In 1910 Father Beck resigned and an Upsala graduate, The Rev. Peter Froeberg, became the second President. Peter Froeberg had been a pastor of Salem Church in Bridgeport, CT and was known for his enthusiasm and work with youth. Since 1907 he had served on the Upsala Board of Directors. The college continued to grow and a financial campaign raised $30,000 that put the school on a solid base. At times Froeberg had to personally secure bank loans to pay teachers' salaries but he persevered and traveled constantly telling the Upsala story to congregations from Maine to Ohio.

In 1920 The Rev. Dr. C.G. Erickson, pastor of Zion Church in Portland, CT became the third President of the college. He was a genuine scholar and an excellent administrator. He reorganized the curricula and the faculty and led the New York and New England Conferences in raising $465,000 to redevelop the school. Thus, in 1923 the present 45-acre campus in East Orange was purchased. When classes began there were 300 students. The numbers steadily increased to 2,000 during World War II and then leveled off to approximately 1,500. Dr. Erickson served until 1936.

In 1938 The Rev. Evald Benjamin Lawson began a distinguished 27 year tenure as President. He was President when the college grew the most both in stature and in physical plant. Beck Hall was completed in 1949 (along with Bremer and Nelsenius residence halls); the first unit of Christ Chapel in 1954; Viking Hall in 1956; Froeberg Hall in 1958; and the Erickson Library in 1964. As one pastor noted, not only did Dr. Lawson represent Upsala, "he was Upsala". His constant enthusiasm and close touch with the constituent synods - even after a merger had brought the Augustine Church into the LCA - made the bond between school and church strong. His death on September 22, 1965 meant that the old order was passing and that the college was entering a new era. He was the last in the line of New England Lutheran pastors to serve as President.

Dr. Carl Fjellman helped the school enter the tumultuous 60's. His administration saw the completion of Puder Hall for the sciences in 1968 and the College Center in 1970. The Art Center was purchased in 1971 and in the same year a Town House complex was erected behind Froeberg Hall. As East Orange changed after the Newark riots, the college became more sensitive to its multicultural environment. The Timothy J. Still program enrolled hundreds of African - American students. Upsala became the only Lutheran college with a majority of minority students.

Dr. Rodney O. Felder was the sixth President (1976 - 1984) and oversaw the addition of the 247 acre Wirths Campus in Sussex County. Dr. David E. Schramm was President for only two years (1986 - 1988). Enrollment was declining as the tax base in East Orange continued to deteriorate. Fewer and fewer of the student body came from congregations of the Lutheran Church. The long hoped-for Christ Chapel was put off indefinitely and proposed as perhaps a multi - purpose "auditorium and chapel". Under - qualified students were admitted and contributed to a decline in academic performance. Students who had academic promise but few financial resources had difficulty paying their tuition bills.

The eighth President, The Rev. Robert E. Karsten, tried valiantly to save the school. From 1988 - 1994 he worked to bring up the standards and increase the enrollment. He began a series of overseas exchanges to increase international students' presence. He repaired the campus and tried to re-interest the former constituency. He proposed new construction projects and borrowed funds to keep the momentum going. The endowment was used for current expenses and the campus buildings were mortgaged. But the city continued to deteriorate, alumni contributions slowed, and the problems became overwhelming. Even a loan of $4 million by four Lutheran sister colleges in the Midwest could not begin to pay the debts that were rapidly accumulating.

By 1994, Dr. Paul V. DeLomba was called to fiscally manage the closing of the school. The time had passed when Upsala was able to fulfill its function. On Ash Wednesday, May 1, 1995, the Board of Trustees voted to disband the school on May 31st. The debt level was at $13 million. The enrollment was only 435.

Thousands of people have benefited from the work of Upsala College. Its work is still needed in North Jersey and it will be missed. There is some blame for everyone: white racism, community non-involvement, church neglect, administrative incompetence, government non-action, alumni forgetfulness, and Board failure to recognize the depth of the dilemma. Any one of these difficulties could have been overcome, but all of them together were catastrophic. Yet, not every institution has to last forever. It may be that 102 years of high quality education (with 85% of the staff having PhD's) is a goal worthy of remembering in itself. It was to Upsala that Dag Hammarskjöld came in 1956. Here the distinguished alumnus historian Carl Degler of Stanford received an honorary degree in 1969. Carl Sandburg and Raoul Wallenberg were similarly honored. An early professor, Per Axel Ryberg, became a famed curator of the Bronx Botanical Garden. Another alumnus, Pr. Eskil Englund, became the bishop of the New England Conference. Pr. Oscar Benson became Presiding Bishop of the Augustana Church. Hundreds of other alumni carry the zeal and standards of Upsala on for future generations.

Dr. Mauritz Stolpe, the well - known musician, poet and pastor at Gustavus Adolphus Church in New York, who was chair of the Board for 21 years as the college was formed, wrote these words in a poem entitled "Renewal" - Fömyelsen:²

It is night for Upsala - but even now the light of God's evening star promises a new dawn and a new day. For Father Beck said it best: