 The Joint Synod existed from 1818 until its merger in 1930 with two other smaller German-language regional synods (the Iowa Synod and the Buffalo Synod into the first denomination known as the American Lutheran Church.During these decades, the seminary was run as the theological department of the nearby Capital University, which itself had been part of the seminary until separated into a separate institution in 1850.The seminary was, as a result, occasionally was mistakenly known as "Capital Seminary".