Wittenberg Stadium   Save
Ohio Guide Collection
Description: Reverse reads: "Between halves, Wittenberg Stadium, Springfield, Ohio." This is a photograph of a packed stadium during half-time at one of the Wittenberg College football games. Wittenberg College was founded in 1845 by a group of pastors in the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio. Reverend Ezra Keller was the principal founder and first president of the college. Its initial focus was to train clergy. One of its main missions was to "Americanize" Lutherans by teaching courses in English instead of German, unlike Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. The first class originally consisted of eight students at the beginning of the academic year, but grew to seventy-one by the end. With a faculty of one professor and two tutors, classes were held in Springfield, Ohio in a church on land that was donated. This area was selected due to being located on the National Road, which made Springfield an agricultural and industrial center. In 1874, women were admitted, and, the following year, blacks were also admitted. The name came from Wittenberg University, located in Wittenberg, Germany, the town where Martin Luther posted his 95 theses. Wittenberg College became Wittenberg University on September 1, 1957. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F06_019_001
Subjects: Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Springfield (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)