Michigan Lutheran Seminary began in 1885 when one teacher and six students assembled in Manchester, MI. Lutherans in Michigan felt a need to train pastors to serve a growing number of immigrant congregations. In 1887 Pastor Christoph Eberhardt of St. Paul's congregation in Saginaw donated two near-by acres of land on Court Street. This led the Michigan Lutheran Synod to move MLS to its present location and to dedicate Old Main, the school's first building, later that year. When the Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota Synods federated in 1892, the new confederation decided to convert MLS into a preparatory school. Disagreement over this change split the Michigan Synod. MLS continued as a pastor-training seminary until dwindling enrollments forced it to close its doors in 1907. Pastors Lange, Huber, Hoyer, Linsemann, and Beer led the school from 1887-1907.
By 1910 the Michigan Synod had re-established its ties with Wisconsin and Minnesota. The confederation called Pastor Otto J. R. Hoenecke to open MLS as a preparatory school. Five students enrolled on September 13, 1910. In 1913, the school added a dormitory to house fifty students. By the end of the 1920's, four teachers served an enrollment of seventy-five. The MLS Club, a forerunner of today's Booster Club and Guild, appeared. The campus added two professors' homes in 1920 and 1924 and a dining hall in 1925.
Growth slowed during the 1930s but picked up after World War II. Pastor Conrad Frey succeeded Director Hoenecke in 1950. To accommodate the growing student body, MLS constructed a combination classroom building/gymnasium was built next to Old Main. The dining area was expanded twice, in 1948 and 1954. In 1963 Old Main was finally torn down and a science/music wing with a student union was added to the classroom building.
In 1966 Pastor Martin Toepel succeeded President Frey. Ten years later a dormitory made it possible for all students to live on campus instead of in nearby private homes. In 1978 Pastor John Lawrenz succeeded President Toepel. Two years later, MLS added an expanded cafeteria on the lower level of the dormitory. In 1985 the three existing campus buildings were melded into a single unit. New construction provided a gymnasium large enough for girls' and boys' athletics, a student commons off the main entrance, additional office space and a computer classroom, expanded parking, and a new maintenance building. On a new section of property a mile and a quarter from its main campus MLS developed a ball diamond, a 400-meter oval track, and athletic practice space.
In 1994 Pastor Paul Prange succeeded President Lawrenz. Since then the campus population has reached its largest enrollment in the school's history, just over 380 students. In recent years, MLS has continued to upgrade its facilities by recon- figuring all dormitory study space, refurbishing most of its dormitory rooms, equipping its library and all classrooms and offices with infrastructure to allow ready access to developing technologies, and installing in its chapel a 22-rank pipe organ. Presently we are completing work on a new two-story science wing, while at the same time remodeling is being done to the Commons and dining hall areas.
While such outward changes must continue in order to meet the needs of a growing Seminary Family, what is most important at MLS - our great heritage of God's Word and the vital work of preparing young people to proclaim that Word to others - remains unchanged.
