Synod decided that a new Seminary campus was needed. About 71 acres of land was purchased in Clayton for about $185,000 and plans began to be drawn for a more sprawling campus for the larger group of seminarians and their professors. That leads us up to the event that took place on October 26, 1924. A large crowd of Lutherans gathered for the cornerstone laying for a major building on that campus. Dr. Franz Pieper, who had been the President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod from 1899-1911, gave the main address. The events of that day were also broadcast on the new KFUO radio station, so local St. Louisans were able to listen if they were unable to attend. I am displaying a gallery of photos below that were part of Concordia Historical Society‘s post on Facebook. You can click to enlarge them.
The new campus in Clayton was dedicated about two years later on June 13, 1926. I hope I do not miss the centennial of that event in 2026. There was a Synodical convention being held in St. Louis that year, and many Lutheran dignitaries had gathered from all over the country. Also, an even larger crowd gathered for this special event. It was reported that there were 75,000 people who attended this dedication.
In 1926, the motion picture industry was in its infancy. All of their moving pictures were in black and white and had no audio. The script for the pictures was shown as captions you had to read. Such a moving picture was made for the occasion of the Concordia Seminary dedication in 1926. I am able to include that video here. You may have to be patient for it to start. It was a hot day in St. Louis, and the style for the day for men was straw hats. I know I am astounded that it says there were 75,000 visitors at this event. I am also amazed that so many men were wearing suits on a hot day. It was certainly an exciting day for Lutherans in St. Louis.
An aerial photo was taken of the new campus for Concordia Seminary. This campus continues to serve as one of the seminaries that are part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
I had a reason to go up to our church in Altenburg this morning. I took this photo of the Log Cabin College. Today is Reformation Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church, which you can see in the background. I consider today to be a great day to be discussing the early days of Concordia Seminary.
I also made a walk out to the monument in my pasture this morning and took this photo. The monument marks the spot where the Log Cabin College was built. A neighbor uses my pasture to graze his cows. I was hoping to find a cow near the monument to include in the photo, but all I found was a nicely placed cowpie. When I am asked where the Log Cabin College was built, I usually respond with the phrase, “Behind my barn”.
In closing, let me share a few links to previous posts that have been written on this blog about the origins of Concordia Seminary.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2019/12/09/happy-180th-birthday-log-cabin-college/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/12/09/happy-birthday-concordia-seminary/