# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1899_S56
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

56 Proceedings of the 24th General, or

...trouble with the water pipes freezing, we had to put a stone
foundation under this building. By using for this purpose the
exceptionally good bricks from the former machine house, we were able to
carry this out at the comparatively very low cost of $450.00. The good
result of this improvement has shown itself especially in this cold
winter, proving that we owed it to those living there.

"The high level of interest which our district has always shown toward
the institution continues to grow, so that we can give the Synod the
pleasing news that, for one thing, the district has taken in hand the
payment for the three lots on which the above-mentioned professor's
residence partly stands, and we have been able to send the incorporating
papers for this property to St. Louis. Furthermore, the district
encouraged us to acquire a pipe organ. This is an instrument tested and
approved by experts, which we purchased for $500.00, toward the payment
of which $332.00 has already come in from the district, from which source
the remaining balance will flow without difficulty as well. What prospects
our institution has for the future can be seen from the fact that already
15 students have been registered for admission for the next school year.

"In closing, we take the liberty of putting a question to the Synod: whether
it would not permit us to use the tuition of those students who devote
themselves neither to the preaching office nor to the teaching office
toward their own further education.

"We have no demand whatsoever to make on the Synod's treasury, nor any
proposals to make for the future; we only ask the Synod to acknowledge
with us that God the Lord has been gracious to our institution." (Report
of the board at St. Paul, Minn., dated: February 23, 1899.)

"Postscript: On March 5, God visited our institution with a severe
affliction, in that the upper part of our main building was destroyed by
fire. The board has resolved to preserve the building for the Synod, and
found itself compelled by circumstances to take the first steps toward
carrying out this resolution. The board takes the liberty of presenting
the grounds for this course of action orally to the Reverend General
Synod at its session."

According to the board's oral report, the cause of the fire's outbreak
at the college in St. Paul is unknown. Spontaneous combustion is
suspected. The damage caused by this fire amounts, in round figures, to
$5000.00. Of this sum, $3500.00 has already come in from the congregations
of the Synodical union: $3000.00 from the congregations of the Minnesota
and Dakota Districts alone. A remaining balance of $1500.00 is therefore
outstanding.