History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 160

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 160

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ereeted and endowed, with provision for twenty-five constant inmates, orphans or neglected children. Here are conducted a day school of fifty children, for whom dinner is regularly supplied, and who receive more or less aid during the winter; a sewing-school, which meets on Saturdays, with two hundred and sixty scholars ; and a Sunday-school with an attendance of nearly three hundred. Occasional Sunday services are held, although no minister at large is now employed.

On the 1st of May, 1850, ground was broken, and on the 1st of July following the corner-stone of a second church edifice was laid at the northwest corner of Olive and Ninth Streets, and the building, though not quite completed, was dedicated Dee. 7, 1851. It cost, when finished, one hundred and five thousand dollars, nearly half of which remained as a debt. For the purpose of devising a plan for the liquidation of this debt, a meeting of twenty gentlemen was held at the house of John Tilden, Oct. 19, 1852. Sub- sequently, by means of contributions varying from one hundred to three thousand dollars, several persons borrowing the money they gave, and the sale of pews, the whole amount was raised, and when all obligations were eaneeled a small amount remained over. The new ehureh was a beautiful edifiee of brick with stone cappings, and having a seating capacity of twelve hundred. It was situated on a lot, the dimen- sions of which were one hundred and five by one hundred and fifty-two feet, and had two fronts of seventy and one hundred and twenty feet respectively. The style of architecture was nominally "mixed Gothic," but possessed features original with the arehi- teet. Its general effect was that of breadth, solidity, and spaciousness. The building was regarded at the time as a model of good workmanship, and as being one of the finest and most durable ehureh edifices in the city. The steeple was one hundred and sixty- seven feet in height, and was covered with thiek copper plates from its base on the tower to its top. The church was sold in June, 1879, for seventy thou- sand dollars, and was converted into Pope's Theatre. Dr. Eliot continued as pastor of the society until the close of 1872, when he retired to become chancellor of Washington University, but at various times the pulpit was filled for continuous terms by other clergy- men, either in the absence of the pastor or as his as- sociates. Rev. W. O. White, of Keene, N. H., served for several months in 1846-47, and Rev. Robert Hassal was chosen as "colleague" during 1850, and Rev. Carlton A. Staples served in the same capacity from 1857 till October, 1861. Rev. Thomas Lamb Eliot was ordained as associate pastor in 1865, and continued as such until December, 1867. Rev. John

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Snyder, of Hingham, Mass., was unanimously elected to succeed Dr. Eliot as pastor, and was installed April 20, 1873, Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows preaching the installation sermon. On the 6th of July, 1879, the last services were held in the old church, after which the congregation worshiped first in a small chapel on Beaumont Street, then at Pickwick Hall, and then in the Mission House at Ninth and Wash Streets. In November, 1879, ground was broken on the site of the new edifice, at the northeast corner of Garrison Avenue and Locust Street. The corner-stone was laid Feb. 1, 1880, and the finished building was ded- icated Dec. 16, 1881 (although it had been occupied, in an unfinished condition, since Dec. 26, 1880), the sermon being preached by Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bel- lows. This discourse was the last from the gifted pen of tliat eminent minister, who died Jan. 30, 1882, in New York City.

The church is situated on a natural plateau one hundred and thirty-five feet square, raised several feet above the surrounding streets, to which the ground deseends in terraees. It is built in the early English Gothic style, of blue limestone, quarried within the limits of St. Louis, laid in ashlar, and relieved by horizontal string-courses of drab sandstone from War- rensburg, Mo., which was also used for the facings of the doors and windows. The spire, of stone, is one hundred and forty-two feet in height, and about it the different parts of the ehureh are pieturesquely arranged so as to give them the appearance of a group of build- ings. The furniture is of native, unpainted yellow pine, and the roof is of open timber-work, resembling that of Westminster Hall. The windows are nearly all memorial,-Hudson E. Bridge, Emily Frances Partridge Eaton, Georgiana C. Louderman, Ebenezer and Theoline Richards, Henry S. Reed, and Edward Y. and Susan A. Ware being thus memorialized. To the memory of James Smith a brass tablet has been erected in an arch of the eastern wall, and por- traits of Seth A. Ranlett and of Henry Glover have been hung in the Sunday-school room. The church and ground, exclusive of the memorial windows, cost nearly one hundred and nine thousand dollars, and no debt remains upon them. In addition to the main building, which has a seating eapaeity of seven hun- dred, there are a chapel which is used for the Sunday- school, class- and library-rooms, sewing-room, pastor's study, a dining-room, and kitchen. The Church of the Messiah has always borne a prominent and active part in benevolent and educational work, and there is no charity in the city, Protestant, Catholic, or secular, to which its members have not been contributors. During the last twenty-five years the congregation has

annually given for extra religious work over forty thousand dollars. There are two hundred and twenty- five families connected with the congregation, and the Sunday-school has an average attendance of ten teach- ers and one hundred and fifty scholars. Rev. John Snyder is still pastor.

The history of the Church of the Messiah, as will be seen from the foregoing narrative, is conspicuously identified with that of the ministry of the Rev. W. G. Eliot, D.D., president of the Washington Univer- sity, who was pastor of the congregation from Novem- ber, 1834, until the close of 1872. Dr. Eliot's career in St. Louis has been one of remarkable energy, use- fulness, and self-denying zeal. Both as pastor of the Church of the Messiah and head of the Washington University, he has been a prominent figure before the public of St. Louis for many years, and one of the ablest and most untiring promoters of religious, benevo- lent, educational, and reformatory enterprises, as well as of the moral and social progress of the community at large. He has been called " the most accomplished and suceessful beggar" for charitable objects of modern times ; and while competency after competency has been presented to him unconditionally, he has invaria- bly disposed of them in such manner as he deemed most likely to produce permanently good results.

Church of the Unity .- The Church of the Unity (Unitarian) is situated at the northeast corner of Park and Armstrong Avenues, and the pastor is Rev. J. C. Learned. In May, 1868, a few gentlemen, antici- pating the formation of a new Unitarian Society, pur- chased for twelve thousand five hundred dollars a lot of ground at the above location, having a frontage of one hundred and sixty-five fcet on Armstrong Avenue. When, in the following June, the congregation was organized and incorporated, the ground was conveyed by its purchasers at cost to the society, the incorpora- tors of which were William H. Pulsifer, E. S. Rowse, William H. Maurice, J. S. Cavender, F. B. Homes, C. L. Dean, William N. Hinchman, J. P. Young, and C. L. Bush. The trustees set apart for sale seventy- five feet of the rear of the lot fronting on Park Avenue, and reserved the corner lot, fronting one hun- dred and twenty fcet on Armstrong Avenue, for the crection of a large church edifice. Upon the remain- ing forty five feet they built a ncat Gothic chapel, thirty-five by sixty fect, and capable of seating two hundred and fifty persons. The corner-stone was laid Aug. 5, 1869, Rev. Mr. Staples, of Chicago, formerly associate of Dr. Eliot in the pastorship of the Church of the Messiah, and Rev. Mr. Harrison, of Blooming- ton, Ill., officiating. The building was dedicated May 15, 1870, the cost of its erection having been

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about ten thousand dollars. Rev. John C. Learned has been pastor since his appointment in April, 1870. This church is an offshoot of the Church of the Messiah, and its creed is based not upon a declaration of belief, but upon an acknowledgment of duties. About one hundred families are connected with the church, and eighteen teachers with one hundred scholars compose the Sunday-school.

EVANGELICAL CHURCHIES.

The earliest German Protestant organization in St. Louis was that of the "German Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost," which was established in 1834. Its membership embraced both the Lutheran and Re- formed denominations, which continued to worship together for nine years. In the year 1842, however, dissensions arose on points of doctrine, and in July, 1843, the pastor of the Church of the Holy Ghost, Rev. G. W. Wall, with Messrs. Buenemann, Schmidt, W. Schrader, Jacob Westerman, and seventy-two others, who adhered to the doctrines of the Reformed denomination, withdrew, and on the 31st of July or- ganized the " German Evangelical Congregation of St. Louis." They worshiped in the Benton school- house on Sixth Street, between Locust and St. Charles Street, until 1845, when they erected two churches, one called the North Church, afterwards St. Peter's German Evangelical Church, at Carr and Fifteenth Streets, and the other known as South Church, after- wards St. Marcus' or St. Mark's Church, at the corner of Jackson and Soulard Streets. Both were alike in size and design, each being thirty by forty feet in dimensions, and remained the common property of the congregation until 1856, when a division was effected, and two distinct churches were organized. " The Ger- man Evangelical Congregation of St. Louis," organized in July, 1843, formed the nucleus of the " Evangel- ical Synod of the West," which has since sprcad over the United States. This Synod, in conjunction with a few congregations in Canada, is called " The German Evangelical Synod of North America," and being the American Branch of the Prussian State Church, it reccives biennially the interest on a large fund which was subscribed some twenty years ago by the Evangelical congregations of Prussia for the benefit of their brethren in this country. The Ger- man Protestant Orphans' Home, formerly within the city limits, but now ten miles from the court-house on St. Charles Rock road, was organized by the Ger- man Evangelical Synod, as was also the Good Sa- maritan Hospital, Twenty-fifth and O'Fallon Strcets. The same Synod is about to erect near St. Louis a building for its theological seminary. This seminary,

under the name of the Missouri College, has been located for about thirty-five years at Femme Osage, in St. Charles County, Mo., but will soon be removed to St. Louis. A building-site of eighteen acres has been secured on the St. Charles Rock road, seven miles from the court-house, just on the edge of the city limits, at an expense of nine thousand eight hun- dred dollars. Plans for the main building have been prepared, and the work is under way. The main building will have a front of one hundred and sixty- four feet, basement, three stories and attic, with tower. It will contain all the modern improvements, and have room for one hundred students. The cost, with- out furniture, will be fifty-six thousand dollars, and it will be completed by the fall of 1883. Rev. Louis Hacberle is inspector of the institution, and Rev. C. Kungmann the first professor, besides other teachers from the city. The Synod is divided into seven dis- tricts, and has four hundred and fifty ministers and upwards of five hundred congregations. It owns another college for ministers and teachers at Edin- burgh, Page Co., Ill., sixteen miles northwest of Chicago.

The Independent Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost was the outgrowth of the original Ger- man Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost, which, as previously stated, was organized in 1834, and com- prised both the Lutheran and Reformed congregations. The old congregation first met in the Methodist build- ing at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, but in January, 1839, removed to the directory of the First Presbyterian Church, on Fourth Street, between Wash- ington Avenue and St. Charles Street. It had pre- viously purchased a lot at Seventh Street and Clark Avenue, and here a building was erected and dedi- cated on the 9th of August, 1840. Rev. G. W. Wall had been appointed pastor in December, 1836, and was assisted at the dedication by the Rev. Louis E. Nollau, pastor of what was then known as the Gravois settlement. In 1843 the division of the congregation, resulting from the withdrawal of the adherents of the Reformed Evangelical Church, led to the organization of the remaining members of the congregation into the Independent Evangelical Church, which has continued as such ever since. In 1858 the present church, situated at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets, and known for some years as Pastor Krebs' Church, was erected. It is a substantial brick building, with a Gothic front, scating about two thou- sand persons, and has a parochial residence attached. In 1869 three schools had been organized in connec- tion with the church,-one in the basement of the building on Eighth Strect, with one hundred and

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seventy-five scholars ; one on Eleventh Street, be- tween Carr and Biddle, with four hundred scholars; and the third on Decatur Street, between Geyer Avenue and Ann Street, with about one hundred and fifty scholars. The church is now so far from the residence centre of the city that a removal farther west will doubtless soon be effected. The congrega- tion numbers two hundred and fifty families, with five hundred communicants, and there are six teach- ers and sixty scholars connected with the Sunday- school. Rev. J. G. Eberhard is the pastor.

St. Marcus or St. Mark's German Evangelical Church, situated at the corner of Soulard and Jack- son Streets, Rev. John H. Nollau, pastor, was one of the three churches which sprang from the old Ger- man Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost, the his- tory of which, with which its own is identical until July, 1843, has already been narrated. On the 31st of that month Pastor Wall and seventy-six members of the original congregation withdrew and organized the German Evangelical congregation, from which subsequently sprang both St. Mark's and St. Peter's Churches. A building known as the South Church was erected at Soulard and Jackson Streets, and was dedicated on the 14th of December, 1845. Its di- mensions were thirty by forty-five, and it remained, together with the North Church, the joint property of the association until 1856. In that year the con- gregation was divided, and the church at Soulard and Jackson Streets was thenceforth known as St. Mark's.

Pastor Wall was called to the Gravois settlement, and Pastors Cavizel, Ries, and Baltzer preached at both city churches until the separation in 1856, when Pastor Baltzer remained with St. Mark's until Sep- tember, 1848, and was followed by Pastor Meier, until May, 1849, and Rev. W. Binner, until May, 1850, who resigned to take the presidency of the Evangelical Seminary at Marthasville. Pastor Wall was then recalled, and remained until his death, April 20, 1867. During his pastorate of seventeen years he twice represented the American congregations at the General Synod held in 1852 at Bremen, Germany, (Rev. C. Nestel supplying the pulpit in his absence), and in 1864 at Altenburg, Germany. During his absence on this occasion Rev. P. F. Mcusch offi- ciated at St. Peter's. In the spring of 1866 the first church building was torn down and the present one erected on its site. The corner-stone was laid Aug. 12, 1866, and the building dedicated Aug. 4, 1867. It is a two-story brick building with stone ornamenta- tion, and its dimensions are fifty and one-half feet by ninety feet. Its seating capacity is eight hundred persons, and its whole cost, including organ and fur-

nishing, was thirty thousand three hundred and twelve dollars. The church lot is one hundred fect square, and contains also a parsonage and three large class- rooms, in which a parochial school is conducted. Pastor Meier, a student of the seminary, preached for a few months after the death of Pastor Wall, and subsequently Rev. Henry Braschler became pastor, and remained until May, 1875. He was succeeded by Rev. J. Hoffman, who served until the fall of 1877, and Rev. J. H. Nollau, who has been pastor since Dec. 10, 1877. In 1856 this church bought a cemetery, known as St. Mark's, on Gravois road, seven miles from the court-house, and containing about thirty-seven acres. Before this it owned, in common with St. Peter's Church, a cemetery on Cherokee Street and Lemp Avenue, which has not been used for burial purposes since 1857. Connected with the church are a Benevolent Ladies' Society, reorganized October, 1877, and having now one hundred and one members; a Young Men's Christian Association, or- ganized 1879; a Young Ladies' Society, organized February, 1882, and having forty-five members ; a day school, established when the congregation was first organized, and which is attended by from sixty to one hundred pupils, under the charge of C. Braeutigam, and a Sunday-school with twenty-three teachers and six hundred and fifty pupils, organized in 1873, the pastor being its superintendent. The congregation numbers about one hundred and twenty families.

St. Peter's German Evangelical Church was one of the two Reformed congregations founded by Pas- tor Wall, of the Church of the Holy Ghost, in 1843. It was organized in 1844, and the first building occu- pied was erected at the corner of Sixth Street and Franklin Avenue in 1846, but was torn down on the removal (in 1850) of the congregation to the present building at Fifteenth and Carr Streets. It is a plain brick structure, with a steeple, and its dimensions are thirty by forty-five feet, with a seating capacity, in- cluding the gallery, of about one thousand. The first pastor was the Rev. Mr. Ries, the elders at that time being W. Shrader, H. Saeger, F. Riecke, W. Leune- brink, F. Dieckmann, D. Voepel. W. Shrader was also trustee. Since the pastorate of Mr. . Ries the ministers in charge have been Louis E. Nollau, ap- pointed Sept. 6, 1852; A. W. Roeder, appointed Oct. 10, 1860 ; E. Roos, appointed Sept. 26, 1870; A. B. P. J. Thiele, appointed March 1, 1880. The Sunday-school, organized in 1851, has now twenty- five teachers and three hundred and seventy-five scholars. The average attendance at the services numbers nearly six hundred persons. A Young

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Men's Christian Association, organized in 1853; a Ladies' Aid Association, organized in the same year ; a Young Ladies' Aid Association, organized in 1872; and Men's Aid Society (consisting only of members of the church), organized Feb. 19, 1872, are con- nccted with St. Peter's Church.

St. Paul's German Evangelical Church, corner of Decatur Street. and Lafayette Avenue, was organ- ized Oct. 23, 1848, by Messrs. Jacob Kleiber, Wil- liam Hogan, John Machenheimer, Frederick Chris- topher, George Henkler, Henry Hirb, Chr. Dietrich, Melchior Siemann, Jacob Schleyer, Martin Uebel, Frederick Weber, and Jacob Kleiber, Sr., with Rev. A. Baltzer as pastor. The present lot, one hundred and thirty by one hundred and twenty feet, was pur- chased and the erection of a building was begun dur- ing the same year. The church was completed and dedicated in 1849. It was a two-story brick building with school rooms in the basement, and seated about five hundred persons. Pastor Baltzer was succeeded by the following : Revs. I. Will (who served ten years), J. C. Seybold, Dr. R. Yohn (who served fifteen years), C. A. Richter, Otto Telle (served ten months), Jacob Irion, and J. F. Köwing (acting temporarily in 1882). The society was incorporated Jan. 23, 1877, with H. H. Schwcer, J. E. Brandenburger, Henry Spenge- mann, Henry Roth, John H. Baumann, and Henry Wiebusch as corporators, under the title of " The German Evangelical St. Paul's Congregation at St. Louis." Upon the lot are situated, besides the church, a parsonage, a young men's hall, and a parochial school which numbers sixty pupils. Connected with the congregation arc a Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of sixty members ; a Ladies' Missionary So- ciety, sixty members ; and a Young Ladies' Socicty, fifty members. About four hundred people com pose the congregation, and the Sunday-school has twelve teachers and three hundred and fifty scholars. The church property is valued at sixty thousand dol- lars.

St. John's German Evangelical Church .- This church, situated at the southeast corner of Madison and Fourteenth Streets, Rev. Gottlieb Mueller, pastor, was organized in 1855, and has grown to be a large congregation. The church building, erected about the same year, is a fine Gothic brick structure, forty by seventy-five feet, with a spire, and is situated on a lot ninety by one hundred and seventy-five feet. Ad- joining the church is a commodious parsonage. The parochial school is attended by four teachers and about four hundred and fifty pupils.

German Evangelical Friedens Church was or- ganized in March, 1858, by its present pastor, Rev.

John M. Kopf, and first met for worship in the Fairmount Presbyterian Church building, at Ninth Street and Penrose Avenue, which was subsequently sold to the Congregationalists and is now Hyde Park Church. The corner-stone of the present building, which is situated at the southwest corner of Newhouse Avenue and Thirteenth Street, was laid in August, 1860, and the building was dedi- cated in April, 1861. It is a handsome Gothic structure of brick, forty-six by seventy-five feet, with a tall spire, and has a seating capacity for one thousand persons. On the church lot, the dimensions of which are one hundred by one hundred and twenty-three feet, are also situated the pastoral residence and the parochial school building. Connected with the latter are three teachers and two hundred and twenty pupils. The congregation comprises one hundred and fifty families, numbering fifteen hundred persons, and there are about eight hundred communicants. The Sunday- school compriscs fourteen teachers and five hundred scholars. Several societies are maintained by the con- gregation, among them the ladies', young men's, and singing societies, and an association for the relief of widows and orphans. The church property is valued at thirty-seven thousand dollars ..

Bethania German Evangelical Church was or- ganized on the 15th of May, 1867, by Rev. Chris- topher F. Stark, now pastor of Bethlehem Church, in a hall at the southeast corner of Twenty-third Street and Franklin Avenue. It worshiped at first in a small chapel situated at the southwest corner of Twenty-fourth and Carr Streets, where Carr Lane School now stands, which was purchased from the Methodist denomination, the price paid for the building and lot (one hundred by seventy-five feet) being six thousand dollars. The chapel was a low one-story brick building, thirty by forty feet, and seating about three hundred persons, in the rear of which the congregation erected a substantial brick school-house. The erection of the present building at the northeast corner of Twenty-fourth and Wash Streets was begun in 1874 and finished in 1875. Rev. Mr. Stark resigned Jan. 1, 1878, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. M. Herberg, who served less than a year, the present pastor, Rev. Lewis Austmann, suc- ceeding towards the close of 1878. The church property, including lot fifty by one hundred feet, is valued at thirty thousand dollars. Connected with the congregation are about eighty members, a Sunday- school with twelve teachers and one hundred pupils, a parochial school with two teachers and fifty pupils, a singing society of twenty members, and Bethania Cemetcry of sixteen acres, situated on St. Charles

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Rock road, seven miles from the court-house, estab- lished about 1871.

Independent Evangelical Protestant Church (German) .- This congregation, which numbers from six hundred to eight hundred members, worshiped originally in a church at the corner of Mound and Eighth Streets, which was purchased by it from the Presbyterians in 1856. The building occupied a lot seventy-five by seventy-six feet, and its own dimen- sions were fifty-four by thirty-six feet, affording a seating capacity for about five hundred persons. The. lower story was used by a primary school, which num- bered one hundred and fifty children. The building was of brick and had a small steeple. About 1868 the building was sold to an independent Baptist or- ganization, and the German congregation erected a new church edifice ninety-two by fifty-six feet, with a steeple one hundred and seventy-four feet high, on the lot at the northeast corner of Webster and Thirteenth Streets, which is still occupied by the congregation. Rev. P. Godfrey Gerber was the pas- tor in 1869, and the present pastor is the Rev. John F. Jonas. There is no Sunday-school connected with the church.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 160

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358