undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a law school. Capital University is the oldest university in Central Ohio and is one of the oldest and largest Lutheran-affiliated universities in North America.
== History ==
Capital University was founded on June 3, 1830, as the German Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in Canton, Ohio, 40 years before the founding of Ohio State University, making it the oldest university in Central Ohio. It moved to downtown Columbus in 1832. On March 2, 1850, Capital University was chartered. At that time, the denomination was renamed to the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States and grew into a nationwide church body. The first president of the university was William Morton Reynolds.
In 1930, the Joint Synod was merged with two other smaller German language groups, the Iowa Synod (formed 1854) and the Buffalo Synod (founded 1845) to create the American Lutheran Church (ALC), headquartered in Columbus. The ALC existed for only …
