regard Ytterboe's and Mohn's efforts as having saved the college from extinction.
=== Scarlet fever epidemic ===
Following students' return from Christmas vacation in 1903, an epidemic of scarlet fever broke out on the campus and quickly spread. Twenty-eight out of St. Olaf's approximately three hundred students came down with the highly infectious disease. With no local hospital, the north wing on the third floor of the Men's Dormitory was used as a makeshift hospital and staffed with two nurses who worked tirelessly to contain the spread of the disease.
=== 1918 Spanish flu pandemic ===
At the beginning of the spread of the Spanish flu to the United States, St. Olaf went into voluntary quarantine in hopes of avoiding the epidemic, allowing students to leave campus only for emergencies once they had obtained a pass. The first cases on St. Olaf's campus occurred on November 11, 1918, and shortly thereafter the college hospital was filled to capacity. Ytterboe Hall was converted into a hospital for the sick …
