Discover history beneath your feet
A few years short of a century later, Lutz’s presence remains

March 5, 2004
by Megan Carl
Staff Reporter

The story went that if you walked across the Lutz memorial with your sweetheart you would be married within a year, said James Dean, ‘66, visiting professor of English.

Frederick Lutz, professor emeritus of modern languages, spent 35 years teaching at Albion. Lutz, born in Uehlingen, Germany, came to the United States in 1870 at the age of 20.

At the age of 70, due to the college’s then required “seventy-year age limit,” Lutz retired from Albion College, in the spring of 1920. Even after retirement Lutz was an integral part of college affairs. Just weeks before his death in 1935, Lutz attended an Albion College commencement.

Engraved in the Lutz Memorial are these words: “This gateway and court were erected by the gifts of loving students and friends to the memory of Frederick Lutz. Professor in this college 1885-1920.”

Though the patio is worn, the cement chipped and benches empty, the memories of Lutz are still intact. Engraved in the cement walkway leading out of the patio is a summary of Lutz.

“He was a distinguished scholar. An inspiring teacher, a loyal friend and neighbor, a good citizen.”