Sunday Special: Concordia Seminary

Most, if not all, of the Lutheran Pastors in the Brueggeman family would have attended Concordia Seminary in Springfield Illinois.  The Missouri Synod had two seminaries, one more theoretical and one more practical for the training of pastors.  


From the 1967 Catalog of the Seminary:


When the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States was organized in Chicago on April 26, 1847,a request was made that the Seminary at Fort Wayne be deeded to the new Synod. This was done, and on September 7, 1847, the
Seminary passed into the control of the Missouri Synod.


At the convention of Synod in 1860, it was resolved that the Seminary at Fort Wayne should be moved to St. Louis, where it would be merged with the church's theoretical seminary. It was felt
that the two institutions could be conducted more economically when combined and that the distinctive character of each seminary could be maintained. The move to St. Louis was made in 1861.
   (I wonder why it left Fort Wayne during the Civil War) 
A second move of the Seminary took place in 1874, when the Synod decided that because of greatly increased enrollments and a growing demand for ministers, two terminal schools would be necessary. One seminary, it was agreed, should have an emphasis on the classical and theoretical approach to ministerial training. This school was to be located in St. Louis. The other seminary should place full emphasis on the practical as acts of kingdom service. Credit belongs to a number of members of Trinity Lutheran Church (this was Charles Long/Lange's church)
of Springfield, who offered to the Synod the piece of property to which the Seminary moved, and on which it is presently located. 


The transfer of the seminary from St. Louis to Springfield took place on September 1, 1875.