The Danish-Norwegian Seminary Located by R. A. Underwood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 13, 1910

The Danish-Norwegian Seminary Located

By R. A. Underwood

The large committee, selected at the College View Council to decide upon the location of the Danish-Norwegian seminary, was in session December 20-24. The committee first met at Dodge Center, Minn., and were kindly received by the citizens. We looked over property, and entertained propositions that were offered in the way of locating the school at that place.

On Tuesday, the twenty-first, we met the Commercial Club of Lake City. We were received with all the courtesy possible to be shown, and were taken to the property that was offered us. The committee came to Minneapolis that evening, and the next morning went to Hutchinson. Here we were also royally entertained. I would say that at each of these three places the Commercial clubs and friends entertained the large committee free of any expense to us.

The committee gave careful consideration to all the propositions offered, and unanimously decided to locate at Hutchinson if proper negotiations could be made with D. P. Jones & Co., who held a vacant college building, and were the agents of other property we wished to secure. Satisfactory arrangements were made with Mr. Jones, and the committee entered into a contract to take the college property at twelve thousand dollars, and the one hundred fifty acres of land adjoining it for ten thousand two hundred fifty dollars, making a total of twenty-two thousand two hundred fifty dollars.

The college building is one hundred twenty-three by sixty-seven feet, four stories high. Its walls are built of solid brick. The floors and furnishing inside are of hardwood, and in good condition. There are sixty-two rooms for students, a dining-room, and suitable class-rooms in the building. In all, I believe, there are sixty-eight rooms in the college, besides a chapel, capable of seating five hundred persons with comfort.

The college building has cost in the neighborhood of forty thousand dollars. It will be necessary for us to raise about thirty thousand dollars to pay for it, and to make necessary improvements upon the farm, and to fully equip the school. When we have done this, the college property will be worth, on a conservative basis, not less than fifty thousand dollars. We have deposited two thousand dollars as earnest money, and have agreed to pay eight thousand dollars more within thirty days, or as soon as the examination of the titles to the properties are made and accepted by our attorney. The citizens of Hutchinson have already invested over twenty thousand dollars in the building. Jones & Co. have put in twenty thousand dollars. The college was built, and conducted for a time, by the Lutheran church, as a Danish-Norwegian college, but it failed, going into the receiver’s hands, and finally D. P. Jones & Co. came in possession of the property under a mortgage. This is why we are able to secure the property at the price above named.

The small locating committee—Elders L. H. Christian, S. E. Jackson, and myself—have been very busy in our efforts since the College View Council in bringing about as early a decision in locating this school as we have. The large committee of eighteen or twenty brethren, including Elder O. A. Olsen, secretary of the Foreign Department of the General Conference, and representatives from Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, was unanimous in the feeling that God had indeed guided in the selection of this property at so reasonable a price to establish a Danish-Norwegian seminary in this country, which will be a blessing in all lands. In a short time

our brethren will receive photographs of the building, and much more will be said concerning the future center of our Danish-Norwegian work in the northwest, and, in fact, in the United States.

We ask our English-speaking brethren, as well as our Danish-Norwegian brethren, to rally at once to the support of this new institution which God’s providence has brought into existence. We must have eight thousand dollars within thirty days, and we should have sufficient funds to have the entire school paid for next fall, when it is to open for college work. The large committee chose a faculty which undoubtedly will be a great strength to the seminary, and our brethren should begin at once to look toward this school as the center of education for our Danish-Norwegian people. The farm of one hundred fifty acres is unimproved land. It is covered with small timber and brush, and must be cleared. The timber will do much toward meeting the cost of clearing the land. We must have a team of good horses, also a wagon, a sled, harnesses, and tools at once, so that our farmer may begin the work of clearing this farm as soon as possible. Possibly some of our brethren may have a team of horses worth from four to five hundred dollars that they would be glad to give to this new institution. Or some one may be able to give one horse, or some other gift. I will mention some of the seminary’s needs a little later.

Let every one pray that God’s richest blessing may attend every step, as we believe it has thus far in the location of this school. We could cite many instances in connection with the manner in which this school property was called to our attention, which to my mind indicate that God had this place in view for our Danish-Norwegian school. More will be said about the school and its prospects in the near future.

A legal corporation has been effected, under the name of “The Northern Union Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists, Incorporated,” which will receive the title of the property. It is requested that all funds for payment on the college property be forwarded to T. D. Gibson, treasurer of the Northern Union Conference, 2718 Third Ave., South, Minneapolis, Minn. Those who desire to have their money go into the first payment of this property in establishing this school should lose no time in forwarding the same, and they will receive acknowledgment for any money sent, and will be paid a thousandfold in seeing young men and women developed for service which will be a glory to them throughout eternity.

R. A. UNDERWOOD.