Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/350

 290 HISTOEY OF GOODHUE COUNTY this capacity attracted attention, and in 1892 he was assigned to a congregation at Mankato, Minn., where he labored acceptably two years. In 1894 came the opportunity for wider service when he was called to the presidency of the Lutheran Ladies ' Seminary, in which capacity he has remained to the present day, having charge of the institution and occupying the chair of Norwegian Literature, Bible and Church History. As a disciplinarian he combines the qualities of justness with gentleness, as a teacher he is an acute thinker and incisive reasoner, and as a citizen his opinions command esteem, respect and consideration. Rev. Allen was married June 13, 1887, at Decorah. Iowa, to Emma Wingaard, of that place, daughter of Ole and Marie Wingaard, natives of Norway. The mother is now deceased and the father lives in Decorah. To Rev. and Mrs. Allen have been born three children : Nellie M. E., born April 3, 1888, and Clara L., born January 22, 1892, are students at the seminary, while Esther E., born March 28, 1898, attends the parish school of Evangelical Lutheran Trin- ity Church at Red AVing. The Minnesota State Training School, formerly known as the Minnesota State Reform School, has a beautiful location of about 450 acres of land, something over a mile below the city of Red AVing. The group of buildings is situated on an elevated plateau leading down by a gentle slope to the Mississippi river and com- manding a view that in itself should be an inspiration to the way- ward or unfortunate ones who spend their youth in the school. The institution has been in existence since January 15, 1868, and had occupied its present site since October, 1891. The State expended over $300,000 on the property and buildings, gained from the sale of the old site of the school in St. Paul, that location having wonderfully increased in value since the establishment of the sjchool in 1868. The school is occupied on the family plan, each family of some fifty boys, classified according to age, having a cottage and playground of its own, but with a dining hall in common. The girls' school is a building by itself, 300 feet west of the other buildings, and its management is entirely separate and distinct from the boys. The exterior of the buildings are of brick and stone, the interior being entirely of hardwood. There is nothing at the school to suggest that it is a penal insti- tution, the boys themselves looking like cadets in a military school, clothed as they are in neat uniforms. Graded schools, similar to ordinary public schools, are conducted, one-half of the scholars attending in the forenoon and working in the afternoon, and vice versa. The grading and beautifying of the extensive grounds have all been done by the boys, who also cultivate the large garden patches which supply the schools with vegetables and fruit for use on the tables and feed for the stock. The boys