Peter Laurentius Larsen

Peter Laurentius Larsen (August 10, 1833 – March 1, 1915) was a Norwegian-American educator and Lutheran theological leader. He was the founding president of Luther College.

Peter Laurentius Larsen was born in Kristiansand in the county of Lister og Mandals Amt, Norway. He was an 1855 doctoral graduate at the Royal Frederick University. Laur. Larsen was ordained in Christiania during 1857 and subsequently immigrated to the United States in response to a call issued by the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church. He served as a pastor near Rush River, Pierce County, Wisconsin from 1857 until 1859.

The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church decided on October 10, 1857 to create a college to supply ministers for Norwegian congregations in the Upper Midwest. It decided that students should be sent to Concordia College and Seminary in Missouri and that a Norwegian professorship should be established there. Laur. Larsen was appointed to the Norwegian theology professorship, entering officially upon his duties October 14, 1859. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, disorders arose in St. Louis. When Concordia College and Seminary closed in April, 1861, Professor Larsen and his students returned home.

At its meeting in June 1861, the church decided to proceed at once to establish its own college. College authorities decided to make use of a newly erected vacant parsonage at Halfway Creek, just north of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Lutheran College opened September 1, 1861, with two teachers, Larsen and F. A. Schmidt. In the summer of 1862 the school was transferred to Decorah, Iowa. Larsen served as President of Luther College from 1861. He supervised the construction of the college’s first Main building and its subsequent rebuilding after a devastating fire in 1889. Larsen also acted in a number of capacities as president. Not only was he the Chief Executive Officer, but he also directed admissions, financial matters, curriculum, and fund raising, served as campus pastor and taught a diverse range of subjects. Although he resigned from the presidency in 1902, he continued to teach there until 1911.

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