The Beginning of Tabor Day

On the morning of April 30, 1918… the college janitor came early to start a fire in the building to heat the building for classes. After leaving for breakfast, heavy smoky was seen to arise from the college building. An account of what followed is given in the words of Professor Renetta (Schulz) Friesen: “Tabor is burning!”

 

The flames were coming through the roof before help was near. Helplessly, with tear-dimmed eyes and bleeding hearts, faculty, students, and friends saw their hope crumble into ashes. One loud horrible crash, the walls caved in, and the Tabor building was no more.

Text excerpts from the 1923 Blue Jay Annual

An early morning fire on April 30, 1918, struck the only building on the Tabor campus. 

The very existence of the fledgling educational institution was in jeopardy. By 2 p.m. on the day of the fire, a meeting was held on what to do for the college, and pledges were committed to rebuilding. The Tabor community declared their college was neither dead nor destroyed—only what had fallen earlier that day. The spirit of Tabor was a flame that could not be extinguished.

 

Tabor had endeared itself to the citizens of Hillsboro and the community. Everybody stood up for rebuilding, and rebuilding better. It was agreed that Tabor had a thousand friends who would give $100 or more, whereupon arrangements were planned to raise at least $100,000 for Tabor’s restoration. It was written in 1923, “never were hearts more united than at that moment. Never was the Tabor Song sung with more feeling than the morning after the ‘trial by fire.'” 

Text excerpts from the 1916-20 & 1923 Blue Jay Annual

The building committee hired architect William Mampe of Kansas City to design a fire-proof structure that was 132 feet long, 96 feet wide, and three stories tall. On May 20, 1919, building operations began, and over the next 11 months the building we now know as the H.W. Lohrenz Administration Building was built.

 

There was also a profound sense that lodging for females was also needed, and that dream became a reality as Mary J. Regier pledged a $15,000 anuity on a 160-acre farm for the building of a women’s dormitory. Construction began in March 1919, and it was opened alongside the administration building just over one year later. 

Taken during the construction of the H.W. Lohrenz Administration Building

Completion of the Mary J. Regier (left) and H.W. Lohrenz Administration Building (right)

Tabor Day gathering for support of Tabor, circa 1925. 

After the trauma and loss of the fire in 1918, strong sentiment among constituents resulted in the designation of a special day set aside for the support of Tabor. This “annual holiday” called Tabor Day was born as “the first brick was laid to raise into reality the vision that arose from the ashes.” The date of April 30 was chosen as a memorial to the day the first Tabor building burned to the ground in 1918. The following year on April 30, 1919, the cornerstone was laid for the first Tabor dormitory. Two years after the fire on April 30, 1920, classes were held for the first time in the partially completed new Administration Building. It stands out in the memories of Tabor friends as “a day of testing and a day of faith.” 

Churches within the MB and KMB denominations were encouraged to highlight the college in Sunday services, and to appeal for financial gifts for the opearation of the school. Programs for Tabor Day, including messages, music, and testimonies, were professionaly printed as early as 1922. Tabor Day was to be a day of prayer and a day of giving. The earliest printed Tabor Day, dated April 30, 1922, consisted of music by the Ladies’ Glee Club, the Men’s Glee Club, the college orchestra, a poem read by Margareth Elsbeth Voth, and addresses in English (Professor A.A. Groening) and German (Professor D.E. Harder). 

Text written in the Tabor College Centennial Book in 2008. 

On Sunday, April 30, the campus community will reestablish Tabor Day and celebrate the Spirit of Tabor. 

More than 13,000 students have now graduated from Tabor since it opened its doors. Our alumni have made significant contributions worldwide, providing leadership in education, research, publications, medical professions, the arts, social work, business ventures, and Christian ministries. From our start in 1908, to the perseverance and trials of the Great Fire in 1918, the college has overcome countless obstacles, helping us fulfill our mission of ‘preparing people for a life of learning, work, and service, for Chris and his kingdom.’

“Tabor Day is a day to commemorate and celebrate what God has done through our campus,” said President David Janzen, Ph.D. “It’s an opportunity to recognize the resilience and faithfulness of those who have gone before and to carry on that legacy as we move into a promising future. The Spirit of Tabor is the evidence of God’s Spirit at work transforming lives through this beautiful college and community.”