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Margaret Teigen was a member of the first graduating class from Concordia College’s Practical Program.  As the only female member of the class, Teigen paved the way for other women to enroll at Concordia and believe that they too could obtain an education. Teigen continued her involvement with the college by serving on the faculty for several years following her graduation before she enrolled in medical school to become a practicing physician.  

Concordia College’s campus houses a select number of academic buildings named after various benefactors as well as historical figures significant to Minnesota. The oldest building on campus, Bishop Whipple, is named after the Epsicopal Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple. The structure, formerly the home of the Bishop Whipple Academy, was purchased by the Northwestern Lutheran College Association in 1891 in order to establish a Norwegian Lutheran school in Moorhead. While many Concordia students and faculty learn and work in this building on a daily basis, most are unaware of the work done by Bishop Whipple, the namesake of this iconic Concordia building. More so, Bishop Whipple’s connection to and work done for the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples from our region, which is unknown to most of the Concordia population, must be assessed and recognized at a campus wide level. Through his passions and labors, Bishop Whipple helped 265 Dakotas obtain pardon from execution after the US-Dakota War. After this, Whipple continued his mission of advocacy for Native Americans, continuing the work of his missions across the state of Minnesota as well.

In 1888, Joachim Murie and Marie Frimanslund moved from Yavick, Norway to Moorhead, Minnesota and married almost immediately. Together with Marie’s brother, Henrick, they purchased a homestead. Their first child, Olaus, was born on March 1, 1889. Marie gave birth to five more children, including Martin (1891) and Adolph (1899). In 1895, Joachim died at the age of thirty-seven likely due to tuberculosis. In April of 1899, Marie married Ed Winstrom, a Swedish bartender in Moorhead. Unfortunately, Ed died from tuberculosis two months into their marriage, but Adolph was already conceived. In 1909, the family also adopted a girl named Clara. To help with family finances, they cut grass for their neighbors, worked for local gardeners, and hunted and fished alongside the Red River. Olaus and Adolph both attribute this time of camping, hunting, fishing, and canoe-making to stimulating their fascination with the natural world.

Elsie Mallinger was born near Sabin, Minnesota on March 2, 1903, the seventh of nine children. Her parents, John and Elizabeth Mallinger, moved to a farm near Ada, Minnesota when Elsie was young. Elsie entered country school at age four. Eventually she started teaching other students in the back of the class while the teacher continued teaching in the front. Elsie graduated high school at age sixteen and returned to her family’s farm for some time. She then attended Dakota Business College in Fargo, graduating in seven weeks.

The construction of Park Region Hall in the mid-1950s as a women’s dormitory was part of Concordia’s response to increasing post-WWII student enrollment as well as the availability of government loans.  From 1951 to 1955 the college’s enrollment increased by fifty-two percent, with 1354 students registered for the 1955-56 academic year.  In addition to providing a new housing option for students, Park Region Hall experimented with a new form of residence governance that was eventually adopted across campus.  In the twenty-first century the dormitory remains a place to test new ideas.  During the 2016-2017 academic year Park Region was the first Concordia dormitory to offer a sexuality- and gender-inclusive floor.  

Margaret Signora Callsen discovered a love of learning in her time as a student at Concordia that she carried with her throughout the rest of her life and career. This love of learning grew in Callsen and she became determined to spread it to others through her own teaching at several universities.  After her retirement she continued to encourage education by providing a generous donation to Concordia College to support junior faculty and undergraduate research.

In 1968, Concordia College opened Hallett Hall, an all-women’s dormitory, along with Erickson Hall, an all-men’s dormitory.  The dormitories were built as different sections of one complex. It was the first time since the college’s very early years, when its single building was home to both sexes by necessity, that men and women lived in such close proximity. Hoyum Hall was a former women’s dormitory that became the first building on campus to house both male and female students in 2008.

Fjelstad Hall was built on Concordia’s campus in the late 1930s as a new women’s dormitory.  One of the most attractive buildings on the college grounds, it provided female students comfortable accommodations and supervision while they were away from home.  Though periodically remodeled and updated, the dormitory was used consistently for female campus housing until 2014.