St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church
History
|
|
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church History |
                |
Our Story Begins in 1872 . . . The history of St. John’s dates back to September, 1872. At that time, the Reverend Heinrich Christoph Senne, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Alma, Kansas, and missionary to the Germans in eastern Kansas, preached his first sermon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Johann Paul Bauer in North Topeka. The Bauers had asked Pastor Senne to come to Topeka to baptize their son. Four weeks later Pastor Senne conducted services in a hall south of the Kansas River. The Swedish Lutherans of Trinity Lutheran Church kindly offered their church to the missionary for services, and for four years German services were conducted at their church once a month. In December of 1873, the work in Topeka was taken over by Pastor P. F. Germann of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. He organized St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, on the13th day of September, 1874. Charter members were George Klein Sr., Carl Herboldsheimer, Oscar Bischoff, Fred Heimpel, Oscar Krauss, and John Richter. Soon after its organization, the congregation deemed it necessary to call its own pastor in order that the work of building the Kingdom of God in this place might be carried on more successfully. A call was extended to Pastor Germann, who accepted and moved to Topeka to serve as pastor of the congregation and teacher of its school. The congregation was incorporated on May 27, 1875. Three lots were purchased at the corner of Second and Van Buren Streets for $400. The first church building, made of stone, was located on this site from 1877 until 1888 and served as church, school, and for a few years even as parsonage.
Having outgrown the stone church, the congregation decided to build a larger brick church at the same location. This building was used from 1888 to 1938.
Pastor Pennekamp, who served St. John's from 1879 to 1889, was involved in ministry also to unchurched German Lutherans living out of town. Under his leadership, St. John's first daughter congregation was founded in 1884. This was Zion Lutheran Church in Vassar, Osage County, Kansas. In 1899, the year of St. John’s twenty-fifth anniversary, the church building was renovated and a two-manual pipe organ was installed. The organ was manufactured by the Pfeifer organ company of St. Louis, Missouri. It was shipped by boat to Kansas and then brought by land to Topeka. This organ was later given to Trinity Lutheran Church of Holton, Kansas. During the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce and money was tight, the members of St. John's showed their faith in the Lord in an amazing way. When the facilities at Second and VanBuren again became too small, the congregation, under the leadership of Pastor Hoyer, resolved in April, 1934, to relocate and build a new church. In July, 1935, the Building Committee acquired four lots at the southwest corner of Ninth and Fillmore Streets for the price of $7,500. In March of 1937, Theodore Steinmeyer of St. Louis,
Missouri, was engaged as architect; and his design of a church built of
Lannon Wisconsin stone and trimmed with Silverdale limestone was
approved by the congregation. On October 13, 1937, the general contract
was awarded to George Senne, a member of the congregation, with
construction beginning the following day. The cornerstone was laid on
Thanksgiving Day.
About a year after the church was completed, the whole project was paid for and the mortgage was burned. By the year 1940 St. John’s church building again proved too small for the congregation, having grown to more than a thousand members. This led to the organization of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Oakland. On April 26, 1942, St. Paul’s church building located on the northwest corner of Chester and Pennsylvania was dedicated. St. Paul’s was the second daughter congregation of St. John’s. Several years later, St. John’s church building again lacked necessary room, the membership having grown to more than 1100 souls. It was decided to encourage the members living in the Southwest and Highland Park sections to organize congregations in their respective neighborhoods. As a result Faith Lutheran Church and Hope Lutheran Church were organized in 1948. These would be the third and fourth daughter congregations of St. John's. A few years after Pastor Jacobsen came to serve St. John’s as Pastor, the congregation became increasingly aware that it would be necessary to enlarge the existing church for the use of the Sunday School and auxiliary organizations of the congregation. On April 14, 1957, the Board of Trustees was authorized to purchase the property at 909 Fillmore for an addition to the church. The price was $18,500. On January 12, 1958, the Board of Elders appointed a Building Committee to employ an architect to draw plans an addition to the church. Raymond Coolidge was employed as architect and David Keller as the general contractor. In 1959 construction began on the first phase of the addition: it was built so that a second storey could be added later. On the Second Sunday in Advent, December 6, 1959, the addition was dedicated to the glory of God and the labors of His Church. It cost about $200,000. In the year 1961, Christ Lutheran Church was organized. This was the fifth daughter congregation of St. John’s. The year 1965 saw the founding of Calvary Lutheran Church. This congregation might be classified as the first granddaughter congregation of St. John’s. Following the destruction of Grace Episcopal Cathedral by arson in 1975, the St. John’s decided to put plexiglass windows over the stained glass on the north side of its building and to install central air conditioning. In 1978, work was begun to obtain a new pipe organ for St. John’s. The loft in the rear of the church was remodeled to accommodate the new instrument, which was installed in 1979. In 1987, it became necessary to retile the roof of the nave because of leaking. At the same time the interior lighting was upgraded and the ceiling was changed to improve the acoustics. The congregation spent the summer worshiping in the Assembly Hall while the work was being done. There were three services and no Sunday School during this period. The cost for the project was about $200,000. In 1988, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church was founded. This might be considered the second granddaughter congregation of St. John’s. About 100 of St. John’s members joined Prince of Peace the first year of her existence. In the years following, the restrooms of the education wing have been remodeled, a small elevator installed there, and the Breezeway opened up. With the increase of Sunday School and Bible Classes on Sunday mornings, the first floor of the rental house south of the church was remodeled to house the junior high and senior high Bible classes and the building became known as the youth house. In the summer of 2002 the second storey of the youth house was remodeled to provide a home for our vicars. St. John’s is currently looking into building the second phase of the 1959 addition by adding the second storey, enclosing the courtyard, and adding a multipurpose room to the south of the present building. |
