Wartburg College traces its roots to 1852, when Pastor Wilhelm Löhe of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, sent Pastor Georg Grossmann to America to work as a missionary of the Lutheran faith. With five students, Grossmann founded a teacher-training school for German immigrants in Saginaw, Mich.

The college was moved several times to accommodate the shifting tide of Lutheran immigration (Dubuque, St. Sebald near Strawberry Point, Waverly, and Clinton in Iowa and Galena and Mendota in Illinois). It permanently located in Waverly in 1935. The name Wartburg was given to the college when it was located in rural St. Sebald because the wooded countryside of the area reminded Grossmann of the Thuringian Forest where the Wartburg Castle is located.

Wartburg College Locations Throughout History:

Saginaw, Michigan 1852-53	Dubuque, Iowa 1853-57	St. Sebald, Iowa 1857-68
Galena, Illinois 1868-75	Mendota, Illinois 1875-85	Clinton, Iowa 1894-1935
	Waverly, Iowa 1879-1933 1935-present