This home has ties to the old German College

MT. PLEASANT — With the cooperation of the Southeast Iowa Union/Mt. Pleasant News, The Mt. Pleasant Historic Preservation Commission will be publishing, every week or two, peeks at some of the featured homes in the 1909 book, Mt. Pleasant Beautiful.

In the series, the 1909 picture will be contrasted with one of recent vintage. The Commission has been collecting information for the eventual issuance of a new book updating the information on the still standing homes from the 1909 publication.

You can test your knowledge of historic Mt. Pleasant with this column. The identity of the featured home will be published with the next featured home. The last featured home was the Cole House, 609 West Clay St.

Because of its departure 113 years ago, it would be safe to say that not a lot of general information is floating around Mt. Pleasant about the history of the German College, which existed on the Iowa Wesleyan campus from 1873 to 1909. However, two early owners of this week’s featured home had ties to the institution.

Charles and Anna Becker purchased the undeveloped property in 1876 and sold it in 1882 — the house was built some time during that period. Although little information comes to light about the Beckers, they moved to Colorado at some time before their deaths in 1893 and 1894. It is known that he was a minister, spoke fluent German and was listed in one newspaper article as “an agent of the German College in Mount Pleasant.”

The 1882 purchasers of the house were Frederich William and Louise Balcke. Balcke, who went by William, served the German school for fifteen years as a popular professor. In 1895 they moved to Illinois but he came back in 1909 to give a sermon during the final commencement of the German College.

At that time he was serving as president of Central Wesleyan College. It was the last hurrah for the school in Mt. Pleasant. It was relocated to Warrenton, Missouri that year.

The German College occupied two buildings on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan, a classroom building and a chapel, adjacent to each other on North Main Street.

The three story classroom building was used by Iowa Wesleyan until it was torn down in 1961 and the chapel was demolished in 1926.

A monument regarding the school, using materials from the chapel, can be seen on North Main. The word “German” is defaced however, as a result of the anti-German feelings at the time of World War I.

Anyone wishing more information about the Mount Pleasant German College and other German Methodist Colleges in the west is referred to the detailed paper by Iowa Wesleyan professor. Louis Haselmayer. It is easily found on the internet.

Clara Burdick purchased the home in 1909 and operated a boarding house. In the 1950s it was used by Alpha Xi Delta for sorority rooms and it is currently used as student housing by Iowa Wesleyan, although not owned by the school.