Founding of the College
Dublin Core
Title
Founding of the College
Subject
Schoberg, G.L.
Description
A reading of a "Concordially Yours" radio broadcast, written and originally broadcasted on May 23, 1943 by G.L. Schoberg. This broadcast recounts some stories regarding the founding of the college--more specifically, the story of the man who hauled the first load of gravel that would become Bishop Whipple Hall.
Creator
Schoberg, G.L.
Source
Concordia College Archives
RG 21.1.1 FF11 Box 2
Picture of Bishop Henry Whipple 1822-1901
Original Sketch of Bishop Whipple 1882-1892 - Bishop Whipple BF 1882-1929
P3796E 1904 view of CC - Boy’s Dormitory, Ladies Hall, Principal’s house
P576 - Bishop Whipple 1893-1905 - Bishop Whipple 1882-1929 BPF
RG 21.1.1 FF11 Box 2
Picture of Bishop Henry Whipple 1822-1901
Original Sketch of Bishop Whipple 1882-1892 - Bishop Whipple BF 1882-1929
P3796E 1904 view of CC - Boy’s Dormitory, Ladies Hall, Principal’s house
P576 - Bishop Whipple 1893-1905 - Bishop Whipple 1882-1929 BPF
Publisher
Concordia College Archives
Date
1943-23-05
Contributor
Collins, Jenna; audio recorder
Burrell, Corinne; video editor
Cole, Layne; researcher
Burrell, Corinne; video editor
Cole, Layne; researcher
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Format
Video, .mov
Language
English
Type
Moving image
Moving Image Item Type Metadata
Transcription
Good Morning, Cobber Family:
The old pioneers who were along when the northwest first began to build for education are fast falling away. A pastor friend writes of the passing of Mr. J. T. Imsdal of Oslo, Minnesota, a member of the Big Woods congregation served by Rev. Redal. Mr. Imsdal was indeed with at the beginning of Concordia – most literally. He had early contacts with Christian Education, for he could remember as a boy near Decorah, Iowa, how the drive for funds was inaugurated that produced the old main at Luther College. As a young man, he came to the Fargo-Moorhead area. Here he was employed as a teamster in a Moorhead materials yard. One day in the 1880’s his boss told him to haul gravel into a wheat field south of the sprawling village of Moorhead. This he did, thus bringing the first load of the first material that was to produce the material side of Concordia College. As yet it wasn’t Concordia, for he hauled it to what was to rise as the Bishop Whipple School, an institution to be owned by the Episcopal Church.
But the building for which he hauled that first load of the first material substance is a structure at Concordia College today, the present Grose Hall, ladies’ residence building. A lot of gravel and sand and lumber and toil and prayers have gone into this campus since Mr. Imsdahl turned his load of gravel for the first time toward the wheat field south of the village of Moorhead in the 1880s, and a lot more is going into this Christian school. The things that are built for the Kingdom are built that way: out of the little in material wealth that our people have, with much of toil, and a lot of prayer. But somehow that toil and prayer mixes into a pretty good kind of mortar to hold the gravel and it makes for a permanency that no mushrooming institution can hope to have.
We build slowly, surely, and in the vision of the Lutheran church people of this region. It would now be pretty hard to tear Concordia out; its roots go very deeply into the hearts of a lot of folks in a lot of territory. Mr. Imsdahl heard the continued call to build Concordia during many years after the 1880’s. He heard it finally in 1943 during the Golden Jubillee ingathering. If he could have lived longer, he most likely would have heart it again. A college that belongs to the people of the northwest can only be built by the people of the northwest. The Kingdom of God can only be built by the members of the Kingdom. That’s the way it has always been; that’s the way it will always be.
The old pioneers who were along when the northwest first began to build for education are fast falling away. A pastor friend writes of the passing of Mr. J. T. Imsdal of Oslo, Minnesota, a member of the Big Woods congregation served by Rev. Redal. Mr. Imsdal was indeed with at the beginning of Concordia – most literally. He had early contacts with Christian Education, for he could remember as a boy near Decorah, Iowa, how the drive for funds was inaugurated that produced the old main at Luther College. As a young man, he came to the Fargo-Moorhead area. Here he was employed as a teamster in a Moorhead materials yard. One day in the 1880’s his boss told him to haul gravel into a wheat field south of the sprawling village of Moorhead. This he did, thus bringing the first load of the first material that was to produce the material side of Concordia College. As yet it wasn’t Concordia, for he hauled it to what was to rise as the Bishop Whipple School, an institution to be owned by the Episcopal Church.
But the building for which he hauled that first load of the first material substance is a structure at Concordia College today, the present Grose Hall, ladies’ residence building. A lot of gravel and sand and lumber and toil and prayers have gone into this campus since Mr. Imsdahl turned his load of gravel for the first time toward the wheat field south of the village of Moorhead in the 1880s, and a lot more is going into this Christian school. The things that are built for the Kingdom are built that way: out of the little in material wealth that our people have, with much of toil, and a lot of prayer. But somehow that toil and prayer mixes into a pretty good kind of mortar to hold the gravel and it makes for a permanency that no mushrooming institution can hope to have.
We build slowly, surely, and in the vision of the Lutheran church people of this region. It would now be pretty hard to tear Concordia out; its roots go very deeply into the hearts of a lot of folks in a lot of territory. Mr. Imsdahl heard the continued call to build Concordia during many years after the 1880’s. He heard it finally in 1943 during the Golden Jubillee ingathering. If he could have lived longer, he most likely would have heart it again. A college that belongs to the people of the northwest can only be built by the people of the northwest. The Kingdom of God can only be built by the members of the Kingdom. That’s the way it has always been; that’s the way it will always be.
Duration
2 minutes, 57 seconds
Producer
Corinne Burrell, editor
Jenna Collins, audio recording
Layne Cole, photos/research
Jenna Collins, audio recording
Layne Cole, photos/research
Embed
Copy the code below into your web page
Citation
Schoberg, G.L., “Founding of the College,” Concordia Memory Project, accessed April 23, 2024, https://concordiamemoryproject.concordiacollegearchives.org/items/show/1324.