The Concordia known and loved today originated in a setting of vast prairie and wide open spaces. Moorhead, Minnesota, founded in 1871 and incorporated in 1881, quickly gained a reputation for wickedness and sin. The town included several profitable businesses such as dance halls, saloons, and brothels meant to serve the workers of the Northern Pacific Railway, which crossed through the community. Contributing to this reputation was the increase in saloons and associated businesses when neighboring North Dakota was established as a dry state in 1889. Such an environment left many to question why a religious community would ever think to establish a school in the midst of “the wickedest city in the world.”
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As the Norwegian immigrant population in the Red River Valley flourished, there was strong interest in providing Norwegian American youth educational opportunities. Around the turn of the century, a number of academies had opened in eastern North Dakota and west central Minnesota, including Bruflat Academy (Portland, ND); Grand Forks College (Grand Forks, ND); and Park Region Luther College (Fergus Falls, MN). When Swedish Americans in northwestern Minnesota established Hope Academy in Moorhead in 1891, local Norwegian Americans became strongly motivated to form a school of their own. In the spring of 1891, a group of local pastors and businesspeople heard that the former Bishop Whipple School was for sale (for the bargain price of $10,000). Armed with this news, Lars Christianson, J. M. O. Ness, J. O. Hougen, and nine others formed the Northwestern Lutheran College Association with a shared commitment of creating a Lutheran school in Moorhead.
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