# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S767
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES 69

C. Completion of the New Dormitory for Women
- at River Forest by Adding the North Wing
(Memorial 126)

In 1944 Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Ill, re-
E quested of the synodical convention a Dormitory for Women with
. a capacity of 150 students at an estimated cost of $150,000. This
was granted.
By the time the funds could be made available by the synod-
ical Board of Directors and the plans and specifications could be
prepared, our country was in the midst of wartime building prior-
_ ities and restrictions, scarcity of materials and lakor, and sharply
rising costs of construction. When the contract was finally let in
_ the spring of 1947, building costs had advanced almost 100% above
the original estimates. The Board of Directors, recognizing our
. need, eventually raised the amount available to nearly $200,000
* (an increase of 30%). However, the part of the building which
. was constructed and put into use late in 1948 can house only 80
- students in addition to their supervisors.
: Meanwhile the need for teachers, both men and women, has
continued to rise and, by all indications, will remain high. Nu-
‘ merous studies and estimates of the need have been made. In the
“light of the most conservative of these, our Church’s elementary
school system will need fully trained men and women to the
erowded capacity of its two teacher-training institutions. We
' therefore propose to move all the women to the new building
and to devote the four old dormitory wings exclusively to the
housing of men. With moderate crowding these can take care of
340 men. With the help of God and the co-operation of all synod-
ical agencies, we hope to recruit men up to our full housing
capacity and crowd in a few more if we can get them. Mean-
while the new Dormitory for Women, including the proposed addi-
tion, would take care of 240 women, slightly over our present num-
ber enrolled. In case we cannot recruit men to the capacity of
the old dormitories, we propose in the meantime to devote the
unfilled units to the housing: of additional women to the full
“capacity of all facilities as long as the need exists.
: The construction. of the proposed dormitory wing for 160 stu-
.. dents would be comparatively economical per student, owing to
« the facilities already built into the present unit. The present build-
_ ing has the central stairway of the complete plan besides a south
” stair well. The proposed wing would need only a north stair well.
In the present unit there are the following facilities: a two-room-
“ and-bath apartment for the supervisor of women, office, reception
-.room, lounge, two rooms with half-bath for assistant supervisors,

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