Norwich bulletin., 1909-10-26
FoRTIETH ANNIVERSARY
 OF GERMAN CHURCH.
New Gothic Altar to Be Dedicated on Sunday Mornins-Mayor Lippitt to Speak in Evening.

Sunday at the services at the Ger man Lutheran church, on Franklin street, the pastor. Rev. Theodor Bauck, announced to his congregation plans for celebrating on next Sunday the fortieth anniversary of the organiza- tion of the church. At the morning service at 10.30 they will dedicate the new Gothic altar, and in the evening at o'clock the anniversary exercises will be held. Mayor Costello Lippitt is to be the first speaker. The festival sermon will be delivered by the Rev. c. Doerlng, missionary of the Emi- grafton house in New York, and the Taftville Maennerchor, well known for it's fine music, will sing. Refresh ments will be served in the lecture room after the celebration. As the ex- ercises are freely open to the public, 1t is expected there will be large at- tendance of the congregation and their friends.
 In connection with the coming an- niversary. Pastor Bauck has been looking up some of the early history of religious services by Germans in this city. and has church books in his hands which prove that there were Germans of the Lutheran church here in 1852. '53, '55 and '5e The record of baptisms show that on Feb. 6, 1867, Leonhard Michael Beck was baptized; {; dlSO fIleuTlCn w lElcilll fbOLneI dIlO others. But these and other records, Rev. MT. Bauck thinks, prove only that several Germans had services in the German language, perhaps every Sun day. Later there are reports that Rockwell hall, 103 Main street, was rented for the purpose of having a German service every Sunday morn ing. The pastor came here from oth- CT cities, generally from Boston. The Ir.ra f1 al fa,o md Lutheran doctrine was so loyal and the attendance of the services so good that more than thirty families and about twenty-five single young peo- pie called general meeting together and organized, with the help of Rev. F. J. o. Hauser from Boston and Rev. Christian Koerner, the German Evan gelican Lutheran congregation in Norwich, Conn, October 1886. Later a school was opened. that the children should learn the German language. The attendance grew so well that the congregation decided to buy lot and build their own church.
 When the church was organized in October. 1869, the first president was Jacob Theis; treasurer Wilhelm Moss secretary, Joseph Ripp, and assistant secretary, Friedrich Klein. There were also ten wardens.
 1ue nTil pdStOT was ENcN. MI. ANOCi ner; the next was Rev. Victor Bother; then J. P. Schooner succeeded him After him came Pastor Alfred lilly M. H. Stine, J. M winkler, Theodore Heischmann, A. F. Schaeffer, r. B Cunz, F. B. Kern, F. A.. Winter, and the present pastor.
 For a congregation composed most ly of people receiving only small in- come, ranging from about $1 to S1.75 per day, they have always shown their great interest and loyalty to their church by generous financial support They always tried to improve the property Several years ago they built the parsonage. 1t has many nice rooms and conveniences. During the last few years, in spite of the hard times, from time to time they paid of parts of the mortgage which was talk en up to build the parsonage. Even more to show their thankfulness to our Heavenly Father, they. collected a considerable sum of money and gave it to the pastor to buy fine new com munion set Soon after they volun- tarily brought the pastor money for a large and handsome Gothic altar such as is seen in Germany in rich churches. It is this new altar which is to be dedicated at the coming an- niversary.