Concordia University Chicago

ABOUT UNIVERSITY

Concordia University Chicago is a private university located in River Forest, Illinois. It began as Addison Teachers Seminary in 1864, founded in the Lutheran tradition by German immigrants. Originally focused on training teachers for parochial schools, it has since expanded to offer over 100 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and serves more than 5,000 students. Concordia Chicago is part of the Concordia University System, a network affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), maintaining strong ties to its faith-based roots. The university’s history traces back to Lutheran teacher training in the United States, which started in locations including Perry County, Missouri, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the mid-1800s. In 1857, the LCMS took over the Milwaukee teachers seminary and later merged it with the Fort Wayne institution, which also included a theological seminary founded by followers of Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe. In 1863, the LCMS decided to relocate the teachers seminary to Addison, Illinois, appointing the first leader and commissioning a new building on land donated by a local Lutheran congregation, marking the foundation of what would become Concordia University Chicago.