Valder, Charles H. 1853 –

VALDER, AGA

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/10/2015 at 13:59:19

CHARLES H. VALDER.

Charles H. Valder, president of Valder College, Inc., of Decorah, established that institution in 1888 and throughout the intervening twenty-five years has conducted it with gratifying success. His record is that of a self-made man who owes his prosperity entirely to his own well and wisely directed efforts. His birth occurred in Leland, Illinois, on the 3d of April, 1853, his parents being Hans and Betsy (Aga) Valder, both of whom were natives of Norway. The father emigrated to the United States in 1837 and located in Adrian, Michigan, where he resided for two years, on the expiration of which period he removed to Leland. Illinois. Hans Valder was a minister of the gospel and is said to have been the first Baptist Norwegian preacher in this country. He followed his holy calling in Leland for eight years and in 1853 removed to Fillmore county, Minnesota, preempting a tract of land and bending his energies toward clearing and improving the property. In the year 1856 he assessed the entire county and in 1871 was sent as a representative to the state legislature. He continued to reside in Fillmore county throughout the remainder of his life, passing away in 1903.

Charles H. Valder obtained his early education at Newburg, Minnesota, and subsequently entered the State Normal School at Winona, that state. Later he attended the Lakeside Business College of Chicago, Illinois. In 1875 he carne to Decorah, Iowa, and for some time acted as an instructor in Slack's Business College, while afterward he taught in the public schools, Luther College and Decorah Institute, being engaged as a special teacher of penmanship and continuing so for a period of thirteen years. He organized the Valder Business College and Normal School, the former being founded in 1888 and the latter in 1889. In May, 1913, these institutions were incorporated as Valder College, Inc., the corporation comprising three schools, namely: Valder Business College; Valder Normal School; and Valder Shorthand School. More than nine thousand students have been enrolled in the institution and eleven hundred have been graduated. At present there are over three hundred students and ten teachers. Mr. Valder's work has been an important factor in educational progress here and the success which he now enjoys is indeed well merited, being entirely attributable to his enterprise, ability and sound judgment. One of the notable features of the school is that Valder College prepares its pupils in short terms by practical business training, so that within the least possible time a student is gaining earning power. The school is invariably successful in securing good positions for its pupils at the end of their course in training and among its graduates are many men who are filling high positions in all walks of life. Decorah and the state may well be proud of this institution and the work it has accomplished.

In politics Mr. Valder is a democrat but not active as a party worker or office seeker, although he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day and is never neglectful of the duties of citizenship. He lives at the Winneshiek Hotel in Decorah. He has won many friends in this county during the period of his residence here, which covers almost four decades.

Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark Publishing Company 1913

Winneshiek Biographies maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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