SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
  • Home
    • The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil >
      • ​"First Swedish Agricultural Company" Lindsborg Founders, 1868 >
        • Swedish Pastor Olof Olsson Immigrating to Lindsborg 1869, June 27th Arrival >
          • Church and Lindsborg Founder Pastor Olsson, 1869 - 1876 >
            • ​"He Gave God Glory" The Story of Olof Olsson, ​1841 - 1900
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Church" 1869 >
        • Their "Augustana Lutheran Synod," 1860 - 1962 >
          • The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016
        • Their "Augustana Women's Missionary Society," 1892
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Home" Since 1907
      • Their Lindsborg's "First" Swedish Smoky Valley Community Chronicle 1909 and Their "Second" 1919 >
        • "Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas," 1965 >
          • "The Smoky Valley in The After Years," 1969
      • Their 1920s Coronado Heights Photographs and their Smoky Valley Historical Association (SVHA)
      • Their 1936 1873 Swedish Homestead, "The Old Deere Farm," The Peter J. Larson Farm, etc. >
        • Their 1873 Swede House
        • A Smoky Valley Swedish Virtual Memorial - ​"Dedicated to the Memory of the Smoky Valley Swedish Settlements" >
          • Recognizing & Thanking >
            • - Claude Koehn -- The Before and After
      • Their 1940 Deere Home >
        • Emil's and Nina's 1961 Thunderbird
      • 1943, After Lydia--The Building of the Lindsborg Hospital
    • Their Bethany College Handel's "Messiah" Performances, 1882 on... >
      • "Messiah" Performers, Venues & Audiences, Press and Broadcasts
    • Their Bethany College 1899 Swedish Artists' Midwest Art Exhibition
    • Their Bethany College 1902 "Terrible Swedes," Coach Bennie Owen, Their 1903 "Rockar Stockar"
    • Their Bethany College 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Swedish Pavilion
    • Their Bethany College Anniversary Celebrations: 15, 20, 25, 100 years >
      • Their Celebrating 15 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1896. The First Bethany Annual, 1895-96
      • Their Celebrating 20 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1901. The "Forget-Me-Not," 1902 >
        • The King of Sweden's Emissary, 1901
        • Yale University's Bethany Club
      • Their Celebrating 25 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1906, "Souvenir of Lindsborg and Bethany College"
      • Their Celebrating 100 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1981, "The Centennial of Bethany College"
    • Their "I WAS THERE" Coin ~ Bethany College Celebration, 1902
    • Their Bethany College's 1937 Introduction to New Sweden, founded in 1638 >
      • Deere's Introduction to New Sweden
    • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1975 "Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college" >
      • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1953, "Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas"
    • Their friend, Leon Lungstrom, and his 1990 "History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas"
  • Swedish Immigration Story, 1854
    • "The Story of the Old Spoon" by Ingrid Anderson Sohlberg & Daughter Lydia Sohlberg Deere, 1937
    • Who They Left Behind
    • From Sweden with Love Collections >
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Portraits, 1867 >
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Glass
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Letters
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Royal Gold Thread Embroidery Sampler (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Post Cards (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Magazines, (c1940s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Books, 1819/1886 to 1899
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Albums, late 19th early 20th centuries
      • The Swedish Deere Coins -- 1801-1929
    • Lydia Sohlberg Deere's 1927 "Lindsborg Swedish Club's" Handwork >
      • Lydia's Signatured Black Book of Her Handwritten Sewing Instructions >
        • Nina Sohlberg's Child's Sewing "Little Dots" PICTURE BOOK >
          • The Lindsborg Swedish Club's "Allers Monster-Tidnings" magazine, 1940
  • Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
    • Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925 >
      • The Hats
      • The Smoky River
      • The Smoky Hill Bluffs
      • Coronado Heights -- One Winter's Day
      • In and Around Lindsborg
      • Sohlberg House with Parents >
        • Our Sohlberg Home and Neighbor Alma Luise Olson
      • Sohlberg House with Emil 1916 to 1920 >
        • Lydia's Travels with Deere 1916 - 1930s >
          • Lydia's California Photographs for Painting
          • Lydia's Palm Springs Pictorial Magazine, 1938-1939
          • Lydia's California Pressed Wild Flowers, c1930
      • "LYDIA'S WORLD" Photography Exhibitions in Lindsborg, 2005 - 2011
    • Lydia's Art, 1919-1938 >
      • Lydia's Art: The Kansas Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The California Collection >
        • The Sketches
    • Lydia's Art Professor Sven Birger Sandzén, 1871-1954 >
      • Lydia's Assignments for Professor Sandzén >
        • Students of Sandzén 2019 Exhibition
        • Bethany Home ~ Celebrating Artist Birger Sandzén through His Students' Paintings
    • Lydia's Art Professor Birger Sandzén's "Art Exhibitions" ... 1893-1940 >
      • Lydia's Art Professor Sandzén's Exhibition at the Babcock Gallery in New York, 1922
    • Lydia's Sandzén's Body of Work Reviewed by N.Y.C, 1984 "American Impressionism," author William H. Gerdts
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Charles Edward Hallberg, 1855-1940
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Oscar Brousse Jacobson, 1882-1966
    • Lydia’s Sohlberg Family Connection to Sandzén, 1880-1894-1993
  • Scientist Emil O. Deere
    • Deere's & Lydia's Bethany -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Bethany College "Campus from Above"
      • Bethany College "The Gateway" 1917 and "Bethany Campus Association" 1912
      • Bethany College "College Street," today's "North First Street"
      • Bethany College "Campus Life"
      • "Bethany College's Earliest Buildings" >
        • Bethany College "​Ladies Dormitory" / "Lane Hart Hall" 1883 - 1899 - 1983
        • Bethany College "Old Main" 1887-1968 >
          • Lydia's and Emil's Old Main Apartments, 1920 to 1940
          • Deere's Bethany College Classes in Old Main
        • Bethany College "Messiah Auditorium" / "Ling Auditorium" / "Ling Gymnasium" 1895 - 1946
        • Bethany College "Swedish Pavilion" 1904
        • Bethany College "​Carnegie Library" / "Bethany Library" 1908 - 1980
        • Bethany College "​Bethany Academy" 1882 -- Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings
    • Deere's 1959 Interview on Rev. Dr. Carl A. Swensson (On YouTube) >
      • Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1857-1904 >
        • Swensson's "Bethany Lutheran Church" and the "Augustana Lutheran Synod"
        • Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings: "The Bethany Academy of 1882"
        • Swensson's Musicians' and Singers' "Messiah", 1882 on ... >
          • Thure Olof Jaderborg
        • Swensson's Swedish Artists of the 1890s
        • Swensson's "Bethany College Museum," 1882 - 1966
      • In Memorium**Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1904
    • Deere's Rev. Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1873-1943 >
      • In Memoriam**Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1943
      • Rev. Dr. Pihlblad on Bethany College, 1904 - 1941
    • Deere's Swensson's "Bethany College Museum" 1882 - 1966 >
      • Bethany College Museum Collections' New Location,1966 >
        • Articles on the Bethany College Museum Collections Move of 1966
    • Deere's Bethany College Field Trips -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Deere's Swensson's Bethany College Museum Collections >
        • Cliff Dwellers' Pottery Collection
        • Fossils Collection, "The Find"
        • Taxidermy Collection
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on the "Bethany College Museum"
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on "Three Pioneer Scientists of Swedish Descent"
    • Deere's Smithsonian Institution's Souvenir, 1904
    • Deere's 1940 Presidential Address to the Kansas Academy of Science
    • Deere's 1955 Letter to President Eisenhower re Tuttle Creek
    • Deere's Service, 1901-1966 >
      • Deere's Education & Degrees
  • "The Other Swedes"
    • Honoring them and their works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \\\\/ >
      • Mrs. Alma Christina Lind Swensson ~ Remembering her as Mrs. Rev. Dr. Swensson, the First Lady of Lindsborg
      • Photographer B.G. Gröndal ~ Remembering him for visually documenting Lindsborg and Bethany College in their earliest days
      • Miss Alma Luise Olson ~ Remembering her as "First Honored American Woman by Sweden" by Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg >
        • Remembering Miss Alma Luise Olson and her most extraordinary life at home and abroad by Ms. Karen A. Humphrey
      • Artist Birger Sandzén ~ Remembering him for "sharing his art with the world," starting "first" at Lindsborg's Bethany College >
        • Dr. & Dr. Mrs. Charles Greenough III ~ Remembering them for their gift of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
      • Artist Lester Raymer ~ Remembering him as the renown virtuoso artist and "behind the scenes" community supporter
      • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn ​​~ Remembering him for saving Bethany College from going under!​ >
        • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn (1923-2017) ~ Remembering him handing me my Bethany College Diploma on Sunday, May 26,1968
      • Dr. ​Elmer Copley ~ Remembering Bethany College's Oratorio Society Conductor who carried on "that" "Messiah" traditional excellence for 26 years, taking it to new levels >
        • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the “Messiah” conductor for the Bethany College "Swedish King’s" performance, 1976 >
          • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the "Messiah" conductor for the Bethany College "Centennial Celebration” performance, 1981
      • Dr. William Holwerda ( MD) ~ Remembering him at the founder of "Svensk Hyllningsfest"
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg ~ Remembering her as the founder of the "Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers"
      • Mr. & Mrs. Hilding Jaderborg ~ Remembering them and their “Swedish Crafts Shop” – 65 years and 50 trips to Sweden
      • The Swedish Lindsborg Builders ~ Remembering them for the lovely homes they built
      • Dr. Greta Swenson and Mr. & Mrs. Mark Esping ~ Honoring them for founding Lindsborg's “first” "Swedish-American Folklife Institute of Central Kansas." 1986 >
        • Recognizing their Folklife Institute's "Swedish-American Heritage Center," 1996
      • Ms. Rebecca Copley ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” graduate to become an International Opera Singer
      • Mr. Bruce Karstadt ~ Honoring him as a Bethany College graduate for heading up a major national Swedish American institution
      • Mrs. Becky Larson-Anderson ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” woman graduate to become mayor of "Little Sweden" USA
      • Dr. Mark Lucas ~ Messiah conductor bringing the Lindsborg “Oberammergau of the Plains" to a "new" world stage
    • The Smoky Valley Writers on "The Other Swedes" ​ ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Collection >
      • Mr. Bror Carlsson and Mr. Alf Brorson from Sweden ~ Chronicling Founder Pastor Olof Olsson's missionary journey to Lindsborg from Värmland, Sweden
      • Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson ~ An author of countless Swedish & English publications, newspapers, articles and books ...
      • Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy ~ Providing the only known history on Lindsborg and Bethany College's earliest Swedish photographer, B.G. Gröndal
      • Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin ​~ Compiling foundational Swedish Smoky Valley Augustana Lutheran settlements' histories and more
      • Dr. Emory Lindquist ~ Chronicling Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg [Selma Lind] ​ ~ Chronicling the Lindsborg of her day, its early histories, and more
      • Dr. Leon Lungstrom ~ Chronicling college professors and providing the "only known written" account on the Bethany College Museum
      • Ms. Karen A. Humphrey ~ Chronicling highlights of Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College society and culture in the earliest years
      • Mr. A. John Pearson & Mr. Kenneth Sjogren ~ Chronicling the Bethany College Presidents
      • Mr. Bill Carlson ~ Chronicling Lindsborg's earliest and later histories with a personal connection
      • Mr. Chris Abercrombie ~ Remembering him as the "historian," the SVHA president and his body of work
      • Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist ~ Chronicling key Swedish Augustana Lutheran Smoky Valley settlements other than Lindsborg
      • Rev. Eugene K. Nelson and the Bethany Home Writers ~ Chronicling the "only known written" story on the beginnings of Bethany Home
      • Smoky Valley Historical Association Members ~ Researchers, compilers and writers of " Where Did They Live? "
    • ​Smoky Valley History Research Writers Website Designers ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Websites
    • Bethany College Swedish Knights and Honored Ladies ~ Their Royal Swedish Legacy Listings
    • His Majesty, Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden ~ Honoring him in Lindsborg and at Bethany College, 1976 >
      • Mr. Bill Carlson's Lindsborg's Bethany Home & the Swedish King's Visit
  • Contacts
    • For Lindsborg, 1869, CONTACT Today >
      • 2020 Christmas in Lindsborg ~ 'Welcome to Annandag Jul Worship from Sunnemo & Lindsborg"
      • 2020 Christmas in LIndsborg ~ the Ljuskröna and Apple Tree Exhibit" online presentation
    • ​For Bethany College, 1881, CONTACT Today
    • Closing Remarks & Traveling through SWEDES >
      • The Swedish American Legacy Photographs >
        • ​Lydia's Lindsborg's Photography​, ​1900 - 1925
        • Lydia's Bethany's Photography, ​1906 - 1925
Scientist Emil O. Deere
Many people had to stand outside the Academy Building.
The Bethany Cornet Band played and the Salemsborg Quartette sang Swedish songs. …
The entire dedicatory program and the act of dedication was in Swedish. 

                                                                                                              -- Smoky Valley News, 1882
Bethany College "​Bethany Academy" 1882 -- Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings
In the following excerpts from fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist's 1975 book, Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college, Chapter 1, "Founding and Early Years, 1881 - 1991," Lindquist brings us to the very time of the way it was from the start of Bethany College.

From pages 5 and 7 Lindquist writes:

   "The Lindsburg Localist [a Lindsborg newspaper with a different spelling for Lindsborg] recognized the potential importance of "Swensson's school" in an article in June, 1882: 'There is an enterprise underway here that should not be forgotten by our people, namely the Lutheran Bethany Academy.  No enterprise could be of greater importance to the city.  Talk it up.'  The editor had reported on March 23 that another city in Kansas, apparently McPherson on the basis of other sources, had offered $10,000 as an inducement to move Bethany Academy there.  The Localist expressed concern on June 15:  "Efforts are being made continually by competing towns to have the academy moved there.  Lindsborg could not well afford to lose the academy."  The Smoky Valley News observed solemnly in November, 1882, when commenting about the Lindsborg institution: "We also have the Lindsborg Academy under the supervision of the [local] Lutheran Church, a project that will be of great benefit to our city."

     -  The Bethany Academy building was at the very heart of the Bethany College beginnings -
Bethany was chartered by the State of Kansas in September 1882
It was dedicated by Founder Carl Aaron Swensson with Augustana Synod leaders presiding on October 4, 1882
It was adopted as "the child" of the Augustana Synod in 1884 at the Kansas Conference at Mariadahl Lutheran Church
 
Picture
Source: "Bethany in Kansas," page 6

   "The encouraging response to the new school provided the incentive for the developments that occurred in 1882.  The [Lindsborg] public school house, which had been purchased by Swensson, was moved to the "park" which had been donated by the Bethany congregation.  A 16' x 24' addition was built to the school house and the area was then divided into three classrooms, one larger and two smaller.  A small steeple to hold a bell was added.  In July, 1882, the Smoky Hill District of the Kansas Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Synod pledged its congregations and members to support the new school.  The following members of a board of directors were elected:  The Reverends J. Seleen, A.W. Dahlsten, P. M. Sanquist, and C.A. Swensson and Messrs. Charles Strömquist, J. Thorstenberg, John A Swenson, and Andrew Lincoln.
- The Bethany Academy -
in Bethany Park, flanked by College Street on the left and Bethany Lutheran Church on the right
Picture
Source: Billdt & Jaderborg, "The Smoky Valley in The After Years," 1969
-  Before there were trees on the Campus and in Lindsborg -
Third Graduating Class
Picture
Source: Augustana College Archives
   "The first meeting of the board was held on August 30, 1882.  Pastor Sanquist opened the meeting with prayer.  Carl Swensson was elected chairman,  A. W. Dahlsten, secretary, and John A. Swenson, treasurer.  The first action was authorization for Swensson to start a subscription of funds for the school.  ...

   "A charter of Bethany Academy was authorized by the State of Kansas in September, 1882.  Bethany Academy was dedicated at festive services on October 4, 1882.  The Smoky Valley News reported:  "One of the most interesting events in the history of Lindsborg is undoubtedly the dedication of Bethany Academy.  Many people had to stand outside the Academy Building."  The Bethany Cornet Band played and the Salemsborg Quartette sang Swedish songs.  Addresses were given by the Reverends Carl Swensson, J. Seleen, and S.P.A. Lindahl.  The entire dedicatory program and the act of dedication was in Swedish.  When the program at the Academy Building was concluded, the band escorted the entire audience to the Tremont House where dinner was served.  Exercises in the evening were scheduled for the Academy Building, but the crowd was too large and the wind was too strong for the Chinese lanterns that were to provide illumination, so the festivities were moved to the Bethany Church."


​Quoting from the Bethany Academy Catalogue of 1883-84, Lindquist writes on page 11, the following:

   "The motto of Bethany Academy was "Christo et Ecclessiae" ("For Christ and the Church").  The catalogue emphasized the religious commitment as follows:  'Salvation by a personal living faith in a Divine Savior is recognized by the authorities of this school as the chief truth in human knowledge.  Religious instruction not only forms a part of the daily routine of the school, but every endeavor is also made to surround the student with a healthy religious atmosphere.  It is the desire and purpose of both the board of directors and faculty to consecrate the institution to the highest interest of the kingdom of Christ on earth."  An appeal to students and their parents from out-of-town was made in these words:  "While Lindsborg is free from many of the temptations to vice of large cities, it affords nearly all of their social and educational advantages.  This portion of Kansas is noted for its general healthfulness of climate, an important consideration for the student.'


   "The year 1884 witnessed a decisive event when the Kansas Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Synod, meeting at Mariadahl Lutheran Church, near Cleburne, Kansas, passed the following resolution:

 
   'Whereas, Bethany Academy, through its board of directors asks the Conference for its support and protection, be it resolved that the Conference adopt Bethany as its child and that its charter be changed in accordance therewith.

    'Resolved, that Smoky Hill, Clay Center, and the East districts constitute Bethany Academy's territory, from which its support should be forthcoming.'
"
​
In Lindquist's Chapter 17 -- Alumni Remember, page 267, is a memory which recalls that of the "first" Bethany College building:

  "Dr. Julius Lincoln, a native of Lindsborg, recalled that summer day in 1882 when he watched the old Lindsborg public school house placed on rollers.  He walked expectantly with many spectators to the future campus of Bethany Academy where the old frame structure became the first building.  Ten years later he was a member of the first baccalaureate graduating class of four members.  His temple of memory always included the living and distinct portrait of Bethany's founder, Carl Swensson, and his dynamic words for that day and later:  "Kunska
p är makt" -- 'Knowledge is power.'  …"
*   *   *
​- To remember this key Swedish American "Bethany College Building" is to look back on Bethany's very beginnings -
- It is to remember the "Bethany Family" of its era.
-


*   *   *
" Bethany Academy Building "
- ​The Bethany Academy sign was removed in 2013 and it is identified as Lindsborg's "First School House" -
​
- Today located at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum Heritage Park. -
Picture
Photograph by Fran Cochran, 2011.
Today the Bethany Academy building is showcased exclusively as Lindsborg's First School House of 1879.  ​As explained to me in emails from the McPherson County Old Mill Museum, this building actually played two roles in "education." Initially it served as the "First School House" of Lindsborg in 1879.  Three years later, in 1882, it was moved to the future college campus and became known as the "First College Building" and was named Bethany Academy.  Eighty-seven (87) years later,  in 1969, it was moved from the Bethany College Campus to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum Heritage Park.  Erected in front of it was the Bethany Academy sign.

In 2013, the decision was made by the McPherson County Old MIll Museum to create an exhibit to reflect the building's "first and original" identity as the  "1879 first public school building in Lindsborg."  Thus, the Bethany Academy building sign was taken away and the historic early college memorabilia and artifacts on display within it were returned to the Bethany College Archives, and the building was repainted.*

Since that time, this "first" most important building of Bethany College has had no visual connection with the institution it first served and has had no historical linkage of importance to its role of becoming a real functional school for the Bethany Academy, for our Bethany College.

The McPherson County Old Mill Museum reported in 2018 that one day this building will be promoted as a building of dual historical educational importance to both Lindsborg and the College to include "new exhibits that encompass the entire history of the structure from its conception to the current day."**  This will then restore its true historical Swedish and Swedish American significance of Swensson's Bethany College's Bethany Academy beginnings of 1882. 

​*   *   *

- On the right can be seen some of  the "Bethany Academy" building which is located next to the "Swedish Pavilion" -
- These two buildings served Bethany College's needs over 100 years ago. -
In 1969 they left the Bethany College Campus for good and were relocated to the Swedish-type open air museum,
the
McPherson County Old Mill Museum Heritage Park.
Picture
 *   Information from McPherson County Old Mill Museum April 27, 2018.
**  Information from McPherson County Old Mill Museum July 25, 2018.


*     *     * 
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~

reconnecting past to present
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All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
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