USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 35
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The building was finally completed and formally dedicated on the first day of December, 1907. The sermon on this occasion was preached by Rev. M. H. Val- entine, D. D., editor of the Lutheran Observer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The formal act of dedication was performed by the pastor, assisted by Rev. J. W. Kapp, D. D., president of the Miami synod. The church is of early English Gothic architecture, with a tower in the side-center one hundred feet high. Its extreme dimensions are one hundred and eighty-eight feet by ninety-six feet. It is built of Bainbridge, Ohio, stone, buff colored, and beautifully veined in red, brown, and blue. It is covered with a Spanish shingle red tile roof. The windows are of opalescent glass, highly ornamented and in rich design, manufactured by the Gorham Company, of New York. It is heated with the Bromwell Vapor System, and is ventilated by the gravity process. The decorations are in wood colors, and the entire church is finished in hard golden oak. There are large and spacious vestibules covering the entire front of the church and in the tower, these all covered with tile floor and lined with marble washboards and hardwood wains- coting. The auditorium, exclusive of the pulpit platform and choir, is eighty-one by fifty-eight feet in dimensions, and is seated with oak pews, cushioned. This room is lighted with electricity through three large chandeliers and side-wall brackets, one hundred and thirty-six lights in all. The pulpit and choir occupy a space thirty-seven feet in depth and thirty-two in width, making the extreme
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length of the auditorium one hundred and eighteen feet. This room will seat six hundred and seventy-five comfortably. A large three-manual organ, built by A. B. Felgemaker & Co., of Erie, Pennsylvania, occupies the space immediately behind the pulpit.
The Sunday-school room is arranged with class rooms on three sides and is forty-two by ninety feet. It is well adapted for Sunday-school work, and is furnished and finished complete throughout. In the second story of the tower there is a large and handsomely finished room for a ladies' parlor. The entire second story of the chapel portion of the church is occupied with a large assembly- room. The entire cost of the church, including the lot, will be about one hun- dred and seventy thousand dollars. The last service in the old church was held August 26, 1906, and the first service in the new church was held Sunday morn- ing, September 2, 1906.
The chime of bells was retuned and rehung on steel frames and one new bell added, and two of the bells recast by the E. W. Vanduzen Company.
The church membership is 900. John R. Burnet is superintendent of the Sun- day school.
THE SECOND ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH began with prayer-meetings at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Fox on North Main street, Riverdale. Later a Sunday-school and church services were held in Sandmeier's hall from the summer of 1893 to the winter of 1894, at which time the present church at the corner of Shaw and McDaniel streets was ready to be occupied. Up to the present time the church has had three pastors, Rev. E. Lee Fleck, Rev. W. L. Rutherford and Rev. W. M. Hackenberg.
The number of the charter members was forty-five. The present membership is about three hundred. The Sunday-school report for 1894 shows an enrollment of one hundred and eighty-five. The present enrollment is three hundred and six.
TRINITY ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH stands on South Broadway and the corner of an alley near Germantown street. It was organized by Rev. D. Frank Garland, pastor of the First Lutheran church some time in the latter part of 1899. The organization was effected in a frame structure, standing on two lots each thirty-one feet by one hundred and three-three feet. The lots and building were owned by Mr. Christian Becker, a member of the organization. He later deeded the property to the congregation for the sum of one thousand dollars, this being about half its real value. The new congregation was served by Rev. Garland, as- sisted by Rev. C. L. Fleck, pastor of the Second Lutheran church. In the summer of 1900 a call was extended to Rev. W. J. Gaby to become pastor. He accepted, preached his first sermon September 23, 1900, and is still pastor. When he as- sumed charge the congregation numbered sixty-four. It ran approximately five years as a mission of the First Lutheran church, bccoming self-sustaining about 1905. It soon outgrew its quarters. An adjoining lot was purchased and ground broken for a new building. The corner stone was laid May 15, 1904. This build- ing is of brick, modern in all respects, seating eight hundred people with audi- torium, Sunday-school room, and class rooms thrown into one room by rolling partitions. It cost, including equipment and ground, about twenty-two thousand dollars. A movement is now on foot to liquidate the last dollar of its indebtedness. The new building was dedicated November 13, 1904. From its inception the con-
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gregation has grown steadily, its membership having now passed the three hundred mark under its first and only pastor. A pipe organ will be installed in the next year or two. This addition will make the equipment complete and up-to-date in all respects.
ST. JOHN'S GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH is the mother church of all German Protestant churches in the city. Like all German churches of this country, it originated through the immigration of German families who settled here and there increasing at given places and uniting into a Christian church. It was Dr. David Winters of the First Reformed church, who, capable of preaching in German as well as in English, gathered the few German families into his little frame church on Ludlow street, in the year 1834, on Sunday afternoons to preach to them in their own familiar mother tongue.
As they increased in number they called Frederick Reiss of Richmond, Indiana, to be their regular pastor in 1840, and conducted their services in the old brick court-house. Twenty-seven families united with the church on July 18, 1840, and organized the German Evangelical Lutheran church. They purchased a lot on Sears street on February 5, 1842, and erected a little frame church at an expense of one thousand, one hundred and seventy-three dollars.
As the years passed, although other congregations were organized from among the members of St. John's, the congregation grew too large for the little church on Sears street and the members found themselves compelled either to enlarge the old edifice or build a new one. It was finally decided to purchase a lot on a more prominent street and the present site on Third street was purchased for five thou- sand dollars. In 1869, a building sixty-five by one hundred and fifteen with base- ment below, was erected.
On July 9, 1871, this beautiful building was destroyed by a hurricane which swept the city. This occurred on the Sabbath day just as Sabbath-school convened. Three members met their death and a number were injured. The church was at once rebuilt on the same foundation. Again it became too small, and in 1887 an addition of thirty feet was built and the entire structure remodeled at a cost of eleven thousand dollars. This large building met with disaster. On April 30, 1899 it was destroyed by fire, whereupon the present imposing structure ninety-five by one hundred and ninety feet was erected.
One of the largest institutions of our city, The Deaconess hospital, now the Miami Valley hospital, had its origin in St. John's church in 1890 under the pas- torate of Rev. Carl Mueller.
After the erection of the present church edifice a new work was introduced at St. John's in their educational classes, through which their cozy church parlors are thrown open each evening during the winter, where their young people who are entirely from the working classes, can obtain an education during their leisure hours, thus fitting themselves for better positions and becoming more valuable as members of the community. In their last year book they say of this work: "Our seven years' experience in this class work has proven we can create and foster an interest in higher and nobler work and offer the young people an opportunity to grasp higher ideals." Classes are conducted in sewing, millinery work, cooking, music, clay modeling, basketry, mechanical drawing, pyrography, bookkeeping, stenography and art.
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The educational classes are in charge of the young people's society known as the Mission Circle which has a membership of four hundred. In the course of seven years one hundred and ninety-six classes have been conducted with a mem- bership in the senior department of one thousand and twenty-five and in the junior department of nine hundred and sixty-one.
Following the first pastor before named, the pastors of the church have been the following : Rev. Bartels, 1841 ; Andreas Hardorf, 1844; Ernst Hertsch, 1852; H. Borchard, 1855 ; C. A. Fritze, 1861 ; Peter Born, 1877; Carl Mueller, 1883; J. G. Mueller, 1894. Among the pastors, Rev. Hertsch is especially remembered for his efficient service.
The membership numbers about three thousand. The Sunday-school enroll- ment is about fourteen hundred.
THE GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH was organized on the 18th of January, 1852, by forty members leaving St. John's church with the pastor, the Rev. A. Hordorf. Of these charter members two are yet living and connected with this church, viz: Mr. Adam Hilt, and Mr. H. Beddies. The church in which the members of St. Paul's first housed was purchased from the Methodist Episcopal congregation on Fifth avenue and Jackson street, and moved to the northwest corner of Wayne avenue and Short street. Here they held their services until 1869, when the congregation dedicated the pres- ent church situated on the opposite side of the street. The church is a brick building of Gothic style, one hundred and eight feet by fifty-six feet and thirty- six feet high and was erected at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. Fourteen years later, the spire, about two hundred feet high was finished and three bells installed at a cost of eight thousand dollars. In 1892, the St. Paul's congre- gation erected a beautiful, spacious ninety-four by sixty-four two-story brick parish schoolhouse which cost some fifteen thousand dollars. In 1899, a conven- ient and modern parsonage was built on the lot by the side of the church on Wayne avenue at a cost of about five thousand dollars. At present the St. Paul's congregation is busily at work giving the church a complete overhauling. The outer walls are covered with Scottish stucco. A new steam heating ventilating system is being installed. Besides this, a hardwood floor, new pews and a new Austin pipe organ are being put in. Including the fresco work the congregation is spending some sixteen thousand dollars for present repairs.
St. Paul's Lutheran church has always been interested in mission work. Besides contributing freely to foreign and synodical mission treasuries, she has three Lutheran churches in the city of Dayton that are her daughters, viz. the Hope Lutheran (English), the German Lutheran, Christ church, and English Lutheran, St. Mark's.
The membership of St. Paul's Lutheran church is about one thousand, two hundred communicants. The Sunday-school has an enrollment of about four hundred and fifty; the Ladies' Society two hundred and eighty-five members; Men's Aid two hundred; the parish school three teachers and one hundred and sixty pupils ; and the Young People's Society one hundred members. Synodically St. Paul's Lutheran church has ever been and is at present connected with the Joint Synod of Ohio and other states. All the morning services of St. Paul's church are conducted in the German language and all the evening services in the
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English. The names and time of service of the different pastors are : Rev. A. Hor- dorf, 1852; Rev. Fr. zur Muhlen, 1859; Rev. F. Groth, 1861 ; Rev. G. Söwen- stein, 1876; Rev. A. H. Feldmann, 1882; Rev. M. C. Hecht, 1890.
HOPE ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH was organized in the year 1881, with eleven communing members, under the pastorate of Rev. O. S. Oglesby. For eight years the small congregation had no church home of its own, but held services regularly in a rented church on May street and in a hall on the corner of Wayne avenue and Fifth street. In April, 1883, Rev. Oglesby was succeeded by Rev. M. L. Baum, who had just completed his course in the seminary at Colum- bus, Ohio, and has remained its pastor until the present time. In the year 1889 a lot was bought on the corner of Hickory and Perrine streets, and a small frame church erected. The congregation and Sunday-school having outgrown the ca- pacity of the frame church, the congregation began the erection of- the present brick church, in July, 1892, and dedicated it in November, 1893. Its present mem- bership is about four hundred and the Sunday-school enrollment is about four hundred and twenty-five. The present pastor is in his first pastorate, and is now finishing his twenty-seventh year in the same. The congregation belongs to what is known as the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod, of Ohio, and other states.
CHRIST EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH was begun as a mission of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church on Wayne avenue, by Rev. M. C. Hecht. Two lots on the corner of Hart street and Grove avenue were purchased in 1896 and a small chapel erected. The work of the mission soon required more atten- tion than Rev. Hecht could give, so St. Paul's congregation called M. F. H. Meyer, a graduate of the Columbus Theological Seminary, as assistant pastor. This occurred in 1898. In the early part of 1900, the mission became independent and called Rev. Meyer as pastor. Rev. Meyer labored successfully for six years during which time a parsonage was secured. In October of 1906, the pastor left to assume charge of another congregation. For some months no pastor could be secured. In April of 1907 Rev. Eugene Poppen of the Columbus Seminary was called. He began his pastorate in June of the same year and is still the incum- bent. The chapel is still in use, but a new church will be erected in the course of a few years. This congregation numbers about two hundred and sixty members.
ST. JOHN'S ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH is situated on St. Clair street, facing Cooper park. It was organized December 18, 1864, in Huston hall. Rev. Daniel Steck, former pastor of the First English Lutheran church was the first pastor. The congregation continued to worship in Huston hall until April 24, 1865, when the building containing the hall was destroyed by fire. For a nuin- ber of years thereafter the congregation used Clegg's hall as a place of worship. In 1868 Mr. Steck resigned. About this time the congregation purchased its pres- ent lot on St. Clair street. At the time there was a church building on the lot which had been used by the First Congregational church. When the congregation came into possession of this property, Rev. M. C. Horine became pastor. Soon after, the church was received into the District Synod of Ohio in connection with the General Council of the Lutheran Church of North America. Rev. S. L. Harkey was the next pastor. After a pastorate of nine months he resigned. After this, the pulpit was vacant for a time. In 1873 a mortgage on the property was foreclosed and the property advertised for sale. Relief however was ob-
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tained and the property saved. In May, 1873, Rev. A. F. Siebert became pastor, remaining until 1886, when he was succeeded by J. G. Neiffer. The present pastor is M. L. Maguer.
ST. MARK'S ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH is located at the northeast corner of Linden avenue and Britt Street. Rev. Oscar T. F. Tressel is the present pastor.
THE GRACE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH was organized August 4, 1907, with twenty-two members. Rev. H. G. Burkholder became pastor and still serves the congregation. The congregation owns a lot on the corner of May and Tor- rence streets, but at present has only a temporary chapel occupying the same. The lot cost three thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars, and is almost paid for. The present church membership is eighty-five. The present Sunday-school en- rollment is one hundred and twenty-one.
REFORMED CHURCHES.
FIRST REFORMED CHURCH. Among the early settlers of Montgomery county were numbered a fair proportion of Reformed families from Maryland and Pennsylvania. Rev. Thomas Winters came to Montgomery county in 1809. In Maryland, he was associated with the religious movement under Rev. William Otterbein, and in Ohio he cooperated with the United Brethren ministers for several years. After 1814, his connections and labors were altogether in the Re- formed church. He traveled and preached extensively in southwestern Ohio and was instrumental in establishing churches in different places. He introduced five young men into the ministry, two of whom were his own sons, David and Thomas.
The First Reformed church of Dayton was founded under the labors of David Winters. He began his ministerial work in Dayton in 1824, but a regular church was not organized until the year 1833. With a small nucleus, consisting of six men and women, the congregation was organized. The names of the six original. members were: Mr. and Mrs. Abram Artz, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Frybarger, Mrs. Valentine Winters and Mrs. David Winters. In the Christian or New Light church on the west side of Main street between Fourth and Fifth streets, the or- ganization took place and services were conducted there for a period of two years, after which the congregation removed to the court house, which was in that day a convenient center for new and struggling church organizations. While the con- gregation was worshipping here, a number of German families of the Reformed faith made application for the privilege of organizing and conducting services in the German language. Their request was granted, the German brethren electing their own officers. Mr. Winters, who could preach equally well in German and in English, preached alternately in the two languages. Thus matters continued for a number of years. April 13, 1837, a subscription was drawn up by the pastor for the purchase of a lot on Ludlow street between Second and Third streets. The amount of seven hundred and fifty-two dollars was subscribed for this purpose. Peter Baer, Valentine Winters and Frederick Boyer as trustees, proceeded to purchase the lot upon which the present edifice is located. The price paid was seven hundred dollars. A subscription for the building of the church amount- ing to three thousand, three hundred and seventy-two dollars was secured, and the erection of the building at once commenced. Other subscriptions were taken,
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and in June, 1840, at the meeting of the Ohio Synod at Dayton, the church was dedicated. Only a part of the church, however, was finished at this time. The congregation struggled with debt for a number of years and was greatly crippled by short pastorates and vacancies in the pulpit.
Rev. David Winters, the founder and faithful pastor of the church for the first seventeen years of its history, resigned his charge of it in 1850, retaining charge, however, of certain country churches that had been served in connection with it. He was succeeded by Rev. A. P. Freese, who served two years. Rev. H. Phillips, his successor, resigned after six months. Then for three and a half years, the church was vacant. But in 1856, a number of members of the Reformed church coming from different places, reinforced the local congregation. In July, 1855, Rev. George W. Willard was called to be the pastor and in December of that year entered upon his duties, serving until early in 1861. The church- was greatly strengthened and encouraged during his pastoral term. Rev. L. H. Kiefauver was elected as his successor. In 1863, he gave place to Rev. T. P. Bucher. In his pas- torate, the rebuilding and enlarging of the church edifice was undertaken, the necessary expenditure amounting to more than fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Bucher resigned in April, 1867, but continued as a supply for more than a year. September 1, 1868, Rev. David Van Horn succeeded to the pastorate and in a short time was able to report the church debt entirely paid off, or, what proved an entirely different thing, the necessary amount subscribed. Mr. Van Horn resigned October 9, 1875, the church having been greatly built up in the seven years of his pastorate. Two ministers were successively elected to the pastorate, but declined to accept. The next election turned out differently as indicated by the following letter :
JAS. C. REBER, EsQ.
Lancaster, O., Sept. 13, 1876.
Dear Brother :- Your call has been received. I accept.
Yours in the Lord,
W. A. HALE.
The debt of over seven thousand dollars was soon paid. By bequest, valuable residence property was given to the congregation as a parsonage. During the first six years of Mr. Hale's pastorate, more than two hundred and fifty members were added to the church. In 1886, a mission church was planned. The move- ment resulted in the establishment of Trinity Reformed church. In 1891, a mis- sion church was established in West Dayton. In the spring of 1895, assistance was given in the formation of another church in the eastern part of the city. The congregation, with a membership of six hundred and seventy-six, continues prosperous under the faithful labors of Doctor Hale, now in the thirty-fourth year of his pastorate.
The Sunday-school, organized about 1843, has passed through the same vicis- situdes through which the church has passed, and at this time has an enrollment of above three hundred and twenty-five. Mr. A. L. Shearer has been superin- tendent.
TRINITY CHURCH on the corner of Jefferson and Green streets, was organ- ized December 12, 1886, in the lecture room of the First Reformed church.
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The meeting was presided over by Rev. Dr. Edward Herbruck. The officers elected were as follows: Elders, G. G. Prugh, V. P. Van Horn, George W. Shearer, Dr. D. C. Lichliter. Deacons, S. B. Hall, J. S. Crilley, G. G. Galloway, W. S. Filbert. Trustees: M. D. Myers, David Hawker, John Blum. Fifty- one members from the First Reformed church entered into the organization. The first service was held January 2, 1887. The services were held in the Reibold building. corner Jefferson and Fifth street, until the present building was ready for services. The present building, complete in all its appointments was erected at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars and dedicated December 2, 1894. The various organizations were organized as follows: Bible School, January 2. 1887; Woman's Missionary Society and the Ladies' Aid Society, March 15. 1887; Christian Endeavor Society, January 13, 1889.
The pastors who have served the church are as follows: Rev. Edward Her- bruck, D. D., served until the first regular pastorate in 1887; Rev. D. W. Eb- bert, D. D., 1887; Rev. C. E. Miller, D. D., 1890; Rev. C. E. Wheler, D. D., 1899; Rev. F. S. Zaugg, 1902 ; Rev. A. D. Wolfinger, D. D., 1905 to the present. The church has a membership of five hundred and thirty-four and the Bible School of four hundred, including a Men's Bible class of fifty members.
THE FOURTH CHURCH, located on the corner of Summit street and Home avenue, has a history covering a period of eighteen years. The congregation is a child of the First Reformed church of the city and was launched as a missionary project in February of 1891. A committee from First church looked carefully into the needs of the city and very soon decided that the west side furnished abundant opportunity for the Reformed church.
The necessary plans and arrangements were soon completed and a Bible school was organized and held its first session in the afternoon of the third Sunday of March, 1891, in the Odd Fellows' hall, corner of Third and Wil- liams. Mr. Webster Fry was the superintendent. The attendance soon reached two hundred and twenty-five. Regular prayer-meetings were held on Thurs- day night conducted by the Rev. Dr. Hale.
In May 1891 the newly organized congregation felt the need of a house of worship and by the donation of two lots on Conover street, by the late Elder Benjamin Kuhns, it soon secured the new church. Ground was broken in June, 1891, and the corner-stone was laid in September of that year. The first Bible school session was held in the new church in December, 1891, the dedication being June 12, 1892.
The congregation worshiped in this church building for ten years. The first pastor was the Rev. S. U. Snyder, who began his pastorate on August 24, 1892. The second pastorate began under the Rev. Ross F. Wicks on May 10, 1896. The congregation soon outgrew the capacity of the building, and on July 2, 1900, ground was broken for a new church. The present structure is a beautiful edifice costing thirty thousand dollars, in which the first service was held on the second Sunday in November, 1901. The present pastor is the Rev. Edward F. Evemeyer, whose pastorate began on December 1, 1908.
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