Bio of BERGQUIST, Ernest L. (b.1877), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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E. L. BERGQUIST (Ernest L. Bergquist) - Vol III, pg 368-371
Seldom does the opportunity for so wide a field of service come to a man as has
come to E. L. Bergquist, and seldom is the man so well prepared to accept the
opportunity. As president of the American Vocational Institute at 5 West Lake
street, Minneapolis, Mr. Bergquist is rendering his country a wonderful service
by training disabled soldiers along vocational lines. Born in Sweden, on May 9,
1877, Mr. Berg­quist was brought to America by his parents when he was a small
boy.
In the public schools of Wisconsin E. L. Bergquist received the elementary and
preparatory education that enabled him to enter Augustana College at Rock
Island, Illinois. At Augustana he specialized in business training and science
and was gradu­ated as a Bachelor of Accounts. He then took a course in the old
Archibald Business College in Minneapolis, where he was granted his Master of
Accounts degree. Some­thing of the financial genius he was to use to such good
purpose in later years was foreshadowed in these student days. He was forced to
earn his own way through college, but he left with more money than he had when
he entered. For a time he taught in various parochial and public schools, then
he returned to the Archibald Business College, going this time as a member of
the faculty. Here he remained until he joined in the organization of the
American Business College of Minneapolis. The school was founded in 1904 and
when it was incorporated in 1912 he became its secretary and treasurer. He has
always taken a great interest in this school and its remarkable record is in no
small measure due to his exceptional abilities as an organizer and executive.
When the college outgrew its original premises he helped organize a holding
company and took a ninety-nine year lease on the entire city block at the corner
of Nicollet avenue and Lake street. The buildings on this site have been erected
by this company, an accomplishment of no small proportions.
When the soldiers began to return from the recent war this educator saw a great
opportunity to assist, them in making the adjustment to civilian life by means
of a business and mechanical education. His ability to help the disabled
soldiers and his desire to do so became known and he was urged to start a school
for this purpose. The result is the American Vocational Institute, of which he
is the president. This institution was opened in 1919 and since then the
enrollment has always remained between three hundred and twenty-five and three
hundred and seventy-five. The school is thoroughly up-to-date and admirably
equipped in every respect. Every department has competent instructors. In
carrying on this work he has labored ceaselessly to overcome every difficulty
that lay in the path of the school itself, or in the way of the man he was
seeking to help. The school is his joy and pride, and because of his tireless
enthusiasm for the work and the results accomplished, he has been called the
"Man Builder."
On June 23, 1904, occurred the marriage of Mr. Bergquist and Miss Esther M.
Olander, and they have become the parents of six children, three boys and three
girls: Ehrling, Robert, Donald, Irene, Ruth and Dorothy.
Mr. Bergquist takes a great interest in the work of the Civic & Commerce
Asso­ciation for the welfare of the city as a whole, and upholds the principle
that in helping others a man best helps himself. He is also a member of the Elks
and of the Odin Club. As an executive, organizer and financier he is a man of
unusual ability. A student all of his life, he has always striven to enlarge his
powers both as a teacher and as a worker in the service of humanity.