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The First English Lutheran Church Cleveland Heights, Ohio
1881-1951
Seventieth Anniversary
OUR FIRST CHURCH SCOVILLE AVENUE AND PUTNAM STREETS
OUR SECOND CHURCH EAST 105TH STREET AND FAIRMOUNT COURT
Dedicated to the Glory of God and to the far seeing and valiant men and women who have since gone to their reward and by whose labors this church, both temporal and spiritual, has been made possible
A HISTORY OF THE FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH
by Edwin E. Miller
The 5th day of June, 1951 marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of our church and it is fitting that we should pause for a few minutes and reflect on the history of our church and learn something of the problems and the trials of the early members and their efforts to rear a church which should function in the true Lutheran tradition. At a time when the telephone was still a curiosity and long before there were any typewriters, automobiles, radio or television the early pioneers gathered and proposed the formation of a mission, April 16, 1881.
At that time practically all of the Lutheran Churches held services in the German language and it was the hope of the founders that a Lutheran Church in which all the services were in English would fill a very real need.
The organization, however, was not completed until the 5th day of June, 1881, so that has been considered as the actual date of the beginning of the church. The name chosen was The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity of Cleveland, Ohio, and it was organized as a Mission of the Pitts- burgh Synod, General Council. Rev. A. H. Bartholomew was chosen as its first pastor and he served as such until Septem- ber 25, 1887. When he left the church was firmly established.
From the very beginning of the church there was a choir. It may have been known as The Young Peoples Association. Shortly afterward, June 8, 1884, the Ladies Aid was organized and about the same time the Sunday School came into existence.
Frederick W. Fey, Jr. was the organist and choir director from the beginning. For a long time he rendered his services gratuitously but in 1889 the church paid him twenty-five dollars for his services from March 1, 1889 to March 1, 1890. From all reports he was a very able and talented musician and he was quite popular.
While we have considered June 5, 1881, as the date of the beginning of the church, it was not actually incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio until June 27, 1883. The persons who signed the Articles of Incorporation were: A. H. Bartholo- mew, Edwin Saeger, Frederick Fey, Jr., Theodore F. Weihrich, Theophilus Fey, Philip Opper, and Henry H. Liehr.
These articles were approved by J. W. Newman, who was then Secretary of State of Ohio, July 11, 1883 and ever since that time the church has been a religious corporation.
All of the incorporators have passed from the earthly arena. The last one to die was Theodore F. Weihrich.
The church purchased a building at the corner of Scoville Ave. and Putnam Street (now East 38th Street) August 10, 1883, from Sarah R. Benedict for $4500.00 (363-97). To buy it the church borrowed $3500.00 from Thiel College (362-456) which was finally paid off late in 1900 and the mortgage was cancelled January 10, 1901 (8-297).
Soon after the church began holding services they bought an organ June 8, 1884, at a cost of $160.00. This was a type of organ in which the bellows were operated by hand. The man operating the pump was sometimes designated as the "manipu- lator of the organ bellows." However, among the laymen of the church he was known as the "pump handler." Sometimes the pumper fell asleep during the sermon and when the organist attempted to play immediately following the sermon there was no air and not a sound issued from the organ. The pumper was then aroused , and he started to pump vigorously after which the service continued without further incident. For many years Fred Shepherd was designated as the official organ pumper, along with Theodore F. Weihrich. This organ served the congre- gation until October 5, 1908.
The second pastor was the Rev. Charles S. Kohler, who served from December 4, 1887 until March 31, 1895. On the 7th of March, 1891, the choir was given permission to use the church to render a sacred cantata. Henry Jurgen, who was one of the church councilmen, protested vigorously against this and as a result resigned his position as councilman.
Under Rev. Kohler's leadership the Luther League was organized August 1, 1888, and it has had a continuous existence since that time.
About this time the organ showed marked signs of wear and tear and it had to be sent to the factory in Detroit, Michigan in 1891. The makers did a good job of renovating it and upon its return it served the church many more years.
The next pastor was the Rev. Charles Gerash Spieker. He had just graduated from Mt. Airy Seminary in Phila- delphia and he served the church from June 21, 1895 to Sep- tember, 1897, when he accepted a call from Holy Trinity Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He was succeeded by the Rev. George Edward Krauth, who hailed from Frankford, Pennsylvania. He served from Decem- ber 1, 1897 to March 31, 1899.
Following him Rev. Charles S. Kohler was recalled, served a second time as pastor from March 31, 1899 to July 19, 1903. Thereafter he retained his membership in our church and he and his family worshipped with us until he died many years later. His daughter, Miss Ella Kohler, is a member of our congregation to this day. Those who recall Rev. Kohler will remember with what earnest devotion he carried on his pastoral duties and during his pastorship of almost twelve years the church increased markedly in numbers. After he relinquished his duties he always upheld the hands of the pastor who was serving at the time, and he was always ready to lend a hand and do what he could.
During this period of time Frederick W. Fey, Jr. resigned his position as organist, choir director and member of the congregation in 1898. He had served the church faithfully for more than seventeen years and he was sorely missed.
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At a special congregational meeting held October 9, 1898 it was decided to employ Prof. Louis Sensel as organist at a salary of two dollars a Sunday-one dollar for each service (Sunday morning and evening). Prof. Sensel was a very compe- tent organist and those who heard him will never forget his improvisations during the communion service. Prof. Sensel served us more than thirty years although there were several gaps in his ministry of music.
In the latter part of the year 1899 the church Council asked the Luther League to take over the church music and other- wise assist in the services of the church. However this plan did not work out very well and was soon abandoned.
During this period the question of church music engrossed a great deal of the Church Council's attention. The choir plat- form or loft was constructed and anthem books were purchased. The Council found that they could not continue to pay Prof. Louis Sensel's salary of two dollars a Sunday and at the end of a year they had to let him go. During the year 1900 Fred Claus pre- sided at the organ. About this time the Luther League bought a piano to assist in the church, Sunday School and the Luther League devotional services. Later in the year Hilda Birch (later Mrs. England) was appointed to supervise the church music. She accepted the position and served for more than three years. One of her first requests was to enlarge the choir platform, which was done. Mr. Claus moved out of town and this made it necessary to employ a new organist, and Miss C. E. Billman served in that capacity for a year, her pay being two dollars and a half per Sunday. In 1903 Miss Hilda Birch laid down her duties as choir leader and the problem of filling the position was referred to the Ladies Aid. Thereafter Miss Ella Kohler became the church organist and choir director from February 7, 1904 to April 2, 1905. Later she served again from November 5, 1906 to January 7, 1907. She was succeeded by Marie Dingeldey and she in turn by Mrs. Albert L. Benze.
About this time the church decided to move. The location was alright twenty years before, but the character of the neighborhood was changing and many of the members were moving away from the vicinity and the congregation decided to build elsewhere. So on the 18th of April, 1903, they entered into a contract to buy a lot 70 feet front and 150 feet deep from the Charles A. Fenton estate for $3375.00, located at the south- east corner of Doan Street and Fairmount Place (now East 105th Street and Chester Avenue). The deed conveying the title to the lot was filed for record November 26, 1904 (952-153).
Evidently there was some doubt in the minds of the con- gregation whether they should move out as far as East 105th Street, for on the first of June, 1903, they bought a lot on Cedar Avenue for $3375.00 (880-335) but later they decided in favor of the East 105th Street location and they sold the Cedar Avenue lot for the same amount that they paid for it Decem- ber 7, 1904 (947-502).
Sometime before that they sold the first church on Scoville Avenue to Max Shapero and Max Lamden for $6100.00 on March 25, 1903 (870-603). They then borrowed $6500.00 Decem- ber 1, 1904, from the Citizens Savings and Trust Company (955-138) and erected a building at the new site. The last service was held in the old building July 3, 1904. For a time the congregation worshipped in the G A R Hall located at the northwest corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue, the present site of The Cleveland Trust Company bank building. The corner stone of the new church was laid on Sunday, Decem- ber 4, 1904 and the first service was held in the new church April 23, 1905, and the new church was duly dedicated August 27, 28 and 29, 1905.
At this time there was no street car service on East 105th Street, but shortly after the church was completed street car tracks were laid and October 29, 1905, electric cars ran past the church for the first time amid great rejoicing.
A good many members of the church felt that the name, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity of Cleve- land, Ohio, was rather cumbersome and it gave no hint of the fact that its services were in English. This matter was discussed at a congregational meeting held August 13, 1905, and it was decided to amend the articles of incorporation and the name was accordingly changed to The First English Lutheran Church of Cleveland (109-341) which is its name at the present time.
Upon the termination of Rev. Kohler's second pastorate Rev. Albert L. Benze was chosen as the pastor, August 15, 1903. He served until September 15, 1906, when he accepted a call to St. Matthews Church in Toledo, Ohio. He was succeeded by the Rev. Gomer B. Matthews, who served as pastor from October 7, 1906, to August 29, 1909. Rev. Matthews had been a missionary in India and he left us to become field secretary for Thiel College.
It had become evident for some time that the old organ purchased in 1884 would have to be replaced and a special fund had been set aside by the church towards that end. The Ladies Aid also created a fund for that purpose but the total amount was less than half of what was needed. An appeal was made to Andrew Carnegie, and he donated $875.00 towards the purchase of a Hillgren-Lane organ costing $1750.00. The church was now in a position to buy the organ, which they did. Since this organ had an electrically driven motor, it did away with "the manipu- lators of the organ bellows" and they graduated into the limbo of the past. Prof. Sisson, a noted organist in Cleveland at that time, gave the first organ recital, October 5, 1908.
September 20, 1904 a Men's Club was organized to assist in the activities of the church on much the same basis as the Ladies Aid. This club was very prosperous and grew rapidly at first, but as the driving force of the originators died out the club began to stagnate and it finally passed out of existence April 4, 1910.
The Men's Club fostered a Men's Choral Society which did very well at first, but owing to the lack of tenors the Society ceased to exist after several years.
It was a dream of Rev. Mathews to form an association of Lutheran young men comparable to the Y.M.C.A. He hoped that it would become a national organization. Meetings were held and the young men of the church were banquetted and feted, but when he left the church the moving spirit was gone and the association died out.
At a congregational meeting held December 8, 1905 the church decided to have a paid choir. This seemed to be the best solution for the perennial music problem. The plan, however, had to be abandoned because of the lack of funds.
Early in 1907 the post of organist became vacant by the resignation of Miss Ella Kohler. The church thanked Miss Kohler for her past services in playing the organ, and Velma Dozer and Vera Acker were appointed joint organists. This, however, did not work out and finally April 1, 1907, a Mr. Harned was employed to take full charge of the choir and all musical activi- ties and he was to furnish the organist. This, however, did not solve the problem and June 17, 1907 Mr. Harned's services were dispensed with and the Council then employed Prof. Louis Sensel as organist at a salary of $2.50 for two services each Sunday.
For a number of years the church had been weighed down with debt incurred by reason of the construction of the new building, and it seemed impossible for the church to make much headway towards paying it off. It took the most heroic efforts to get enough money together to pay the interest at the appointed time. Finally, through the efforts of Rev. Mathews, an anonymous donor paid off the entire debt of $8647.33, May 1, 1907 and for the first time in the church's history it was out of debt and could breath easier.
About this time there was considerable discussion regard- ing the robing of the choir. This was a novel step and many members were opposed to it, but the majority favored it and early in 1908 the plans and pattern of a gown were submitted to the Church Council, who finally approved the idea as well as the plans which were submitted. Measurements were taken and the cloth was purchased and the Ladies Aid helped to make the gowns. Each gown consisted of a black cassock and a white cotta. When the choir first appeared in their gowns they made a very favorable impression and it was not long before all opposition disappeared and our choir has been vested ever since that time.
About this time also the Men's Club undertook to publish a church paper called the Cleveland Lutheran. This paper was printed monthly and reported various church activities and news items of interest to members of the First Church. This paper flourished about two years, and then the publication was suspended.
When Rev. Mathews left us, the Church Council as indi- viduals attended various Church services in the City, State and Country. As a result of this search for pastoral timber they finally, with the congregation's approval, extended a call to Rev. Charles Dawson Miller and a contract was entered into with Rev. Miller under date of December 14, 1909, which is as follows :
"We, the undersigned, in behalf of the congregation of The First English Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio, (Pittsburgh Synod-General Council), extend to you an unanimous call to become pastor of said parish, to care for the spiritual interests of its members and promote the general welfare of the congregation.
I. Salary.
A. Minimum salary to be $1000.00 per year.
B. Shall be increased as growth of congregation may warrant.
C. Payable in equal semi-monthly installments.
II. Congregation shall bear necessary expenses of pastor attending regularly called conventions of Conference and Synod.
III. Pastor to be granted one month's vacation during each church year, at such time approved by pastor and Church Council.
IV. A 60 days notice must be given by pastor or parish ere the relation between them ceases."
This was signed by P. L. Myers, R. A. Heiser, Louis Dingelday, K. H. Aschenbach, A. J. Stiefel, W. W. Rankin, and W. C. Skinner, who constituted the Church Council at that time.
The salary provided for in the above agreement looks very meager measured by the standards of our day. It seems that this was the highest salary paid by our church to a minister up to that time. In 1891 Rev. Kohler had been paid $940.00 a year. Rev. Miller's salary did not remain at $1000.00 very long. In 1912 it was $1250.00; in 1920, $2500.00; and in 1928 it reached $3000.00. It may be of interest to note that the pastor's salary has continued to increase through the intervening years until in 1951 it reached a total of $5600.00.
The Church receipts show a corresponding increase. In 1912 the receipts amounted to $2427.49; in 1913, $3434.12; in 1918, $3252.12; in 1927, $4583.82; and in 1928, $6228.31. In the last five years the receipts continued to grow: In 1946 the congre- gation contributed $10,295.49 towards the general expenses of the church; and in 1950, $14,365.78.
In addition to the pastor's salary the church also bought him an automobile and paid him an annual allowance for oper- ating the same. The church also purchased a parsonage, May, 1923, for $10,000.00. It was located at 1622 East 93rd Street, Cleveland, Ohio. To do this the church had to go into debt and at the end of 1929 the balance due upon the parsonage was $6264.00. This was secured by a mortgage upon the property.
Rev. Miller proved to be a very dynamic and resourceful man. He made friends very readily and everybody liked him. For twenty years he shaped the course and determined the policies of the church and at last, worn out by his duties and the heavy burdens laid upon him by the pastorate, he gave up his life after a long illness, August 20, 1929. He had been ill for the last year or two of his life to such an extent that he could not keep the usual careful records of baptisms, weddings and deaths and other items, all of which are missing. On the whole, the church prospered greatly during his ministry. He had the happy faculty of saying things in such a way as not to give offense to anyone.
It may be of interest to set forth the growth of the church from the membership standpoint. As near as can be determined, there were about a dozen families who formed the nucleus of the church in 1881. Each decade showed a steady increase in membership. In 1912 the Directory issued during Advent showed a communing membership of 225 and an additional list of 216 people who were interested in the church. In 1913 the commun- ing membership had grown to 262 with 295 people interested. In 1917 the members was 430 and in 1927 this had grown to 535.
In every church incidents occur which are very annoying and give rise to ill feeling on the part of some members. One such incident happened in our church about 1916. It was brought to the attention of the church council that the rear pews of the church were always well filled, while the front seats were unoccupied. If the people who sat in the rear seats could be induced to sit up front then the rear pews would be available for late comers. Thereupon the council conceived the idea of roping off the three rear pews of the church, which were not made available until some time after the church service had started. In trying to carry out this idea the Church Council encountered a great deal of opposition. Some of the members who had always sat in the rear deliberately tore the ropes off and sat down before the service started. Others waited on the outside until the ushers had taken off the ropes and then they rushed in and sat down. And still others stayed away from church altogether. After about six months the plan had to be abandoned, but by that time a lot of damage had been done and the church lost at least a dozen members through this ill starred experiment.
One other incident of a pleasanter character must be recorded at this point. For a long time the Ladies Aid Society had been working to accumulate funds to purchase a stained glass window to take the place of the plain glass window at the rear of the church. Finally, June 7, 1922, they purchased The Good Shepherd window at a cost of $500.00. This window made a big improvement in the looks of the church. It is the same window which forms the background of the altar in our present church.
When the church was organized, it was affiliated with the Pittsburgh Synod of the General Council. In 1921, the congre- gation decided to change its synodical affiliation to the Synod of Ohio, United Lutheran Church.
And now the third decade of the twentieth century was drawing to a close. First church was prosperous and began to . be a power in the community. About this time, the City of Cleveland was planning to cut through Chester Avenue. Our church stood in the path of this civic improvement and many meetings were held between the Church Council and the repre- sentatives of the City. Some of the church Councilmen had delusions of grandeur and insisted that the church plant was worth half a million dollars. We must remember that the total original outlay was less than $25,000.00. Allowing for the appre- ciation of the land and bearing in mind that the building had materially depreciated since it was built 25 years before, the experts advised that $75,000,00 was a fair value of our property. But naturally the members tried to get all they could for it. They were able to push the price up to $80,000.00; then to $85,000.00; then to , $90,000.00; and finally, after a year more of negotiating, the City of Cleveland made a final offer of $100,000.00. We should have accepted this offer, as it was clearly more than the property was worth. But churches can become greedy as well as individuals, and, like individuals, God will punish them for unchristian conduct. It was finally agreed to turn the matter over to Maurice Maschke, who was then the Republican political boss of Cuyahoga County. It was agreed that Mr. Maschke should receive as compensation for his serv- ices one-half of the amount that he should obtain for us over and above $100,000.00. After about a year of dickering back and forth, Mr. Maschke was able to procure $2500.00 additional above $100,000.00. Of this amount, Mr. Maschke took 50% and the total amount received by the church was $101,250.00. This money was deposited in The Guardian Trust Company.
It was now the middle of 1932. The church immediately purchased two lots at the northwest corner of Euclid Heights Boulevard and Derbyshire Road October 27, 1932 for $20,000.00 (4276-487,489) .
Plans were then considered for the erection of a building and a contract was let for the approximate amount of $75,000.00. The contractor was Claus F. Voss, who was a member of the church at the time. Ground was broken and consecration cere- monies were held October 30, 1932, and the cornerstone laid Sunday, January 22, 1933. The contractor diligently proceeded with the construction of the building and one payment of $20,000.00 was made on the contract when The Guardian Trust Company closed its doors, February 25, 1933, and the church's money, amounting to about $60,000.00, was impounded. The church was only half finished, we had no funds to proceed, and work on the building stopped.
From time to time, the liquidator of the bank made pay- ments until March 25, 1950, when the last payment was made and the church realized $49,650.00 on the amount, to which we should add $40,125.00 which we had withdrawn before the crash came. The total amount, therefore, which we received for our property was $89,775.00. Shall we say that in the sight of the Almighty, this was the fair value of our church property which
we sold to the City of Cleveland ? If we had accepted the City's offer of $100,000.00 made the year previously, we would have been able to complete the building and have it all paid for when the financial crash came.
At this time, Dr. Charles E. Leonard was our pastor. He served us from April 7, 1929 to October 25, 1935. When Reverend Miller became so sick that he could no longer perform his pastoral duties, the church called Dr. Leonard as assistant pastor and after Reverend Miller's death, he was officially elected as the regular pastor and he was installed January 19, 1930.
But the situation looked black. Our old church had been torn down, the new church was only half built and could not be used, taxes on the lot were piling up and our membership had dropped to 231 and was continuing to drop. For some time we worshipped in the Masonic Auditorium, next door to our former location. Next, we worshipped in the church building located at the northeast corner of Superior Avenue and Park- wood Drive. Meanwhile our half completed building stood for more than three years as a silent memorial of the tribulation through which we were passing. We forgot our greed, our avarice and our pride. We humbled ourselves and prayed to God to forgive us our sins and He heard our prayers and gave us increased courage and faith to carry on. Plans were laid to com- plete at least a portion of the new church building so as to stop the accumulation of real estate taxes. In the midst of this a new misfortune befell us.
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