Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Chicago : Lewis, 1918. 5 v. (lvi, 2731 p., [228] leaves of plates) : ill., maps (some fold.), ports. ; 27 cm.

1918 KANSAS AND KANSANS Educational Institutions Part 4

MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA, COOPER COLLEGE, HIGHLAND UNIVERSITY, KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, ST. BENEDICT'S COLLEGE, MIDLAND COLLEGE

MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA

The academy stands on an imposing elevation about one mile south from the business section of Atchison, and the other buildings are located on the eastern side of a thirty-eight acre tract of woodland and meadow, fronting upon a broad and terraced lawn. An extensive campus affords excellent facilities for out-door exercise. Part of the land is devoted to the culture of fruit and vegetables for the use of the institution. The buildings consist of the convent, academy and music hall, laundry, bakery, greenhouse, poultry house and a power and heating plant. A few yards distant from this latter is a two-story brick residence for the male employes of the institute. China kiln and various minor buildings form necessary adjuncts.

The purpose of Mt. St. Scholastica is the training of young ladies with a view to forming them into practical, virtuous, Christian women, and its courses of study embrace all the modern branches, both useful and ornamental, such as drawing, painting, music, needlework, stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, the regular common studies and the classics. The age& of the pupils range from six to sixteen. Although Mt. St. Scholastica is pre-eminently a Catholic institution, it is not sectarian.

Mt. St. Scholastica Academy was founded in 1863 by Benedictine Sisters of St. Cloud, Minnesota, who, in answer to the request of Rev. Augustine Wirth, then pastor of St. Benedict's Church, were sent to Atchison to establish a house of the Order for the education of girls. The Sisters were seven in number with Rev. Mother Evangelista Kremeter as superior. They arrived in Atchison November 11, 1863, and at once took up their abode in the little convent which had been prepared for them. This was a neat two and one half brick structure and was erected by the pastor and parish; the Sisters, however, to assume the debt and the building to be used for educational purposes. It stood at the corner of Second and Division, near St. Benedict's Church. School opened December 1, 1863, with a single boarding pupil, but a good day school. Before the year ended there were eleven boarders.

For the lack of teachers the course was limited to the common school or grade studies until 1866. In the spring of this year Sister Augustine Short of St. Mary's, Elk County, Pennsylvania, was sent out to help the Atchison foundation. Sister Augustine, aided by Miss Horgan, a graduate of Notre Dame, Indiana, who was hired for the purpose, began a partial high school course.

In 1865 a school for boys was opened, a room in the convent being devoted to that purpose, and in the following year a building was procured for the first of the parochial schools, attended by both sexes which are conducted by the Sisters of Mt. St. Scholastica. in different parts of the country. The first mission school was begun in September, 1876.

On March 19, 1873, Mt. St. Scholastica was incorporated under the laws of Kansas and with its present title and purpose, viz., the training and education of youth. The first body of directors was composed of seven members, as follows: Mother Evangelista, president; and Sisters Gregoria Moser, Gertrude Kapser, Augustine Short, Amanda Meier, Dominica Massoth and Theresa Moser.

Early in the summer of 1877, what was then known as the Price Villa property was put up for sale by its owner, John M. Price. It was purchased by the Sisters, and the transfer of the convent and academy was effected in July of the same year. From this move dates the real progress of Mt. St. Scholastica. In the following winter a modern and complete steam heating system was installed.

March 31, 1880, Sister Augustine, who had served as directress of the academy since 1866, was succeeded by Sister Aloysia Northman. Sister Aloysia filled the office till 1892, when she was chosen to the office of subprioress or assistant mother. Sister Adelaide Cass, who is still directress, was appointed to succeed Sister Aloysia. December 29, 1880, occurred the first death in the community, that of Sister Dominica Massoth, O. S. B., one of the original seven Sisters. Sister Dominica's place as member of the board of directors was filled by Sister Aloysia Northman. Sister Dominica's death gave rise to the Convent Cemetery - a beautiful spot on the eastern hillside to the rear of the convent.

Although plans for the building of a new convent were made in July, 1883, it was not completed until 1889. On December 29, 1884, Sister Theresa Moser was elected to succeed Mother Evangelista, thus becoming president of the corporation. Sister Theresa filled this office till July 12, 1897, when Sister Aloysia Northman was elected. Mother Aloysia still holds the office.

In 1901 the present massive convent building was completed. It is now the main building; was two years in construction and cost $65,000. Into this the Sisters moved, and the former convent, after being remodeled, was converted into an academy, which purpose it still serves. The "Villa" building has since been devoted to the use of the Music and Art classes under the title "St. Cecilia." It also contains the school library. In 1907, new recreation grounds were laid out, comprising junior and senior tennis courts, basket ball, etc.

In 1909 it was decided to tear down the old convent, which was becoming unsightly through age and neglect. From 1877-1889, it was used as a parish school. The completion of St. Louis College, the new parish school, left it tenantless. It still served as a meeting place for church and school societies, as well as a home for some aged ladies of the city.

Mother Evangelista's health had been failing for some years and she peacefully passed away June 21, 1909, at the age of seventy-seven years.

In the same year was purchased the ten-acre tract of land adjoining the convent property on the north, as site for a new academy, with auditorium and gymnasium, but the European war has blocked all progress.

The community numbers at present 304 members, including postulants and novices. The academy has for the past decade had an enrollment varying from 189 to 203.


COOPER COLLEGE

The project of establishing a college at some central point in Kansas under control of the United Presbyterian Synod of the state was considered by that body in 1879, and again in 1885, but did not come to a practical conclusion until 1887. It was then made a matter of virtual certainty by co-operation between the Sterling Land and Investment Company and the Synod, and the joint contract by which the company donated ten acres of land for a site at Sterling and the Synod agreed to erect a college building at a cost of $25,000, operate the institution and raise an endowment of $25,000, was signed October 22, 1886, by J. H. Rickseeker and W. H. Page, for the company, and Rev. J. O. Campbell, Rev. H. T. Ferguson and J. L. Acheson for the Synod.

The charter originally filed with the secretary of state vested the control of the college in a Senate, composed of seven trustees and fourteen directors chosen by the Synod. The name " Cooper Memorial, " afterward "Cooper," was given to the college in honor of the late Rev. Jos. T. Cooper, D. D., LL. D., of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, a man loved and honored by his church.

The Senate named in the charter held its first meeting at Sterling on July 28, 1887, pursuant to a call issued July 21st, by Rev. A. J. Hanna, secretary of trustees. Those present at this meeting were Rev. A. R. Rankin, Rev. R. J. Thompson, Rev. A. J. Hanna, J. L. Acheson, J. O. Stow and J. C. Johnson. Rev. A. R. Rankin was chosen president and Rev. A. J. Hanna secretary of the Senate. The first work of the new Senate was the choice of a president and faculty. Rev. C. H. Strong was chosen president; A. N. Porter, professor of Mathematics and English Literature; S. A. Wilson, professor of Languages. Rev. R. J. Thompson was appointed financial agent until next meeting of Synod. A second meeting of the Senate was held at Americus, October 4th, at which meeting a partial curriculum was prepared and direction was given that the college be opened November 1, 1887. Rev. C. H. Strong declined the presidency, not feeling that he could give up the pastorate. Accordingly the doors were opened to students on that day, with A. N. Porter as acting president. The art department was organized at the beginning of the second year by Miss Alice M. Brown, who came from Morning Sun, Iowa, and who still remains in charge of that department. It was not until March 12, 1889, that Rev. F. M. Spencer, of New Concord, Ohio, was chosen president, and he was not inaugurated until the 4th of September.

Doctor Spencer continued at the head of Cooper College for twenty years, during which he materially raised the standard of the institution, completed the raising of $10,000 to cancel the college indebtedness, and otherwise placed the institution on a secure footing. Largely through the efforts of Rev. R. J. Thompson, Dr. W. M. Ewing and Rev. W. L. Garger, the $25,000 endowment fund was completed which was necessary to secure a clear title to the college site, and in October, 1891, the deed of the property was formally transferred to the Kansas Synod.

In June, 1909, after twenty years of service, Doctor Spencer laid down the presidency, retaining connection with the college for a time as field agent to raise endowment. After an interim of one year, in which Prof. Talmon Bell, as vice president, was in charge, Dr. R. T. Campbell, who had been president of Amity College, College Springs, Iowa, became president.

During the present administration Cooper has become a fully accredited institution; has increased its faculty, equipment and endowment. Twenty acres have been added to the college grounds, a gymnasium has been provided. Cooper now rounds out her thirtieth year with largely increased facilities, with a strong student body, with enlarged faculty and with still higher ideals. In the second year the enrollment was 84, in the third year 129. There has been a moderate increase in the succeeding years.


HIGHLAND UNIVERSITY

In 1837 Rev. S. M. Irvin established an Indian mission, which continued its work of educating the Indians in the manners and customs of civilization for over twenty years. But the Indian mission had run its course. The country was being settled by people who demanded the advantages of the East, and consequently, the mission was chartered by the Territory of Kansas in 1857 as Highland University.

Highland University is the oldest institution of learning in Kansas. The log cabin of the Indian mission gave place to a new frame building, and was given over to the care of Highland Presbytery as an academy. In 1859 nine trustees were appointed: Hon. Walter Lowrie, Gen. John Bayless, Rev. C. Vaniens, Rev. J. Campbell, Rev. G. Graham, C. B. Campbell, G. S. Rice, E. M. Hubbard and Rev. S. M. Irvin. Under their efficient work the first brick building was erected at a cost of $10,000.

In the same year (1859) the City Council gave eight blocks of property in the present location. The charter was then amended and the university transferred to the Synod of Kansas. It was at this time that an endowment was begun. Its first contributor was Kirwan Murry, an Indian convert, who gave $100 in gold. This was followed by a similar gift of Sophie Rubetti, another Indian convert.

Until 1870 the work done in the university was academic. A college course was added the same year, and soon afterward the institution passed from the control of the synod, The next few years were the darkest in the history of the university. But by the help of J. P. Johnson and the faithful work of the board of trustees they managed to keep out of debt, In 1885 J. P. Johnson offered $10,000 if the citizens would raise a like amount. This was promptly done. In 1890 Mr. Johnson repeated his offers, which were again accepted. The last offer made the total endowment $51,033.

In 1903 a movement was started to raise funds for a new college hall, but it was not until 1909 that it was completed, at a cost of $30,000. The old college hall contains the large library and reading rooms on the first floor.

The campus contains eight blocks, four of which are occupied by the college halls. These four blocks are thickly planted with large shade trees, some of which are half a century old. Immediately on the north are two blocks devoted to an athletic field. The grandstand and bleachers are large enough to accommodate a very large crowd. The dormitory is immediately joining the main building on the west.

Of late the affairs of Highland College have been much stimulated by the adoption of the self-help plan (in March, 1916). A new dormitory was begun and a campaign started, in that year, for a fund of $200,000.


KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

The long stretch of territory of more than 400 miles ranging from the Missouri River on the east to the Colorado line on the west, together with inadequate railroad facilities made it advisable to divide the Kansas Conference in the early '80s. When the Northwest Kansas Conference, after a division had been made, convened at Beloit in March, 1883, the question of establishing an educational institution was considered of vital importance to the conference and to the Methodists of the northwestern part of the state.

Several cities within the bounds of the conference made flattering offers for the location of the institution. Salina proposed to donate a tract of fifteen acres for a college campus and to erect a building at a cost of $26,000, on condition that the conference maintain a school of full collegiate grade. This generous offer was accepted by the conference and steps were immediately taken to found an educational institution making Salina the educational center of the Northwest Kansas Conference. A board of trustees composed of nine men elected by the conference organized and in December, 1885, secured a very liberal charter and became incorporated under the laws of the state, with the name of Kansas Wesleyan University. Of these men composing the first board of trustees only two are now living, viz: Rev. A. N. See, at present in the Old Peoples Home of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Topeka; and Rev. M. M. Stolz, who is serving the college faithfully as their librarian. Doctor Stolz has well served the Northwest Kansas Conference from its organization as pastor, as district superintendent and as trustee of the Kansas Wesleyan. C. Eberhardt and R. A. Hoffman were honored founders.

The cornerstone of the first building was laid early in 1886, and in March the building was dedicated by Bishop Andrews, assisted by the Reverend Bennett, of Garrett Biblical Institute, and Doctor Gray, of the Freedom's Aid Society. The school was opened on the 15th of September, and the first year showed an enrollment of 123. During the thirty years that the school has been in existence there have been 2,915 students enrolled in the college and academy. Two hundred and forty-nine have been graduated from the college with a Bachelor's degree.

The first faculty of the college consisted of Rev. Wm. F. Swahlen, Ph. D., acting president, who was professor of Latin and the Modern Languages; Thomas W. Cowgill, A. B., who was professor of Greek; Rev. Aaron Schuyler, A. M., Ph. D., who was professor of Mathematics and Astronomy; Rev. W. H. Sweet, A. M., D. D., who was professor of Ethics and Metaphysics; Rev. A. C. Hillman, A. M., who was dean of the Normal Department; Amos T. Griffith, head of the Commercial Department; Clede H. Green, head of the Music School; and Daniel McGurk, teacher of elocution. Doctor Sweet and Doctor McGurk are the only surviving instructors of the first faculty of the Kansas Wesleyan.

The commercial school has grown from a one teacher department to a great business college, one of the largest in the central states. It has a faculty of twenty-one teachers and an enrollment of several hundred. Prof. T. W. Roach is largely responsible for its expansion. The college has also expanded through the addition of new departments and the subdivision of some of these that had been organized.

Rev. Wm. F. Swahlen, A. M., Ph. D., served as acting president of the institution from 1886 to 1887. Later he became professor of Greek in DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, which institution he served until his death in the winter of 1915. Aaron Schuyler, A. M., LL. D. served the Kansas Wesleyan as vice president and acting president from 1887 to 1890 when he became president and continued in that capacity until 1894. Rev. Edwin W. Mueller served as president from 1894-96; Prof. George J. Haggerty, 1899-1900; Dr. Milton E. Phillips, 1901-02; Dr. Thomas W. Roach, 1903-07; Dr. Robert P. Smith, 1907-15, and Dr. John F. Harmon, since June of that year. During Doctor Roach's administration a ladies' dormitory was constructed, Science Hall commenced, and progress made toward securing the $25,000 Carnegie endowment. The campus was also plotted.

There were many improvements made during Doctor Smith's administration, viz: the enlarging the faculty; the completion of Science Hall; the building of a president's home; the beginning of a magnificent gymnasium. Also the endowment was greatly increased making a total of about $119,000 in actual endowment, with about $40,000 more pledged. President Harmon has successfully continued the Forward Movement Campaign, which had been launched by Doctor Smith in an effort to increase the endowment to $200,000.

With only a little more than a quarter of a century's history to the credit of the institution it has a plant and an endowment together amounting almost to $500,000 valuation. This has come almost entirely from and through the loyalty and devotion of the Methodists living within the bounds of the conference territory. During the quarter of a century since the college was planted 249 young people have received degrees from it. The alumni of the institution include such men as Dr. W. D. Schermerhorn, president elect of the Dakota Wesleyan; Dr. B. O. Petersen, a leader of the church in the Philippines; Rev. W. H. Blair, a leader in the foreign field of Korea. Also a score or more of men and women scattered throughout the foreign field engaged in missionary work.

The Ladies' Dormitory was built in 1903-04, and will accommodate about 100 girls. The Carnegie Science Hall contains the library, museum, a lecture hall and various laboratory rooms.

The president's residence is a handsome building, the gift of Doctor and Mrs. Roach, and is known as the Roach Home. The Business College is housed in a large three-story brick building, located near the business section of the city, and the College of Music occupies the second floor of a business block.

The class gifts to the college are among its most attractive features. These include the fine cut-stone entrance gateway facing Santa Fe Avenue, from the class of 1912; the beautiful fountain on the campus, class of 1914, and the handsome tower clock of the gymnasium, class of 1916. The building named was completed in the spring of the year last named.

If to the plant were to be added the Business College and Music College buildings and equipment, together with a new church edifice being erected on a corner adjoining the campus, the valuation of the plant would reach more than $500,000 - the accumulation of only a little more than a quarter of a century. The school and members of the community are engaged in erecting a magnificent church edifice to be the place of worship for students, faculty and citizens of the community, to be known as the University Methodist Episcopal Church, with a seating capacity of something more than 1,000.


ST. BENEDICT'S COLLEGE

As early as 1858 Kansas saw the opening of a college aiming to teach young men Latin, and in time, all the branches of a classical course. In 1857 the Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., from the Benedictine monastery of St. Vincent in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, accompanied by a seminarian, Casimir Seitz, O. S. B., was sent to Doniphan, in Doniphan County, by their superior, at the request of the bishop of Leavenworth, the Right Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J. Here they joined the missionary, Rev. Henry Lemke, O. S. B., who was the first Benedictine priest to set foot on Kansas soil.

But it was at Atchison, which was rapidly becoming the more promising town, and not at Doniphan, that the embryo institution was to take root and flourish, and here on March 27, 1858, Messrs. P. T. Abell and B. F. Stringfellow gave Father Augustine about three acres northeast of the town, at the present junction of Division and Second streets. This grant, together with a money donation by the then king of Bavaria, Louis I, as well as the assistance of the monastery mentioned above, paved the way, and on May 29, 1858, St. Benedict's was begun.

Material for a more than ordinary structure was hard to obtain in the days before a bridge spanned the Missouri River at Atchison; yet the first building erected was of brick, 39 by 80 feet, and contained 2 1/2 stories, besides a basement. It abutted against the church, a small frame building, which occupied the site of the present church. St. Benedict's College, named after the founder of the order of which Father Augustine was a member, opened October 12, 1858.

In 1861 it had doubled in size, a south wing being completed in that year. With the lapse of time this completed structure came to be called the "old building," and is now the oldest of four college buildings, each representing a step forward in material progress. In the beginning there were but four students in attendance. Before the close of 1859 there were fourteen. In 1861 the number had reached twenty-seven. In 1866 the razing of the wooden church and the building of another necessitated the loan of the college dormitory in the new south wing to the parishioners, to be used as a chapel. For this reason no boarding scholars could be admitted from 1866 to 1868.

In 1868 the Very Rev. Louis M. Fink, O. S. B., Prior of St. Joseph's Rectory and pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Chicago, was chosen by the Rt. Rev. Boniface Wimmer, 0. S. B., arch-abbot of St. Vincent, to relieve Father Augustine, and take charge of the ten-year-old institution at Atchison. The same year (June 28th) St. Benedict's was incorporated under the laws of the state, with power to confer academic degrees.

When Father Louis M. Fink was consecrated bishop in 1871, Father Giles Christoph, O. S. B., was appointed president of St. Benedict's College. Devoting himself in particular to the pastoral work of St. Benedict's parish, he intrusted the supervision of the college to the vice president, Father Timothy Luber, O. S. B. In 1875 Father Giles was succeeded by Father Oswald Moosmueller, O. S. B.

In 1876 the faculty elected its own head in the person of Father Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., then a member of the Pennsylvania house. He was installed as abbot of St. Benedict's March 21, 1877.

One purchase after another had increased the original three-acre grant tenfold, so that the Missouri River had become the eastern boundary of the college premises. In 1878 a new building plan was designed, which resulted in the erection of the first section of a more imposing structure than was common in Kansas in the '70s. It rose high above its predecessor, extended north and south, and measured 40 by 50 feet. It was added to in 1883 by a 50 by 92 extension. It is now known as the recitation building.

On October 19, 1891, ground was broken for the faculty building. It extends north and south and has a frontage of 238 feet. Occupation took place in July, 1893. It is of red brick, with a roof of galvanized iron shingles. A tower 133 feet in height, for telescopic observation, rises at the north end. In 1898 a gymnasium was begun, but this was a frame structure and at present serves merely for indoor basketball and hand-ball.

As a corps of nuns from the convent of Mount Saint Scholastica, Atchison, are in charge "of the kitchen, a dwelling was erected for their exclusive use.

With the acquisition of additional property, the desirability of a more convenient location for both students and professors was urged. Before long it was resolved to transfer the entire institution, albeit gradually, to higher ground. Accordingly, in 1907, architects were engaged to draw up and submit plans of an entire college plant, to consist of a series of buildings, of the Tudor-Gothic style, enclosing a quadrangle, and overlooking the Missouri River and all Atchison.

On the highest point but one in the vicinity of Atchison an orchard and vineyard were cleared away and the foundation was laid of the principal structure of the proposed group, the administration building. It extends east and west, a distance of 184 feet and its wings measure each seventy-nine feet in length.

A strip of wooded land comprising ten acres, bounded on the west by property belonging to Mr. C. W. Symns, and on the south by the college grounds, was donated to St. Benedict's by Atchison's "Committee of Forty" in 1907. A knoll about 1 1/2 acres in extent and separating the eastern end of Mount Street from the college land was also purchased in 1908 from various parties.

While now known as "College Park," the gift of the "Committee of Forty" was chosen as a site for the heatingplant. The fountain in front of the main entrance was donated by T. M. Walker, of Atchison. An Italian marble figure of St. Benedict occupies a niche of forty feet above the entrance. It is the gift of Mr. Henry Nordhus, Sr., of Seneca, Kansas.

Bordering on Riley Street, which is the next south of Mound, is a vacant lot among several, on which a spring has never ceased to bubble forth, and which, as far back as memory goes, has furnished more than enough water to supply the neighborhood. This lot and spring was sold to the college in 1909 by Mr. B. P. Brown. The water is pumped by gas engines to a height of 180 feet into the supply-tank mentioned above, which has a capacity of 40,000 gallons, whence it is distributed to the various buildings and hydrants. In the same year a new system of sewers was laid. Flower beds adorn the terraces and the proposed double walkway leading to the new college buildings. More attention, however, has been directed to the planting of trees, such as the maple, elm, oak, hackberry, ash, and many varieties of evergreen. A generation and more of tree planting and tending has made the entire premises a veritable garden, where trees and shrubbery shade and border spacious walks and are admired by visitors.

The main walk between the upper and the lower buildings is electrically lighted. From it paths branch off to the playgrounds and to the four baseball diamonds and numerous tennis-courts and hand-ball alleys. The main athletic field is encircled by a quarter-mile oval, which is a cinder track lined by a cement drain. Play-rooms are equipped with billiard tables and gymnastic appliances. Intercollegiate games have never been encouraged because of their tendency to detract from study. The faculty numbers twenty-five; the mean attendance of students is 260. The curriculum of the college embraces preparatory, high school and collegiate courses, and a business and commercial training. There are two libraries - one in the administration building of 5,000 volumes and another of 36,000 housed in the faculty building.

In December, 1891, a college magazine, bearing the title, "Abbey Student," made its appearance. The alumni were organized in 1898. W. P. Waggener, of Atchison, is now president. Among graduates who are in the service of the church are the bishops of three dioceses; the Rt. Rev. J. Cunningham, D. D., of Concordia; the Rt. Rev. T. F. Lillis, D. D., of Kansas City, Missouri; and the Rt. Rev. J. H. Tihen, D. D., of Lincoln, Nebraska. Permanent free scholarships have been founded from time to time, and are enjoyed by a number of the students. Medals and awards are the gifts, as a rule, of former students. While St. Benedict's does not solicit the patronage of non-Catholics, there is not a school-year without its representation in the student body of other creeds. Such are exempted from the study of religious doctrine, but for the sake of order and uniformity are not excused from chapel exercises.


MIDLAND COLLEGE

The early Lutheran settlers in Kansas and Nebraska felt deeply the need of a suitable educational institution, to raise up an efficient ministry for the local churches, and to provide adequate facilities for the proper training of their children.

In response to this demand, the General Synod, in session at Omaha in 1887, resolved to establish a college at once in the rich and growing region west of the Mississippi. To secure the institution, Atchison offered the following inducements: Fifty thousand dollars in cash, thirty acres of ground for a site, half interest in the sale of 500 acres of land, and 200 students the first year. This generous offer was accepted, and work begun in rented rooms September 15, 1887. The main building having finally been completed, the college was moved to its own beautiful and commodious quarters in the spring of 1889.

Instruction has gone on steadily since that time. Thousands of young men and women have passed through the college halls, partaking of its atmosphere and training. Many of the most influential ministers and laymen of the western Lutheran territory are Midland graduates. Twenty-five per cent of the alumni are in the ministry; 27 per cent are teaching; 22 per cent are in business, and the remainder are successfully practising law, medicine and engineering.

The college is controlled by a board of trustees, composed of twenty-nine men, chosen as follows: four by the board itself, from citizens of Atchison; six from the Kansas, English Nebraska, and German Nebraska Synods, respectively; two each from the Rocky Mountain and Iowa Synods; and three from the Alumni Association. The president of the college is ex. officio an advisory member. Such being the constitution of the board, Midland must forever remain under the control of the Lutheran Church, but with proper checks and balances.

The Theological Seminary, with separate grounds, buildings and faculty, was established in 1895; and a few years later a German course was added. At first organized as a separate institution, the seminary is now a department of the college, under the direction of its president and board of trustees.

The buildings and grounds of Midland are valued at $150,000. The endowment so far gathered is only $85,000, but a vigorous campaign, now being carried on, is adding much to that sum.

The institution is maintained by interest from endowment, students' fees, direct gifts from friends of Christian education, and a liberal annual subsidy from the Lutheran Board of Education.

1918 Kansas and Kansans Previous Section Next Section

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans , written and compiled by William E. Connelley, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, 1998.