# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1911_S249
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— 35 —

Transfer of the Pro-Gymnasium at Portland, Oregon,

to the General Synod.

To the Honorable Delegate Synod of the German Ev. Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, assembled at St. Louis, Mo., from May 10 to 20, 1911.

Venerable, dear fathers and brothers in the Lord!

The Oregon and Washington District of our Synod takes the liberty of submitting the following memorial to an Honorable Delegate Synod, assembled at St. Louis, Mo., for its kind and thorough examination and decision.

As early as 1903, on the occasion of the district's synodical convention, the question was discussed whether it might not be fitting and advisable to open a pro-gymnasium of our own in our district, since experience had taught that many a young man did not enter the service of the church because the distances to the already existing institutions were so very great. At that time, however, no resolution of any kind was reached. But when, on the occasion of the next synodical convention in 1904, this matter again came before the synod for deliberation, the Honorable Vice-President of the General Synod, P. P. Brand, informed the district that the sister district — the Honorable California and Nevada District — was likewise occupied with the same question and had resolved to found a preparatory institution on this coast and to take the steps necessary for it. The Oregon and Washington District, too, appointed a committee for further deliberation of this matter. (Report 1904, p. 121.)

Through the negotiations of the committees of these two sister districts, however, it then became apparent that the Honorable California and Nevada District had in view the founding of an institution of its own in its midst, which would provide no remedy for our district, since, for example, the distances from Portland, Oreg., to San Francisco, Cal., are about the same as from Portland, Oreg., to St. Paul, Minn.

The district conference of the Oregon and Washington District then further discussed the matter of its own district, and it was resolved to seek the advice of the Reverend General President of the Synod on this matter. This was done, and he wrote under date of December 6, 1904: "My personal opinion is that the Pacific districts should from the outset plan on two institutions. You live much too far apart for one institution. Both districts will also develop more quickly in church life if each has an institution in its midst. An institution brings new church life and inner cohesion into a district."

So then, on February 1, 1905, a circular letter was sent out to all the congregations of the district, in which the congregations