The St. Louis Republic., 1900-09-23

As the oldest German Eva#g"liC3l c0ugTo-
| cation. WIKI thu oldest church of the denorl-
| iuation in st Louis. s.. Peters cougrega-
| tiuu viii to-day celebrate ih- golden iuhiia"
Of its house OF worship. or Fourteenth aud
Carr streets, with three OF tho ,buET-. CATION
! present who We're worshipcrs in the church
when the cornerstone wEs laid, may years
! ago.
| The congregation was organized fifty
! seven years ago but il did not build the
( church In which il is now domicilrl until
J seven years later The church ana its con-
! Eregation are notable because it his enter
| tanned many OF the important couslayea of
the American synod. and it is the foster
! mother Of almost every one OF the twenty
| two German EsvaUce;i.al churches iu -.
Louis. besides being the pioneer CUHgT'-'t-
| tiou yf the West.
Three services ale to he held to-dIy-in
! the morning at go o'clock. At 2.3n o'clock il
I the afternoon ana II o'clock in ;he even
ing. The pastor. the Reverend J. r. kliek.
viii preach the memorial sermon in tne
morning. and IN the evening the Rtvcrenis
| G. G. Haas. :. krUa". Carl kIoift ana John
Baltzer viii speak. There L. 10 by music by
the students Of the f.den Col,g, and tHc
various cfu!Ts of the church, under ths di-
reCtiun OF Professors =. W. Ra1e ami Paul
Austman. Since last Thursday many young
men and ladies' Of the congregation have
been huSily engaged In decorating the inter-
Tor of the church with flowers and gaTianGs.
mense crowd both from the city and from
the suburban towns.
Early in the fUrtieS many Germans pcne-
trate.i the wilderucSses that made St. Louis
almost Inaccessible 10 travellers and settled
here with the intention Of making their for
tunes. They departed from their homes in
the old country because Of oppression. They
called the first church they built the German
Protestant Church. This was the Old Holy
Ghost Church. on Eighth and Walnut
streets. q: which the Reverend Mr.. t.Gyr-
hard was for many years the pastor. Now
it has been succeeded by the Independent
German Protestant Holy Ghost church. uf
which the Reverend Pedro Us.n Is the pas
tor
Formation of Congregation.
But IA soon as the German pioneers were
comfortably settled i'm St Louis they began
10 turn their attention Ia their church af-
fairs and they found that worshipng un-
der one roof with 80 many persons of an
other faith was irritable, anu. as tn all dis
CusSi0ns they radically differed from their
friends. who were members Of the EvanSeli-
cal Lutheran faith. the little band of Evan
eelists decided to withdraw from the Union
congregation and to organize an Evangelical
church in st. Lo.Iis. The Luthcrans and the
Evaneelicais differ upon the idea Of trans
subSta ntiatiOn. The former really are the
Episcopal denomination of Germany. while
the latter are almost Congregational in their
belief.
In July, 1873. the seeding Of the Evan
gelicals took place and soon there. fter they
obtained permission 10 worship I'm their
own simple way In n public school house
that stood Sixth street between st.
Charles and Locust streets. They assembled
in the place every Sunday morning and an
elder read the Scriptures. But the Rever-
end Mr.. Wall was soon called TO the con-
CregatiOn, and he took charge. Regular
congregati tional rules were adopted by the
ick Dieckmann. Jacob Westermarn. Henry
I.uehnemanu, John G.. Hess and Valentine
WeTIe were elected az elders and trustees.
When these pioneers settled In this city
they either took up their residence in what
Is now known as French Town or they re-
tired to the woods ON the northwestern
borders OF st. Louis. The thrifty German
stOrekeepers and farmers found that to
reach their church Sunday was always
n tedious drive through the woods The |
schoolhoUse on Sixth street was quite cen
trally located but IL was always strain /
ON the picty OF those who had "a long way |
10 go. and the Elders forcsaw that i'm win
ter their ranks would be sadly thinned 81 |
they set about to plan to obviate this fall |
ing eff from grace, ami the congregation
finally was called together and decided 10 |
buy two plats of ground, in North ST. Louis |
and in South 81. Louis. Upon these
churches were to be built and the clergy !
man was to preach in them every alternate |
Sunday.
How the Churches Thrivcd
One church was erected AT Fourteenth /.
and Carr streets and She other near Third !
and Soul2rd streets. But they were both |
governed by the same trustees and were I
one congregation, though they did worship !;
under different roofs. Late IN the year.
August Henry SaeSer was installed With |
much ceremony as teacher Of the parish !,
school of the church at Fourteenth and o.
Carr streets, and he gathered around him /
the children of the congregation and taught /
them German As Mr.. Saeger was an or .
gantst as well as an educator. the church |
procured an organ. About the same time
cemetery was purchased
This was three years after the secession /
and both churches were hcurishing. The ,
reutons with their H;bernian neighhors on
the east and north were making that part {
of the town thrive and more German for
tune hunters arrived constantly. The next
year II became imperative that the pastor !,
of the Congrcga tion should have an az