3 ABOUT WAGNER COLLEGE Wagner College History Wagner College began in 1883 with the founding of the Lutheran Proseminary of Rochester, N.T., during a wave of religious college establishment following the Civil War. With just six students, the school began its mission of training future Lutheran ministers, fluent in both German and English, to serve America’s huge German immigrant community. The years later it became Wagner Memorial Lutheran College; a gift of $12,000 for a new campus from John George Wagner and his wife led the school’s governing board to rename the institution in memory of their son, J. George Wagner Jr., who some say had dreamed of becoming a minister before his death at age 19. As the 20th century dawned, Wagner’s Rochester neighborhood was becoming progressively more industrialized and less suitable for a small school. In 1916, the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of New York, which oversaw Wagner since 1888, decided to move the school to the New York City area; the Rev. Frederic Sutter, one of Wagner’s early graduates and a Lutheran pastor on Staten Island, was in charge of the relocation. Through his efforts, Wagner College relocated to Gyrmes Hill on Staten Island in 1918. With the move to Staten Island came a new approach to education. The college developed a liberal arts curriculum and grew enrollment. Construction of a new residence hall began in 1922, followed by an academic and administrative building in 1928 to accommodate this growth, providing residence, laboratory, classroom and office space for these new students and their professors. Today, Main Hall remains Wagner’s signature building. The lawn in front of Main was christened Sutter Oval in gratitude for Rev. Sutter’s important contributions to the college. Sutter Gymnasium (now part of the Spiro Sports Center) was built next to Main Hall in 1951. The college community grew again in 1933 when women were first admitted to Wagner. By this time, Wagner had become a well-established institution on Staten Island, and deservedly gained a reputation as such. During World War II, Wagner initiated a nursing program to help with “the emergency. That began the growth of more professional programs at Wagner, with an education department following in the post-war period. Graduate degrees were added in 1952. Generous bequests now support the Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing and the Nicolais School of Business. From around 1950 through the beginning of 1970, Wagner embarked on an aggressive building campaign to keep pace with the growth of its academic reputation and enrollment. The three residence halls built during that period Guild, Harborview and Parker Towers - were joined by Foundation Hall, opened in January 2010. The Grymes Hill campus now houses students from 43 states and over 40 foreign countries. Megerle Science Hall and the Spiro Communications Center house numerous labs and lecture halls, plus one of only three planetariums in New York City open to the public. Our nationally recognized theater program showcases the talents of Wagner’s students in the Main Hall auditorium and the Stage One studio theater. Wagner’s Division I athletic program highlights our students’ achievements in over 20 sports and club teams. Wagner’s academics have seen other significant shifts through the years. In 1971, faculty voted to end the mandated “basic curriculum” of arts and sciences in favor of more student choice. In 1998, faculty endorsed the Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts, designed to enhance the academic program by combining practical experience with classroom learning. In 2024-2005, the college again began the renewal of its academic offerings with an eye to investing in those career-oriented fields that students and families increasingly demanded, including business, nursing, theatre, physician assistant, biology, psychology and education. In the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner embarked on an aggressive building campaign to keep pace with the growth of its academic reputation and enrollment. The three residence halls built during that period — Guild, Harborview and Parker Towers — were joined by Foundation Hall, opened in January 2010. The Union building is home not only to the College administration and student activities offices, but the main dining hall (including the Faculty Dining Room) and the Hawk’s Nest. The Grymes Hill campus now houses students from 43 states and over 40 foreign countries. Megerle Science Hall and the Spiro Communications Center house numerous labs and lecture halls, plus one of only three planetariums in New York City open to the public. Our nationally recognized theatre program
