MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The board of education of the general synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, after considering propositions from a number of cities in the Middle West, decided on Atchison as the most suitable location for a Lutheran institution. It is easy of access from the whole territory from which students are most likely to come, and the offer of the city to give $50,000 in money for buildings, twenty acres of land for a campus and professors’ houses, a half interest in the sale of 500 acres of land, and to furnish 200 students the first year, was a tempting offer.
Owing to some difficulties that arose, this offer was not entirely fulfilled, but the twenty acres of ground was donated, and about $33,000 put into buildings. The college was opened on the fifteenth of September, 1887, with 101 students registered.
In 1888 the main building, known as Atchison Hall, was begun, and turned over to the board of trustees in the spring of 1889, and formally dedicated on the 30th day of September of the same year. The institution was given over to the care of a self-perpetuating board. From time to time the constitution has been changed, so that the trustees would be elected by the synods supporting the college.
At the present time the board is composed of twenty-nine members; four are elected by the board from the citizens of Atchison, six from each of the Kansas, English Nebraska and German Nebraska synods; two from the Rocky Mountain and Iowa synods each, and three from the Alumni Association, with the president of the college advisory member, ex-officio.
Carnegie Library, Atchison, Kansas
Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, D. D., was elected first president, and served efficiently in that capacity for fourteen and one-half years. In 1904 Rev. M. F. Troxell, D. D., pastor of the English Lutheran church of St. Joseph, Mo. was elected president, and was succeeded by Dr. Rufus B. Peery.
In 1891 Oak Hall, a dormitory for girls, was erected, to which, about ten years later, the annex was added, giving accommodations for thirty young women. In 1893 the gymnasium was erected, the money being solicited by the students of the institution. Through the solicitations of Dr. Clutz, a splendid six-inch telescope was donated, and an observatory built in 1899. Through the efforts of Dr. Troxell a proposition was secured from Andrew Carnegie to donate $15,000 towards the building of a library, provided the same amount could be raised for its upkeep. From the synods on the territory, alumni and friends of the college, this amount was secured, and the handsome library building was erected during the winter of 1910–1911, and formally dedicated on May 30, 1911. A legacy of $5,000, given several years before, was added to the building fund in order to have a public hall, and a memorial tablet was placed in the hall to the memory of the generous donor, Rev. J. G. Griffith, D. D. On the retirement of Dr. Clutz, his home was bought by the college board for the use of the president.
The Western Theological Seminary was organized in 1895, and the first president and professor, Rev. F. D. Altman, D. D., was inaugurated.
The German department of the seminary was added a few years later, with Dr. J. L. Neve as dean of the department. The home owned by ex-Senator John J. Ingalls was secured in 1908 for seminary purposes. It is admirably adapted to that purpose. At the annual meeting of the college trustees in 1910 the board of education turned over the management of the seminary to this board.