# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S41
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Tenth Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1902. 41

"...heating has been carried out, it has cost only $3638.00 and so far
gives complete satisfaction. As for the construction of a service building,
which the Synod has already twice so kindly granted, we must report that
we again had to refrain from erecting this so necessary building, because
the sum of $20,000.00 approved by the Synod did not suffice. After careful
reconsideration of this matter, it became clear to us that the building to
be erected should contain the following rooms: a dining hall for 300
persons, a kitchen with its appurtenances, an apartment for the cook,
sleeping quarters for the staff, two sick rooms, a lecture hall for 200,
and living quarters for 100 students. Plans and calculations made for the
purpose of determining the cost have shown that at least $31,000.00 to
$35,000.00 will be required. We therefore find ourselves compelled to come
before the Synod with the request that it increase the sum previously
approved accordingly. Since the institution's legacy fund has now reached
the sum of $24,125.10, only an additional grant of about $10,000.00 would
still be needed. The Synod will recognize the urgent necessity of carrying
out, quite soon, this long-planned building, when it considers the
following: as is well known, when the present seminary was built, it was
already planned to add a building for the kitchen and dining hall, and the
kitchen and dining facilities were set up for the time being on the ground
floor of the seminary. Naturally, this arrangement, in the cramped, dark,
poorly ventilated rooms, could from the outset be only makeshift and
inadequate. But with time, especially as the number of students grew, the
state of need became ever more pressing. It is now almost impossible, short
of ever new heavy expenses, to meet even the most modest demands of
cleanliness and appetizing service. And should the number of students, as
is indeed to be expected, grow still larger, we do not see how one could
manage any further. In the second place, it must be considered that we have
no lecture hall in the seminary that offers sufficient space, light, and
comfort for two classes. Whatever we have tried — and it has again and
again caused more or less expense to remedy the deficiency to some degree —
the well-founded complaints about lack of space and light have never ended.
A further increase in the number of students would make the state of need
here downright unbearable, and we would then be at a complete loss. Finally,
there is also a lack of living quarters. Already several rooms are
overcrowded. This need would, to be sure, be relieved, at the present
number of students, by moving the lodging for the cook and the rest of the
household staff into the service building. We are of the opinion, however,
that when one builds at all, one should bear in mind the increase in
enrollment that is surely to be expected, and should also include a few
additional living or sleeping rooms. — Should these, in part crying, needs