Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-01
Luther Place
Continued from Ninth Page

Continued from Ninth Page
of which It was built it is said were imported
from Holland. They were much smaller than
the brick made in this country and very hard "
One of the oldest churches in downtown
Washington is st. Paul'S English Lutheran
Church, at Eleventh and H streets northwest
before referred to. the corner stone of which was
laid June II, 1914. The neighborhood here is an
old one, and the building looks even older
than it really is. Around the year 1900 a large
stream ran close to where this church now
stands, of which Mr.. Hines says:
THE only place that could be crossed with
a cart over the little creek that was then
formed by the spring at Franklin Square. was
little southeast of the Lutheran Church, at
the corner of H and Eleventh street !" -"
Writing about the branch we had to cross
in going to or returning from the Slashes
reminds me Of the time when my brother
Matthew and myself went to school to Mr..
Luke Shannon About this time his school,
house was situated little back of r street be-
tween Ninth and Tenth streets and Immediately
south of ST. Patrick's Church It was a frame
house, and is I believe, still standing. Mr..
Shannon kept both day and night schoo.
to both of which we went, it being agreed
that the boys should furnish their own wood
Git then being Winter), by which the price o.
tuition was lessened. We took our axes and
hatchetS and went up the branch north of
St. Patrtck'S Church to about where the Luz
gathered
most or quite as much wood as answered our
purpose, there then being some tolerably large
Sapl1ngS along the branch. This whole valley
has been filled up since then, and believe O
large number of houses have been built there %
THE lot upon which this church and par
sonage stands was once the property Of
Gen. John p. Van Ness, mayor of Washing
ton and the husband of Marcia Burnes, the
heireSS-daughter of David Burnes one of the
original prcprietors of the city Van Ness was
noted for his liberality, and when approached
by delegation Of earnest women with the re-
quest that he donate a building lot for the
proposed Lutheran Church he cheerfully con-
sented to do So and suggested a lot in square
227, which is bounded by d and and Four
tenth and Fifteenth streets-site of the De-
partment of Commerce Building-but later
changed it to lot IL in square 3I9 the one now
occupied by the church.
Unfortunately. the names of the good women
who composed the committee that waited upon
Gen. Van Ness are not known but the names
of those old Washingtonians who were of the
original members of st. Paul's are recorded as
follows: H. w. Voxx, S. p. SenStag, Charles
Schussler, Charles Utermehle, C. Klopfer Henry
Schultz David Fowbe, John F. KahI, Benedict
Yost, p. A. Erbs, J. Casparis william jacob,
Andrew Noerr, J. Jacob Seufferlee John A
Grafton Powell, James H. Jones, John E.
Scheel Henry Grieb, william Utermehle George
G. Siebel, "A. Gladmon Cornell Andrae, W. D.
Einbrod, j. c. Roemele, John p. Stallings. r.
Heitmuller, Jacob Acker, Charles F. Bihler,
Nicholas Asker Nicholas Funk Herman Es-
selbrugge, F. S. Kern, Henry w. Bergman,
Nicholas Schneider, F. F. Stuck, John Moore
and William r. Woodward"
(In this connection the writer has before him
history of the church given as a confirmation
present to Miss Carrie Louise Thomas, now
Mrs. Howard S. Fisk. by the Rev. DR.. Samuel
Domer, March IS, 1894)
Four years later, when the church was
dedicated, President James K Polk and his
Secretary of State, James Buchanan attended.
THE laying CT the corner stone was a notable
event in Washington church history, for.
according to the Intelligencer of June H. 1914,
we find: "At o'clock in the afternoon q pro.
Cession was formed at the City Hall. This con.
sisted Of distinguished visitors clergymen the
church council of st. PaulS congregation
teachers and scholars of the Sunday school and
members and friends of~the new congregation
The officers Of the Grand Lodge of Masons OF
the District of Columbia, in fun regalia, as
sisted by members Of subordinate lodges under
their jurisdiction and transient brethren, were
In attendance. The Order of the Sons of Tenn
perance also joined in the procession and the
whole cortege, preceded by the accomplished
and well trained Marine Band, marched to
the corner of Eleventh and II streets, the site
appropriated for the church edifice.
On the marble slab which covered the recess
Of the corner stone was the following inscrip-
ton, prepared in the church council:
y. p. Van Ness consecrates this site to the
worship of God the Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost June, 1874" And yet 1t Is quite
likely that, before many months roll by, this
falt1rJ he