The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-09-29
THEIR SILVER JUBILEE.
History Of the Zion Evangeli-
cal Lutheran Church
Of GreenVi1le.
TWENTY YEARS THEIR PASTOR.
Good Work Of the Rev. G. Burk-
hard-Peace Now Reigns In
the Little Church.
TWENTY YEARS THEIR PASTOR.

J
Bergen avenues, most remarkable an
niverssry celebration W i'll be held mex
Sunday anc Monday, October 1 and Z
It will be remarkable from the fact tina
it represents quarter of a century
existence for the church, and remarkable
too, because it also represents the twen
teth year of the PASTORS occupancy o
that position.
Preparations on an advanced scale ar
being made for the occasion. Pastor g
| Burkhard and his many willing assist
ants from the congregation are busy
preparing for it. The interior of tn
| quaint little chapel of such advanced age
| will be decorated for the occasion. The
trimmings will be mostly floral. so that
little WORK has yet been done towards
that end.
One of the features OF the celebration
| Will be the musical programme. Thll
will be rendered by the Lutheran Chora
| Union. a society connected with the
church for the last year and &
| half, and which supplies its choll
| music. Another feature will bt
| the attendance of as many of those
who received confirmation Ia the church
| from its very first as can be brought TO-
| f1rmation was first conferred in the
church. to the present day 335 people
| have been confirmed. OF these seventeen
have died and seventeen have moved
| away from Greenville. "Alas," says Mr..
| Mr.. Burkhard. in u note to the pro
gramme of the services issued by him.
How many of the remaining 266 are
there now in the church," Among the
| 359 confirmed in the church are found
many names of we'll known Greenville
| families.
THE FIRST CHURCH.
There is one more remarkable thing
connected with the celebration. 1t is
| the fact that the original church will be
| the scene Of the celebration The orig
| inal church and looking much the same
| as 1t did twenty years ago, when Pastor
| Burkhard came there. stauds as solid
| today, apparently, as when 1t was first
| erected. Built on two lots. as it is, and
| being only about thirty fest wide, a road
way is left on the side for carriages. In
| the back OF the church are sheds for the
horses TO stand under while their owners
and drivers worship within. The church
| itself has q staunch. stalwart appearance,
| at least to the imaginative, as 1t sta nds
facing McAdoo avenue, never looking to
right or left, as it 1aunts the brazen
rooster on the top Of it's weather-vane at
| the will of the wind. From this weather.
vane the church has frequently been
called the Rooster" church. Neither
the Pastor nor any OF the congregation
like that, however. To them 1t seems
almost sacrilege, for the image has been
placed there 10 commemorate the thrice
Growing cock which warned st. Peter of
his false denial.
The church was a frame structure
originally one story IN height. A few
years after it was built, however, the
frame building was raised and brick
basement built under it. This was
something over TWENTY-FIVE years ago
and the church looks just the same
sGdsy The area ,,,r,v it covers s.., is about
height Is about twenty-five feet.
1t has a gable-roof, but the ceiling of
the chapel is fiat. Along the sides
half dozen windows light the interior.
From the trout of the building projects
a square tower whose diameter is the
front door of the church. This tower
runs all the way up the front of the
building. and rises several feet above the
gabled roof. 1t is lattlced up here, and
within the lattice swings the loud
tongued bell. On this is a pagoda-
shaped roof. and on this the famous
weather-vane.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
The history of the churcn is an inter-
esting one. At the morning service In
the church next Sunday, Pastor Burk-
hard will read a history of the mauy
trials and tribulations undergone by the
founders of the church. What follows
tells how the church attained its present
age aud standing.
In the township of Greenville in the
year 1866 the church was founded, A
handful OF Lutheraus, and as MANY
mem ners of the Evangelical Association
joined forces and organized the Zion
Evangelical Lutheran Church. For
want OF a better place of worship, the
use of the old public schoolhouse on Old
Bergen Road was secured and meetings
of prayer were held in it on Sunday
mornings and atteruoens. School was
held in the building on week days as
usual.
These accommodat ations suficed for a
time but the band of worshippers were
ambitious to secure place of worship Of
their own. So on June 90 in that same
year two lots were bought on McAcoo
avenue near Bergen avenue. the present
site of the church. For these lots $575
was paid. at That time the spot where
the church is located was comparatively.
wild. 1t was called Greenville Grove.
Still the old meeting house WAS not
abandoned. On October l6 1867, the
corner stone of the presept church was
laid, and then trouble began IN the little
band. All had been plaiu sailing before,
and everything SCENE to smile on their
task, but here the first storms We're
encountered.
INTERNAL DIssENTIoNs
The Evangelical Association wished to
have the church built aud dedicated to
heir denomination, thus breaking away
from their association with the Lutherans.
The latter stood up for their rights and
were determined the church should be
dedicated to their religious beliefs as
well as the Evangelical creed. The dis
turbers would listen to no plan of combi-
nation, anu law suit was the result.
This was decided in the Lutherans' favor.
Money had been collected for the build
ing of the church by both parties, but the
Lutherans refunded tho amount contrib
uted by The Evangelical Association
members. The amount returned was
$50.
Something in the vicinity Of year
passed by before the church was COM
pieted and dedicated. In the fall OF 1868
this was accom- piished. The Rev. G..
Euh Of jersey City and the Rev, Mr..
Wrage of Brooklyn took part in the
dedicatory exercises. About eleven
mouths later, for the first time. minister
was appointed to the pastorate of the
chElch. The Rey.C. Kuhn of Mansfield,
Ohio, was The pastor for the subsequent
twelve-mouths; then he Resigned. The
Rev. j. Muelder, his successor. held the
position for four months. HIS was asked
TO resign in March, 1871. A month later
the Rev. P. Schooner was called to take
charge OF the church.
Under his supervision an e lidance all
the old discord in the church seems to
have been done away with. II now ap-
peared as II the stormy stage of the
church's existence, fnauRurate ed with the