Jim McKee: Sterling, Nebraska -- Martin Luther College and beyond
(This column originally ran Oct. 12, 2014.)
Martin Luther Home is known by name to residents of Southeast Nebraska and, though associated with Beatrice by most, few know of its early connections to Sterling, Nebraska, and later association with the town of Axtell in Kearney County.
The first settler in what would become Sterling in Johnson County was John Bentz, who settled in 1857 or 1859. In 1866, Bentz set up a sawmill 12 miles northwest of Tecumseh and that June established a post office known as Bryson, though some referred to the vicinity as Brysonville.
In 1870, Wm. Mann secured land near Bentz's, and when the two had a village platted, the question of its name arose. A $20 gold piece was tossed in the air, and by calling it, Mann won the right to rename the site as Sterling after his home in Illinois. The original plat was a north/south rectangle with the Nemaha River on its south edge.
Mann also gave 40 acres of land to the Atchison & Pacific Railroad, which, like the river, ran along the south edge of the plat. Although it was originally thought that the village might develop south of the railroad, the river proved an obstacle; even Mann's small hotel originally built there was quickly moved north. The railroad arrived in 1873, the village incorporated in 1876, and by 1882, with a population estimated at 700, Sterling claimed two newspapers, two hotels, a bank and four churches - Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran and Presbyterian. Sterling's peak population of 804 was recorded in the 1920 census.
In the opening years of the 20th century, the Western District of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa proposed a denominational college for Nebraska and solicited offers of land and aid from interested communities. Sterling offered 10 acres of land and a grant of $7,000, which, though not grandiose, was accepted. Businessmen and interested citizens organized the Sterling College Settlement Company, which began raising funds and, when $10,000 had been garnered, bought 80 acres of land just north of Sterling. Ten acres at the top of Washington Street were set aside for the college, while the balance was divided into lots and sold to raise the $7,000 endowment.
An Auburn contractor began construction in the fall of 1908, and Martin Luther College opened in October 1909. The primarily brick masonry building was two stories in height, with a third floor in a mansard-roofed attic with complete sunlight basement. The building also boasted steam heating and its own "water plant."
Although considered a marginal success by some in the community, the school closed in 1925 and sat empty. The year the college closed, the Lutheran Church formed the Martin Luther Home Society for "teachable mentally retarded children" and the following year acquired the old college building, which they claimed would be totally used with projected "ample room for expansion."
In 1955, with the realization that the facility was badly aging, it was determined the operation would relocate to Beatrice rather than building anew in Sterling.
After first visiting Bodelschwing's in Germany, the Rev. K.G. Wm. Dahl determined to open a similar institution for mentally and physically handicapped people in California. To that end, Dahl created the Bethpage Inner Mission Association, but his board did not agree with the California location. Although some thought he was joking, Dahl then suggested Axtell, Nebraska, as a site. The 54-member board agreed and began planning a home for "feeble-minded and epileptics."
While houses in Axtell were temporarily utilized as home cottages, 40 acres of land were purchased north of the village in 1914. Two years later, Tabor, the first cottage at Bethpage Mission, was completed, with more cottages, a chapel and maintenance building soon added. In 1921, an additional 80 acres were acquired, as seven more cottages, a dairy farm and staff homes followed. By the 1940s, 158 "guests" were accommodated in the Scandinavian-inspired architecture of steep-gabled buildings of light-colored brick, which took on the look of an entire Danish village.
In 1951 the last building, "Home Bethesda," a 46-bed dormitory, was finished, and a published report showed there were 185 guests and 50 employees.
In 1986, Bethpage Missionary's administration moved to Omaha, and in 1993 Martin Luther Home's offices relocated to Lincoln. Bethpage and Martin Luther Home continue today but merged as Mosaic in 2003.
Nothing of the beginning operation or college in Sterling remains save a monument, but as you drive along U.S. 6/34, the red tile-roofed, paradoxical, 20-building Scandinavian village just north of Axtell is still quite visible.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at .
