December 31, 2018
This is “Our
Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
Today’s
story is about the St. John’s Lutheran Church on Lyons Creek Road. In 1861, the same year Kansas was admitted in
to the Union, a young missionary, Candidate F.W. Lange came to Davis County,
which is now Geary County. He came from Fort Wayne, Indiana and was accompanied
by Reverend Henry Lossner.
They arrived
at the home of C.F. Wetzel and his family.
Reverend Lange preached his first sermon based on the text of John 3:16
to settlers of the beautiful and fertile valley of Clark’s Creek, seven miles
southeast of what is now Junction City.
On September
1, 1861, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was organized with twenty-one charter
members. Church services were held in the Wetzel cabin with F.W. Lange as the
pastor. After two years, he accepted the
call to Humboldt, Kansas. Reverend C.
Berner served the church for the next year. The parish experienced a seven year
vacancy until the arrival of Candidate G.A. Shaaf in September of 1871. From
1871 to 1883 services were held in the Berry School about three-quarters of a
mile north of the present church site.
The present stone church was dedicated in July of 1883 at a cost of
$1,378.75.
There was a
need for a parsonage, so land was purchased from Mrs. Eva Mueller Schwalboldt
in 1870. Once the parson was built it stood
until 2015, when it was in ill-repair and demolished.
The original Wetzel cabin, where
services were first held, is now a permanent part of the Geary County
Historical Site at the corner of K-18 and Spring Valley Road on the west side
of Junction City.
And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County
Historical Society.
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