Concordia College, New Orleans
1904 - 1917

Between the years 1904 and 1917, there was a Concordia College in New Orleans. The struggles of creating and sustaining the college and its early demise are detailed in an article in the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly.

The article was published in the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, Vol. XXXVI, No. 3, October, 1963, pages 65-89. On pages 74-75, there is an account of the creation of a College Association, and that the Rev. G. J. Wegener was the temporary chairman. Page 78 includes a note that the Southern District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod accepted the college in 1906. At the time, Wegener was president of the Southern District.

Note: A copy of the complete article in the PDF format can be found here.
Thanks to the Concordia Historical Institute for providing this copy.

The college was housed in a two-story house located at the downtown-river corner of Caffin Avenue and Royal Street. The building still exists today, although it is in need of some care. Nonetheless, much of the original features and details remain. The CHI Quarterly article describes it: "The building was a two-story building (83' x 28') with fourteen rooms and adequate facilities for students and living quarters for the Director and Instructor. The property after the necessary changes cost about $5,000."
A comparison can be made between the 1909 Sanborn Insurance map and a 2022 Google view.
Detail from 1909 Sanborn map Detail from 2022 Google view
641 Caffin Avenue, circa 1904
 641 Caffin Avenue, circa 2022

Concordia College eventually included four years of high school as well as the college. A small number of women were also enrolled. The men generally were intending to enter the Lutheran  ministry. The highest enrollment was in 1908, when this picture was taken. At least four of the men went on to become Lutheran pastors: 8. Michael LeCron, 9. Theodore Wegener, 13. Louis Helfrich, and 27. Henry Gabriel. The young women included: 3. Juanita Neff (later Hellmers) and 5. Augusta "Gussie" Wegener (later Felten).

Presumably after the college closed in June 1917 the property was sold.
Any questions can be directed to: norm.hellmers @ gmail.com