|
|
||
|
CHAPTER VIII Churches
and Religious Institutions |
||
VIII.
The Lutherans - 1849
THE first Lutheran congregation to come into existence
in Trenton was that of 1849, which is to be identified with the present
German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church on South Broad Street. A history of this
congregation was prepared by the Rev. Hugo R. Wendel, pastor of the
church since 1896, on the occasion of its golden jubilee, observed January
3, 1899. The manuscript of this history, translated by Miss Thekla Hill,
is on file in the Free Public Library. The account here given is an
abridgment of that record. GERMAN
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN TRINITY CHURCH - 1849
SOUTH BROAD STREET It
was, according to the account given by Pastor Wendel, due to the interest
of the Rev. Dr. John Hall, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church,
that an impetus was given to the formation of a German Lutheran church
in Trenton. On page 260 of Hall's History of the Presbyterian
Church in Trenton, second edition 1912, there is a paragraph
referring to this subject. To 1845 Mr. Hall,
finding many German families of the Lutheran faith who attended no church,
many of them unable to understand English, wrote to the Rev. Dr. Demme of Philadelphia, suggesting
a visit from him to explore, or the sending of a missionary. In 1848 services were held in the First Church lecture-room by
German missionaries, and the work thus begun resulted in the
organization of the German Lutheran
Church. In 1849 the Rev. Christian Charles Augustus Brandt
came to Trenton and organized a German-speaking congregation, to which
was given the title "St. John's Congregation of the Augsburg Confession
of Trenton and South Trenton." The first services, 1849, were held
in a room of the City Hall and afterwards in Scott's Hall opposite. The first council, besides the pastor, included Christian
Frederich Schneider, Wilhelm Scroth, Daniel Fell, Wilhelm Lauber, Daniel
King, Christian Kaefer and George Burchardt. A Sunday school was also
organized the same year. In 1850 Pastor Brandt resigned or was removed
owing to some differences with the congregation. In 1852, October 6,
the congregation called the Rev. A. T. Geisenthainer as its pastor. Mr.
Geisenthainer bought with his own money the present property on South
Broad Street and erected upon it a small brick church at his own expense.
This building was finished and dedicated August 31, 1852. There was
a small frame house on the lot which was used as a parsonage. This house
had once been the property of Captain Alexander Douglass and was the
place where Washington held a war council with his generals January
2, 1777, a few days after the first Battle of Trenton. 21 In the spring of 1853 a small frame
building was attached to the rear of the church and used as a Sunday
school and also for a week-day school. 21 See pp. 178, 308-11, above. There
seems to have arisen some dissension between the German-speaking and
the English-speaking portions of the congregation, and in 1856 the German-speaking
section withdrew and called the Rev. G. F. Gartner as pastor, renting
Temperance Hall for its service. On August 3, 1856, this section was
incorporated under a new name, but the charter was never delivered,
or if so has been missing for a long time. The
Rev. Mr. Geisenhainer had agreed when the church was built to turn over
the property to the congregation when it was prepared to reimburse him
for its cost. He at first refused to deal with the German-speaking section
on the ground that the congregation was not the same as the original
one. He finally agreed to sell the property for $1,500 down and a mortgage
of $3,500. On this basis the transfer of church parsonage and school
building took place March 31, 1857. In 1863
the congregation acquired the property in the rear of the church fronting
on Cooper Street, and proceeded to erect a school house. In 1866
Pastor Gartner offered his resignation, but was induced to withdraw
it and he remained until 1873 when Pastor J. Zentner was called to succeed
him. In 1876 the building of a larger church was taken in hand. The
cost of the new building was about $20,000. The church was dedicated
May 13, 1877. Pastor
Zentner, having resigned July 5, 1885, after a pastorate of thirteen
years, was succeeded by Pastor Rudolph Gerlach of Morristown, Pa., who
remained until June 1896. The congregation then called the present pastor,
the Rev. Hugo R. Wendel, then at Harrisburg, Pa. He was installed October
18, 1896 and thus has served his charge for over thirty years. During
his pastorate the seats in the church were made free and a day school
reestablished for which a new four-story building was erected in 1897.
In the same year the property at 12 Livingston Street was acquired for
a parsonage. The church building was also thoroughly renovated and refurnished.
Many fine stained-glass windows were given as memorials, including an
altar window in memory of Johanna Hertling Roebling by Colonel Washington
A. Roebling. During
the fifty years 1849-99, closing with the golden jubilee of the congregation,
christenings numbered 4474, marriages 1387, burials 1391, confirmations
1615, and communicants enrolled were 17,549. Among
the prominent German families who have been connected with the Church
were: Fell, Strausser, Roebling, Snyder, Walter, Oessenberg, Schlicker,
Lebstein, Baker and Pfister. THE REVEREND HUGO R. WENDEL The
Rev. Hugo R. Wendel was born April 14, 1857, in Wildberg, Southern Germany.
For several years he followed the occupation of a pharmaceutical chemist,
but by an accident which injured his eyes he was compelled to seek some
other vocation. He then turned to the law and after serving his
time became county attorney in Oenringen and Nurtingen. Later he was
registered under state direction in Stuttgart. Subsequently he opened
a law office of his own in Nuensingen and there practised for several
years. When a call from America for Lutheran preachers came, Wendel
prepared himself for work in this country. With six other students he
came to America in March 1882, and was assigned to the mission field
in Pennsylvania. After a course in Lutheran doctrines the Ministerium
of Pennsylvania, May 22, 1883, ordained him and he was sent to the coal
regions, where he served congregations in St. Claire, Middleport and
Locust Valley. In 1884 be went to St. Thomas' Church at Germantown where
he remained three years, then to St. Peter's Church in Port Jervis for
nine years. In 1888 he went to Zion Church at Harrisburg. He received
a call to Trenton in 1896 where he has since remained. EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN CHRIST CHURCH - 1869
LIVINGSTON AND JACKSON STREETS This
body appears to have come into existence as the final result of various
unsuccessful attempts to organize the English-speaking Germans of Trenton
into a Lutheran congregation. The nucleus of the congregation which
afterwards assumed the present title, Evangelical Lutheran Christ Church,
is probably to be found in a society which was started in the early
'3o's of the last century and which doubtless subsequently is to be
identified with the English-speaking section of the congregation which,
after the erection of the Lutheran Church in 1852 on South Broad Street,
occupied that building conjointly with the German-speaking Lutherans
until it was purchased by the latter for their exclusive use in 1857. It would
appear that in that year a congregation of English-speaking Germans
bought land on North Montgomery Street near Academy and erected a church
building which was consecrated September 11, 1859. The Rev. A. T. Geisenhainer,
the former pastor and owner of the church property on South Broad Street,
was present on the occasion and participated in the service. The North
Montgomery Street church property subsequently was sold to the Har Sinai
Congregation, 1865, and was dedicated in 1866 as a Jewish synagogue.
What became of the German Evangelical congregation is not known, but
the probabilities are it became or was merged into the Evangelical Lutheran
Christ Church which was organized in 1869 and now has its place of worship
at Livingston and Jackson Streets.
22 22 Podmore, "Jews in Trenton
History," The Community Messenger, June 1926. The
congregation of Christ Church was organized at a meeting held in the
Sunday school of the German Lutheran Church, South Broad Street, July
1, 1869. The pastor of that church was present and acted as chairman
of the meeting. The first pastor was the Rev. Amos H. Bartholomew who
was installed Sunday, October 10, 1869. Up to the close of that year
services were held in the church of the German Lutherans in the afternoon
and subsequently up to the spring of 1870 in the Sunday school rooms.
The services were then held in the Mercer County Court
House. 23 23 Raum, History of Trenton, pp.
146‑7. In 1871
Messiah Chapel was purchased. A year later this chapel was destroyed
by fire and a new church was built on Greenwood Avenue near Jackson
Street. In 1902 the building was sold and the present chapel built on
Livingston near Jackson Street. The Congregation has had in the course
of its existence twelve pastors, few of whom remained longer than
three or four years. Since the beginning of the present century there
have been five pastors. The Rev. E. B. Killinger served for ten
years, 1895‑1905; the Rev. H. W. Reimer for two years, 1905‑07;
the Rev. Edwin J. Hopkins for five years, 1907‑12; the Rev. W.
Scott Bonnell also for five years, 1912‑17; and the present pastor,
the Rev. Alexander Berg, has been in charge since 1918. CHURCH
OF THE ADVENT - 1888
BROAD AND MALONE STREETS The
congregation was organized in December 1888, through the efforts of
the Rev. G. C. Gardner, pastor of Bethany German Lutheran Church of
Roxboro, Pa., who was the son of a former pastor of Trinity German Lutheran
Church on South Broad Street, this city. The first services were
held in Borough Hall on South Broad Street. In 1889 a building was erected
at Broad and Malone Streets and the cornerstone was laid in June
of that year. The church was dedicated in May 1890. The first pastor
was the Rev. J. Heissler who served from 1889 to 1920. He retired in
that year, but is still living in Trenton, From 1920, the pastor has
been the Rev. Louis Schmidtkonz. The congregation was German-speaking
from the beginning, but in later years English has been used at some
of the services. ST. MARK'S ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH - 1898
CHESTNUT AND EMORY AVENUES St.
Mark's English Lutheran Church was organized September 9, 1898, with
forty‑five charter members. Wagner's Hall at the corner of Hudson
and Mott Streets was the meeting place of both Sunday school and church
for twenty months. On December 20, 1898, the Rev. J. Morgan Cross, the
first pastor, was called, remaining until November 2, 1902. Steps
were soon taken looking toward the erection of a suitable edifice. The
lot upon which the church is built at Chestnut and Emory Avenues was
purchased and work was begun on the building in August 1899, and the
cornerstone was laid with appropriate services October 1. The dedication
services were held May 27, 1900. The
Rev. I. Walton Bobst, the second pastor of the church, was called February
1, 1903, remaining until September 1, 1914. The Rev. M. Arthur Spotts
became pastor December 1, 1914. He remained for two years. The Rev.
Grayson Z. Stup was then called to take up the work. He served the church
for five years and five months, when he resigned to accept a call to
Harrisburg, Pa. The Rev. Wm. H. Reimer began his work as pastor September
3, 1922, and resigned August 31, 1924. The
Rev. George P. Goll, the present pastor, was called December 1, 1924. GRACE
LUTHERAN CHURCH - 1898
HILLCREST AND READING AVENUES As
early as 1888 a union Sunday school was organized in a building still
standing in the rear of 200 Hillcrest Avenue. Subsequently a building
was erected on Hillcrest Avenue, between the Reading Railway and Scotch
Road. This building was destroyed by fire and a new one was erected
on Reading Avenue near Maple. In
1898 the congregation was organized under the name of "The Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Hillcrest," The building was moved to Hillcrest
and Reading Avenues, the present location. Later on it was enlarged
and a parsonage built on the next lot, 207 Hillcrest Avenue. The
following pastors have served the church: the Rev. U. E. Apple, the
Rev. Charles McDaniel, the Rev. E. C. Mumford, the Rev. J. H. Straw,
the Rev. L. R. Haus and the Rev. C. W. Diehl. The present pastor is
the Rev. Allan Chamberlin. EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE SAVlOUR - 1899
FRONT AND MONTGOMERY STREETS The
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Saviour was organized October 31,
1899, with twenty-seven charter members. In July 1902 the present church
building, located at Front and Montgomery Streets, was purchased from
the Adventist Congregation, and after necessary alterations was
occupied on August 10 of that year. On May 1, 1913, the congregation
became self‑sustaining. In
1910, the present parsonage at 207 East Front Street was purchased.
The church has prospered and many improvements have been made. The church
debt was finally liquidated in 1927, and the church is now one of the
most flourishing Lutheran congregations in the city. The
first services, beginning January 8, 1899, were conducted by the Rev.
William Ashmead Shaeffer, mission superintendent, and the following
pastors have served the congregation: the Rev. Paul Zeller Strodach,
1899-1901; the Rev. John Casper Mattes, 1902-15; the Rev. William L.
Hunton, supply pastor; the Rev. H. Grady Davis, 1916-18; and the Rev.
George Luther Weibel, from November 1, 1918, to the present time. ST.
JOHN THE EVANGELIST (SLOVAK) - 1908
HARDING STREET This congregation
was organized in the Church of the Saviour during the pastorate of the
Rev. John Casper Mattes. A church and a parsonage were erected on Harding
Street. The last pastor was the Rev. Joseph Abraham who recently
resigned. HOLY
TRINITY CHURCH (POLISH) - 1911
INDIANA AVENUE AND PLUM STREET The first Polish Lutherans
came to Trenton some thirty to forty years ago. At first they associated
themselves with the German Lutheran Trinity Church on South Broad Street,
although they could not understand the German language. In 1902 with
the permission of the pastor, the Rev. Hugo R. Wendel, they invited
the Rev. F. Sattelmcier, pastor of a Polish Lutheran Church in Scranton,
Pa., to conduct occasional services. He served the congregation until
1909 when the Rev. C. Mikulsri of Baltimore, Md., was called in the
same capacity. In 1911
the congregation was regularly organized under the name of Holy Trinity
and with the help of the mission board a resident pastor was called
in the person of the Rev. F. Sattelmcier. In 1912 a church building
was erected on Indiana Avenue and Plum Street and services were conducted
both in Polish German and English. The second resident Faster was the
Rev. A. Nicholai who assumed charge of the congregation in 1917. In
1918 the church building was destroyed by a storm and the pastor shortly
after resigned his charge. Under the leadership of his successor, the
Rev. J. Dawidowski of Baltimore, a new church was built on the old site
and dedicated April 17, 1919. Most of the funds for this purpose came
from the Church Extension Fund of the Missouri Synod. Since 1919 the
present pastor, the Rev. Theo. R. Fehlau, has served the corgregation
and has also continued his mission work in New York City, Pine
Island, N.Y., and Mount Tom, Mass. THE
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW - 1914
SOUTH CLINTON AND LAKESIDE AVENUES This
congregation was incorporated in 1914, having been organized by the
Rev. U. S. G. Bertolet, field missionary of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania,
and the Rev. J. C. Mattes, pastor of the Church of the Saviour. It began
with sixty-two members. The present church building was purchased
in 1914 from Christ Episcopal Church, having been previously used for
a chapel known as St. John's. The purchase price of the property was
$6,000. The first pastor, the Rev. Rufus E. Kern of Marion, Va., assumed
charge December 6, 1914; he resigned two years later. The Rev. Otto
C. F. Janke was the next pastor, who remained a little over one year.
On November 25, 1917, the present pastor, the Rev. W. Penn Barr of Weatherly,
Pa., was called and took charge the following December. The brick dwelling
adjoining the church property was bought for a parsonage at a cost of
$4,000, in 1917. The
church record shows that 312 names have been enrolled since the beginning
of the congregation, of which 167 are now active members. Since May
1, 1925, the congregation became entirely self-sustaining. BETHEL
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH - 1915
JOHNSTON AND WALNUT AVENUES The
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized July 18, 1915, when
sixty-one persons were enrolled as members. In December 1915 the Rev.
L. R. Haus, the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, became the first pastor.
A lot was bought at Johnston and Walnut Avenues, and the cornerstone
of a church building with basement only was laid October 22, 1916. The
dedication took place February 11, 1917. In 1923 the church was completed
and in 1925 a parsonage was added, the total cost being about $10,000.
The Rev. J. W. Gentzler became the pastor in 1919. He remained until
1927, when the present pastor, the Rev. J. Walter Shearer, was called
and took up the work. |
||
|
|
||
|
Return to Old Mill Hill Society History Page
|
