by Concordia College students in History 112HU, Fall 2016
Old Main Then & Now
Old Main Now & Then
Although there are no real changes to the Old Main building itself there are changes everywhere around it from Concordia itself to the city it sits in. The efforts to conserve Old Main wouldn’t go in vain as I believe that it puts a nice historic touch on campus and to Moorhead itself. Versus the “changes” of Old Main, everything around the building transformed into a beautiful campus and an ever expanding Moorhead. More specifically next to the busiest road in the city but that’s another subject.
When Old Main was first built it was a part of a new and very young campus. Not much was around Concordia College other than flat land and open space. When the building was first put up it wasn’t known by students to be Old Main but the New Main naturally. The reason for this now historic building to be even a thought was because of the ever expanding student body of Concordia. No longer could the walls of Bishop Whipple and Academy Hall contain the growing numbers so something needed to be done. The president of the school at time was President Bogstad, who would have a building named after him on campus, long after he was gone, called a board meeting to discuss everything that needed to be discussed about putting up a new building. President Bogs believed that the building that needed to be built cost 50,000 to meet the education and recreational needs of the school. But the board had disagreed and said that it shouldn’t cost more than 25,000 which is only half of what President Bogs proposed. But nevertheless he worked on the project diligently. His hard work would pay off has he secured a 12,500 dollar loan from Andrew Carnegie and another thirty seven thousand dollars from other contributors. Now the plan was seen possible by the members of the board who shut the proposal down in the first place. The building would be erected in January of 1907. Old Main, or New Main at the time, provided the space and rooms to accommodate to the growing population. Old Main would go through nearly six decades before change would be made to it as it slowly was going from New Main to Old Main. In 1966 Concordia’s Board of Regents had a mutual decision on naming New Main, Bogstad Hall in remembrance of the school’s former president because of him being the one responsible for erecting the building in the first place. But the students, who have grown fond over the name of Old Main, protested this decision. After a handful of months and a lot of protesting, President Knutson motioned toward reinstating the Old Main name. But another few months would pass before the Board of Regents would officially reinstate the popular name. No major changes would be made to the building until the 1970´s when a major renovation was planned and implemented for 500,000 dollars. This plan was to create homes for variety of subjects, specifically education, business and economics, sociology, political and science departments, and overall larger and better functional classrooms. Old Main also at one point housed the gymnasium, library, auditorium, and faculty and administrative offices. Since then there has been no major changes or renovations to Old Main.
The city of Moorhead was founded in 1871 and was named after a man named William G. Moorhead who was a director of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The railroad was essentially the lifeline to it the city providing stimulus for population and economic growth. Moorhead wouldn´t be incorporated or recognized until 1881. In the same decade electric, water, sewer, fire, and police serves would be established. Another funny fact is Moorhead used to be nicknamed “Sin City” by their neighbors Fargo because the city held over 100 bars and at the time North Dakota didn´t allow the sale of alcohol. The population of Moorhead in the beginning was around fifteen hundred people. When Concordia was established in 1891, ten years after the official establishment of the city itself, Moorhead´s population had increased by 39.2% standing at approximately two thousand people. Essentially Moorhead would also be officially established college town since Concordia was built just down the street from Moorhead State University or MSUM for short. Of course the population would naturally increase over time. During the 1940´s, though, the population percentage decreased by eight percent presumably because the second world war as men were being drafted from all over the country in big numbers. Concordia College would also see a decrease in their enrollment numbers, specifically in the male enrollment during the war. A decade after the war the population would have it´s highest percentage increase in its history when it jumped from 24 percent to 56 percent. The jump in a numbers statistic was five thousand people from nine thousand to fourteen thousand. Concordia would also see a return, if not an increase in the enrollment of males and students in general. Moorhead relied heavily on agriculture for its economy during its early years and continued to relied on it for a handful of decades. The city would also come to be home to notable corporate, manufacturing and distributing Industries such as the American Crystal Sugar, Busch Agricultural Services, and Pactiv. Each respectively being a sugar, obviously, malt, and container industries. Naturally these industries would create a lot of jobs and would help increase the population. Concordia College would also expand exponentially as it saw new buildings being built to, again, accommodate the growing enrollment. Old Main would begin to really fit into its name as far as its appearance because of the advancements in building technology. But it would still remain becoming a nice historic touch not only to Concordia, but the city as well. It´s fitting because it was pretty much around to see the beginning years of everything and the number will just grow as the years go on.
Old Main also has its fair share of legends and stories, even having claims of the building being haunted. One of the most popular legends, if not spookiest, is of a girl who was a student here that fell in love with one of her professors. On Valentine´s Day she confessed her love to him through a love letter to the professor, who rejected her. The news devastated her completely and lead her to commit suicide. The common belief is that she threw herself from the top floor of Old Main, either by way of the upper windows or the stairs of course. It is also believed that she hung herself right in front of a professor who was teaching. If this legend is true or not its nonetheless very spooky and eerie.
In conclusion Old Main has seen the entire growth of Moorhead from the late nineteenth century to present day. With all the amount of changes Old Main has seen around the building itself, Old Main has had a fair share of internal changes as well. Having an historic part of Moorhead on our own campus is amazing. Not many students across the country can say they have a living piece of history on their campuses so were very privileged to have it with us still.
Footnotes:
Nicole Wesley, "halloween has come and gone, but Concordia´s ghosts are here to stay", Concordian, November 3rd, 2006:
Accessed December 5th, 2016, http://concordiamemomryproject.concordiacollegearchives.org/exhibits/show/
cobber-women-s-walks/the-ghots-of-concordia/oldmain
Lisa Sjoberg, "Old Main Shall Remain", Concordia College History and Tradition, March 10th, 2014: Accessed December 5th, 2016
http://concordiacollege.edu/news-media/detail/old-main-shall-remain/