Elgin's St. John's Church celebrates 150th anniversary

While most people were busy celebrating our nation's independence on the Fourth of July, members of St. John's Lutheran Church of Elgin were commemorating another event - the 150th anniversary of the congregation's founding.

Begun in 1859 as the city's first Lutheran Church, the congregation has grown from a church that served the area's first German immigrants to one that now meets the needs of a much wider population.

St. John's traces its beginnings to a wave of German immigrants who began arriving in the area in the late 1840s and 1850s.

Originally served by itinerate or traveling pastors, a group of Protestants of "various creeds" organized itself into a "union society" on July 4, 1859, according to a 50th anniversary newspaper account. The number of churches in the small city of Elgin numbered only the single digits at the time.

The following spring the fledgling group bought a small frame church at Division and Spring streets for $550 - a building lost in foreclosure by the Free Will Baptists. A short time later it settled on the name "Lutheran St. Johannes Society of Elgin" and elected three trustees to carry on the congregation's work.

But, the next few years were rather unsettled for the upstart church - a congregation made up of groups of varying religious beliefs. Three pastors quickly came and left, and in the congregation's sixth year, a pastor with different views took the helm, according to a 75th anniversary booklet.

Two church name changes, a newer, contentious constitution, and a challenge to the church's title followed in a period described as a "mighty storm" in a parish history. The arrival of a new pastor a few years later - although not Lutheran - allowed "peace and harmony to prevail" according to church records.

In the 1870s, the Rev. H.F. Freuentenicht, who remained in his post for over three decades, became the first of several pastors with long tenures, add the historical publications. During his term, a new church building was constructed and later enlarged. The parish school, which had since taken up residence in the original church building, relocated to a new school built in the 1880s.

By the start of the 1900s, the exclusively German-speaking membership began to give way to change as English services were introduced. First held on Sunday evenings, they were moved to Sunday mornings following World War I. German services ended completely in the early 1950s.

Under the direction of the Rev. W. J. Kowert, a longtime pastor who also arrived in the early 1900s, the congregation embarked on plans to build a $75,000 church. Seating over 1,000, the edifice was one of the largest Lutheran churches in the area.

Growth necessitated a remodeling of the building in 1931, and again in 1949. In 1956, the entire parish and school were rebuilt, an undertaking that exceeded half a million dollars. Much of that growth occurred during the tenure of the Rev. E. Grotelucschen, another longtime pastor who first arrived in the early 1930s, note church records.

In the 1970s, St. John's extensively remodeled the church interior - a change that included a less traditional emphasis on the pulpit and adding colorful mosaic walls with a Christian motif, notes current pastor, the Rev Hannibal Frederich. In more recent decades, the membership has acquired parcels of land adjacent to its church and relocated the offices into a nearby office building.

But, the story of St. John's is more than one of members and buildings. Since the time of World War I in 1917, the congregation has been part of the Missouri Synod and has contributed liberally to the work of this wider church community.

This has included supporting seminaries, colleges, and an array of church programs to benefit senior citizens, people with substance abuse, and disabled Americans just to name a few.

"We also benefit greatly through our association with other Lutheran churches," adds Frederich.

St. John's also helped found Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Elgin's west side in the 1930s, and in more recent years, has served as the incubator for a Spanish-speaking mission church operated by the Rev. Carlos Catalan, explains Frederich. The Christian school remains as an integral part of the church's fundamental mission as it has from the beginning.

Beginning with worship on Sunday, July 5, 2009, a number of anniversary events are planned over the next year. These include several special services, including ones during February 2010 that mark the anniversary of the first church building and later the selection of their name.

"Building friendship, knowledge, and faith, has long been our motto," Frederich said. "They were the tenets of how we operated in the beginning and what we are still about today."

Visit stjohnselgin.org for details about St. John's 150th anniversary events.