Between 1851 and 1910, approximately 1.6 million Swedish people – 86% of whom were under 35 y/o, left the fatherland to establish themselves in the United States. Swedes established the Swedish Lutheran Mission Institute in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1873. A banker in Knoxville (near Galesburg, IL) persuaded the Institute to relocate and it was renamed the Swedish American Ansgar College in 1875. Reverend Erik August Skogsbergh, who had pre-medical training from Uppsala University (Sweden), arrived in Chicago in 1876. During Skogsbergh’s eight years in Chicago he befriended Dwight L. Moody, and became known as the “Swedish Moody.”
In 1885, Skogsbergh started an institution for formal training in several subjects such as homiletics, business, and Swedish in Minneapolis, MN. That year also represented the official formation of the Swedish Evangelical “Mission” Church. When Skogsbergh invited David Nyvall, then a pastor at a church in Iowa, to preach in Minneapolis, the latter so impressed the former that he extended employment, which Nyvall accepted. One year later, Nyvall accepted a position at the Chicago Theological Seminary. The antsy Nyvall returned to Minneapolis one year later and promptly married Skogsbergh’s daughter, Louise.
During this time in the 1880s, 325,000 Swedes immigrated to America. The Nyvalls moved to Chicago circa the decade’s end so David could re-engage with CTS and its ministry. In 1891, after the issue had been thoroughly debated and discussed at church and educational conferences, Covenant leaders, led by Nyvall’s vision, merged portions of various entities, including Skogsbergh’s school of higher education, to found North Park College and Theological Seminary. The group decided on the name “North Park” because the purchased plot of land appeared directly north of the neighborhoods of Albany Park, Irving Park, Humboldt Park, and Garfield Park. The elders chose David Nyvall to be the first president of North Park College.
The next paragraph is lifted from “A History of North Park College” by Dr. Leland Carlson, a history professor, who wrote the 50th anniversary book, which was published in 1941.
From its very beginning in 1885 the Mission Covenant has been vitally interested in Christian education. Though most of the pioneers were unlettered men, they realized that no religious organization could long survive, much less achieve its purpose of ministry, without trained leadership. In effective Christian work, educational institutions are imperative. They are indispensable in perpetuating the principles on which a spiritual movement is founded.
A History of North Park College, Leland Carlson
North Park continues to exist and thrive as of today and remains a member institution of the denomination. Carlson also wrote he wanted to emphasize the relationship between the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church and North Park College because the church founded and supported the institution of postsecondary education. According to Carlson, he realized “how close the history of North Park College parallels that of the Covenant.”
The Louise and David Nyvall love story also continues today. They are buried, side by side, at Montrose Cemetery, in the Edgebrook section at lot 182, approximately one mile west of North Park College. In 1991, on the school’s centennial anniversary, officials recognized David and Louise with a marker that reads…
In grateful remembrance of David and Louise Nyvall, Founding President and First Lady of the Covenant School, Serving 1891-1905 and 1912-1923. He was greatly gifted as a scholar, teacher, and writer, and of rare strength and nobility of character. He and his wife were devoted servants of the Gospel and the Covenant Church to their wise forethought, patient advocacy, and unwavering faith, the establishment of North Park is chiefly due. Placed on the centennial of North Park College and Theological Seminary by the Evangelical Covenant Church. October 27, 1991.
