Seal and motto The seal of the St. Olaf College displays the
coat of arms of Norway, which includes the axe of
St. Olaf. The motto
Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, Krossmenn, written in
New Norwegian, is adapted from the Old Norse battle cry of King Olaf. It means "Forward! Forward! Men of Christ, Men of the Cross".
Founding , (1825–1894), a key figure in organizing the Norwegian Synod Many
Norwegian immigrants arrived in
Rice County, Minnesota, and the surrounding area in the late 19th century. Nearly all were
Lutheran Christians, and desired a non-secular
post-secondary institution in the Lutheran tradition that offered classes in all subjects in both
Norwegian and English. The catalyst for St. Olaf's founding was the Reverend
Bernt Julius Muus; he sought out the help of N. A. Quammen and H. Thorson. Together they petitioned their parishes and others to raise money to buy a plot of land on which to build the new institution. The three received around $10,000 in pledges, formed a corporation and bought land and four buildings (old
Northfield schoolhouses) for the school. Muus came under scrutiny after a divorce case revealed extensive acts of
domestic abuse. He fell out of favor with many of his predecessors, but the school did not officially denounce his abuses. '''St. Olaf's School'
opened on January 8, 1875, at its first site under the leadership of its first president, Thorbjorn N. Mohn, a graduate of Luther College. Herman Amberg Preus, president of the Norwegian Synod, laid the foundation stone of the St. Olaf School on July 4, 1877. In 1887 the Manitou Messenger'' was founded as a campus magazine and has since evolved into the college's student newspaper, now called the
Olaf Messenger. 1887 was also the year that the first female St. Olaf graduate, Agnes Mellby, joined the college. Mellby graduated in 1893. She was the first woman to graduate from a Norwegian Lutheran college in the United States. On June 20, 1889, the school's board of trustees renamed the school
St. Olaf College. In 1932,
Red Wing Lutheran Seminary was merged into St. Olaf and its
Red Wing campus was closed. The Seminary was an independent academic institution from 1879 to 1932.
Financial crisis In 1893, St. Olaf faced severe economic difficulties. A
national economic depression caused enrollment to drop from a high of 147 in 1892 to 129 in 1893. Also in 1893 the Norwegian Synod voted to cut ties with the college, greatly reducing its income. By the August 1893 board meeting, the college was $10,000 in debt. Ytterboe spent six years traveling the Midwest and was highly effective at fundraising, averaging $6,500 per year, mostly in small donations of a dollar or more from farmers and private individuals. By 1897, the debt was reduced to less than $4,000, and in 1899 the synod reinstated the college. Historians of the college widely regard Ytterboe's and Mohn's efforts as having saved the college from extinction.
Scarlet fever epidemic Following students' return from Christmas vacation in 1903, an epidemic of
scarlet fever broke out on the campus and quickly spread. Twenty-eight out of St. Olaf's approximately three hundred students came down with the highly infectious disease. With no local hospital, the north wing on the third floor of the Men's Dormitory was used as a makeshift hospital and staffed with two nurses who worked tirelessly to contain the spread of the disease.
1918 Spanish flu pandemic At the beginning of the spread of the
Spanish flu to the United States, St. Olaf went into voluntary quarantine in hopes of avoiding the epidemic, allowing students to leave campus only for emergencies once they had obtained a pass. The first cases on St. Olaf's campus occurred on
November 11, 1918, and shortly thereafter the college hospital was filled to capacity. Ytterboe Hall was converted into a hospital for the sick once the temporary beds in Hoyme Chapel had filled. St. Olaf officially closed for the year on December 7, due to a rapid rise of influenza cases. Four students died from flu complications.
St. Olaf during the Second World War At the beginning of
World War II, St. Olaf was not directly involved with the conflict, with the extent of wartime activities including
Red Cross drives and a “Bundles for Britain” project. But by the fall of 1942, over 400 undergraduates and alumni were serving overseas. The campus was also ordered to house 600
U.S. Naval recruits for flight training, leading to the conversion of Mohn and Ytterboe Halls from women's dormitories to housing for naval servicemen. Students living in Ytterboe and Mohn Halls were required to move to Agnes Mellby Hall to accommodate the naval personnel.
Connections with Norway King Olav visited the college in 1987 and
King Harald V and
Queen Sonja of Norway visited in 2011. Queen Sonja visited the college's campus again in 2022 as part of a tour to celebrate the connections between Norway and Minnesota's Norwegian-American community. She participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Special Collections vault at Rølvaag Memorial Library.
Presidents St. Olaf has had 12 presidents since its founding: •
Thorbjorn N. Mohn, 1874–99 •
John N. Kildahl, 1899–1914 • Lauritz A. Vigness, 1914–18 •
Lars W. Boe, 1918–42 • Clemens M. Granskou, 1943–63 • Sidney A. Rand, 1963–80 • Harlan F. Foss, Ph.D., 1980–85 • Melvin D. George, Ph.D., 1985–94 • Mark U. Edwards Jr., Ph.D., 1994–2000 • Christopher M. Thomforde, D.Min., 2001–06 • David R. Anderson, Ph.D., 2006–23 • Susan Rundell Singer, Ph.D., since 2023
Church affiliations • 1874–87
Norwegian Synod • 1887–90
Anti-Missourian Brotherhood • 1890–1917
United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America • 1917–60
Evangelical Lutheran Church • 1960–87
The American Lutheran Church • 1988–present
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ==Campus==