Concordia Seminary was founded in 1839 in Perry County, Missouri, by a group of emigrants from Germany. In 1849 the preparatory division and the school of theology of the young institution were moved to St. Louis. The preparatory division was moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1861. In 1926 the campus was moved to its present 72-acre site in suburban Clayton.
Concordia Seminary is owned and operated by the 2,600,000-member Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The Seminary is maintained by the church to prepare men for ordination as parish pastors, chaplains, and mission workers to help carry on the task of ministry in its districts in the United States, and in partner churches and missions in Canada, Europe, Asia, Central America, South America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Since its inception, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has provided more than 12,000 professional workers in the church.
The Seminary also offers advanced degree programs to qualified students of theology and serves as a center for theological research, scholarship, and continuing education of the clergy.