Old Main, Concordia College - Moorhead, MN - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

This old photo of New Main was take by Archie L. Dewey on 6 May, 1912. The photo is held by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA and there are no known restriction on publication.

Old Main was built to house the growing size of Concordia’s student body that over grew the walls of Bishop Whipple and Academy Hall. It was used as a place for classrooms, a library, gymnasium, auditorium, and offices. The president at the time was Bogstad, and he saw the creation of the originally termed New Main. Bogstad recommended the building should cost $50,000 and be built to meet educational and recreational needs of the Concordia students. He met resistance when the board fought him on the price and said the building could not cost any more than $25,000.

Bogstad fought this. He sought a $12,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie that would take place once Concordia raised $37,000. Then in 1905, the board found out that building a $50,000 structure was indeed possible. New Main opened in 1907 in January. This allowed for the space for more enrollment for students and to better serve the needs of the college.

In 1966, the Concordia’s Board of Regents decided to renamed Old Main to Bogstad Hall, in respect to the man who created it. However, students protested this, being in favor of the old name. In October of 1966, more than 500 students congregated together at Prexy’s Pond to pretest the name change, and demand that the Old Main name remain. The students then made the assertion that the Prexy’s Pond shall be called Bostad’s Pond instead.

The next year, President Knutson announced a motion to reestablish the name of Old Main. Over the years the library, gymnasium, and offices have moved to other buildings on campus. In the 1970’s, there was a major renovation done that allowed for more departments to open up on the Concordia campus. Old Main is still used today, and is still a symbol of Concordia. Information from PocketSights: (visit link)

Year photo was taken: 1912

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