Concordia University-St. Paul history

Concordia earns accreditation as a two-year college in 1921.

Concordia celebrates its 50 year anniversary in 1943 and makes plans for a bright future.

The Lutheran Memorial Center is under construction in 1950

With the need for more library space than the rooms in the basement of Luther Hall allowed, the Buenger Memorial Library (1951) is built and dedicated in memory of Concordia’s first president.

The Lutheran Memorial Center (1953), a gymnasium/auditorium and memorial to the service and sacrifice of war veterans, is built.

Concordia expands its curriculum in 1962 to include a four-year college degree and awards its first Bachelor of Arts degrees two years later.

By 1967, Concordia earns accreditation for its four-year liberal arts program and joins the Minnesota Private College Council.

In 1968, Concordia High School officially separates from the college, merges with St Paul Lutheran High School, and moves to its suburban location under its new name, Concordia Academy.

The program was reformed in 1983 as the Southeast Asian Teacher (SEAT) Licensure Program, which serves Hmong and other minority students in a similar fashion.

Concordia becomes the first private college in Minnesota to offer an accelerated degree completion program for adult students in 1985.

Enrollment tops 1,000 students for the first time in 1987.

Concordia adopts its current mission statement in 1992.

The institution is renamed Concordia University, St Paul in 1997 to better represent the curricular and organizational changes implemented over the previous decades, and adopts a semester system.

The student population tops the 2,000 mark in 2003 as Concordia adds new programs and grows in the adult undergraduate and graduate spaces.

In 2004, Concordia becomes the home to the world’s first Center for Hmong Studies.

In 2006, the Center moves into the former president’s residence on Carroll Ave.

In 2009, Concordia plays its first football and soccer games at the brand-new Sea Foam Stadium.

Another space that sees a new use is the former Student Union, which in 2013 becomes the Concordia Art Center to house Concordia’s visual arts programs.

Also in 2014, Concordia launches its first doctoral program, the doctorate of physical therapy (DPT) Program, which is first housed in the former Moenkemoeller Hall, which is renamed Thompson Hall after the benefactors who helped fund the renovation and refurbishment.

In 2018, enrollment reaches the 5,000 student mark for the first time as Concordia adds new programs and remains one of the most affordable private universities in Minnesota.

After leasing space in the Central Midway Building across the freeway from the main campus to accommodate growth, Concordia purchases the building in 2019, renaming it Ries Tower after retiring president Rev.

Because of Concordia’s investment in online learning capabilities, the closure of campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 results in only one lost day of learning.