On January 2, 1872, one hundred and forty-seven years ago yesterday, Rev. Johannes Konrad Wilhelm Löhe died, still serving as pastor back home in Germany. He was instrumental in the formation of CTSFW (in fact gifting the practical seminary to the LCMS when the newly formed church body asked him to at their first convention), answering–and in many ways repeating and then more loudly broadcasting–Wyneken’s desperate plea for pastors to come serve the German settlers in America. One of our classroom buildings, Loehe Hall (the spelling of his name changes depending on who tried to Americanize it and when; it’s typically pronounced “lay-uh” here on campus), was named after him.
CTSFW Librarian Rev. Bob Smith put together a brief but excellent write-up on who he was and what he means to our history. You can read about Löhe’s work here: https://whatdoesthismean.blog/2019/01/02/meet-wilhelm-lohe/.