Throughout the late 1880s there were efforts to establish a Lutheran teachers college in Nebraska. Efforts by four Seward businessmen, including the gift of of land and $8,000, led the district to settle on Seward as the site for the college. The school, then named the Evangelische Lutherische Schulleherer Seminar (Evangelical Lutheran School Teachers Seminary), was officially dedicated on November 18, 1894. Two days later classes began with its 13 students boarded, fed, and taught in the same building (now Founders Hall) by J. George Weller and his wife. Students were originally taught for three years before transferring to Addison Teachers Seminary to continue their instruction.