The
Good Samaritan Bible and Training School was organized in 1934 for the purpose
of training young women to become Christian workers. A complete two-year
course was offered. In 1937, the enrollment was seven girls, with two graduating
that year. The Bible and Training School was relocated to Waterloo, Iowa,
in 1938.
On
November 8, 1937, Leland Burgum resigned to enter graduate school at Columbia
University in New York City. In early 1939, the North Dakota State Board
of Administration inspected the Institute and refused to issue a license,
thus eliminating state aid. Both of these events were serious blows to the
future of the Institute. Reverend Wilko Schoenbohm took over as principal
on May 23, 1938, but he was faced with mounting debts at the school, including
pressure from the Fargo College trustees who had yet to receive any payment.
In
the background to these events at the Institute, a schism had been growing
within the Society. This schism began officially on January 3, 1938, when
the Lutheran Hospitals and Home Society (LHHS) was incorporated. Eleven
months later, a group of Lutheran men and women agreed to form a corporation
to take over the Good Samaritan Institute. The Institute's Board of Directors
voted to relinquish the Society's contract with the Fargo College trustees
and turn the school over to the new corporation which renamed the school
as the North Dakota School for Crippled Children. The LHHS Board acted on
April 9, 1940, to purchase the assets of the Institute for $3,000 and move
the school to James town, ND. On September 12, 1941, the School for Crippled
Children at Jamestown was dedicated.
It was renamed the Anne Carlsen Center
for Children in 1980 in honor of Anne Carlsen who served as teacher
and administrator of the school for 40 years.
The
Good Samaritan Society remains active today and you can find out more the
Society by visiting their web site.
