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HISTORIC OCONTO COUNTY CHURCH HISTORIES
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH
.
Oconto County, Wisconsin
Written and contributed by Bruce
A. Erb
who has also offered to do
Christ Lutheran
Church Cemetery Lookups
by e-mail
request. Please click
HERE.
A History of Christ Lutheran Church
Town of Underhill
Founded in 1892
Lutheranism in this section of Oconto County dates back to the
pioneer
missionary
days of the venerable Pastor Peter Dicke, who labored unremittingly
in behalf of the
Kingdom of God, organizing congregations wherever possible. Our
Christus
Evangelical Lutheran Church, (founding name of Christ Lutheran Church)
is one of
the congregations organized by this faithful servant of God. It seems,
however,
according to early unauthentic records that there were two groups out
of which an
organization was affected, one in the neighborhood of Berry Lake,
served
by various
pastors and the other in the territory north of the present church
property, served by
Pastor Dicke of the Town of Washington, Shawano County, both begun
in the year
1891.
Men present at the first meeting of the group at Berry Lake
were: Gottfried
Buchholz,
William Albrecht, Gottfried Dirks, William Dirks, August Kobs, Carl
Ohm and Gustav
Spohn. Due to prevailing circumstances this group was unable to
continue
and the
above names gradually appeared in the records of the groups served
by Pastor Dicke.
As stated, Pastor Dicke’s zeal for the Kingdom
brought him into this
forest-laden and
sparsely- settled territory, the majority of acres owned by the state
of Wisconsin. It
was in 1891 when Pastor Dicke first conducted services in the home
of his eldest son,
Henry Dicke, and later in the schoolhouse near the Jacob Holl
homestead.
Families
served here included the following: Fred Tolzmann, Henry Dicke, John
Runge, Albert
Jeske, C. Koehler, John Kolberg, and Martin Koeppen. Services were
held on Sunday
afternoon, every six weeks, after Pastor Dicke conducted the service
at Town of How
(Hayes). This continued from the spring of 1891 until the spring of
1893, when Pastor
Huchthausen accepted the call of the congregations in the Town of
Gillett
(Immanuel)
and of St. John’s in the Town of How. However, after a short
period
they without the
services of a pastor, until the fall of 1893, when Pastor Otto List
followed a call to the
Town of Washington (Shawano County). Faithfully did he serve this
little
flock,
conducting the services in the home of Gottfried Dirks.
In 1892, under the able leadership of Pastor Dicke, the
present congregation
was
organized and incorporated, first adopting the name Trinity Evangelical
Lutheran
Church. Charter members were: Henry Dicke, John Runge, Martin Koeppen,
Fred
Tolzman and Charles Koehler.
From 1893 - 1898 there seems to be very little history and
activities
were curtailed,
though pastors of Town of Washington served this group conscientiously.
When
Pastor List accepted a call into another parish, Pastor Charles
Droegemueller.
also of
Town of Washington, succeeded him in serving here, conducting services
in various
schoolhouses until the year 1898. In the first recorded meeting of
Sept. 26, 1897, led
by Pastor Droegemueller, it was decided to reorganize the congregation
and this time
adopt the name Christus Evangelical Lutheran Church, Town of Underhill,
Wis., this
resolution being carried out in 1898, after Pastor W. T. Naumann was
called to
minister to the few members. Trustees elected in the first recorded
meeting were:
Gottifried Bucholz, August Kobs and Carl Wilke. On Oct. 24, 1897 it
was decided to
build a church of pine logs, dimensions 22X30X14, on land donated by
Albert Schutt.
However, two months later the motion seems to have been overthrown
and the
congregation decided to build on the old Town of How road, on land
donated by Pastor
Dicke
Conditions seem to have been settled with the arrival of
Pastor Naumann,
who came
sometime between March and Dec. of 1898. In a meeting of Dec. 11, 1898
it was
again reconsidered and finally Henry Dicke’s offer to donate
5 acres
of land was
accepted, which is still the church site. From this time the
congregation
began to
grow rapidly, more new families migrating to the area and added to
the church each
year. On Dec. 26, 1898 it was decided to build a frame church 40X26X18,
the building
committee consisting of Frank Runge and William Braun. These two
together
with
Carl Wilke, Henry Dicke, Martin Koeppen and Fred Tolzman proceeded
to cut logs, to
be used in the “new” church. Humble as this
building seemed, it was
completed in the
year 1900. Pastor Naumann served this little congregation for $50
annually.
When
William Braun left this area, Henry Dicke was elected to fill the spot
created on the
Building Committee and was also elected treasurer, which office he
filled faithfully for
32 years.
As early as 1903 and 1904 the congregation realized the great
need of
training its
children in the nurture of the Lord, deciding to employ a student to
teach summer
school for two months, a certain student Koenig accepting the position.
During these early years the following families were accepted
for membership:
Adolph
Neumann and Robert Froemming in 1900; Herman Buchholz, Michael Braun,
Ernest
Wildt, Ed Behlke, and Herman Giese in 1901; Fred Runge and William
Strei in 1902;
Edward Bublitz and Carl Jaeger in 1903; Christ Quast and Carl Pacholke
in 1904; Carl
Ohm in 1905; Anton Braun and Herman Hinkfuss in 1906; Carl Natzke in
1909;
Ludwig Kossmann in 1911; Gustav Giese and August Strei sometime
previous;
Henry
Albrecht, August Kobs and William Dirks in 1912; August Schuettpelz
in 1913 and a
number of others.
In 1906 the cemetery was laid out in lots. On Jan. 19, 1908
Pastor Naumann
received
his peaceful dismissal to accept the call extended to him by the sister
congregation in
West Bloomfield. The congregation then extended a solemn call to Pastor
A. Plass,
then pastor of St. John’s (Hayes). This call was accepted by
Pastor
Plass, annual
salary fixed at $100. On April 14, 1908 Fred Runge was elected
secretary,
serving for
25 years, until 1933. In a meeting of the voters held Dec. 13, 1908
it was resolved to
build an addition to the old church, present Quarters being to limited.
This
improvement consisted of brick veneering the structure, adding a
schoolroom
and
erecting a steeple. Under the guidance of Pastor Plass this work was
completed in
1909, the building committee including Henry Dicke, Martin Koeppen,
Adolph
Neumann and Frank Runge. The entire cost of this project was $1092.89.
Pastor Plass served the congregation faithfully until August
12, 1920
at which time
Pastor D. Markworth of Town of Gillett was called. This call was
declined
and Pastor
H. F. Braun of White Clay Lake was called, the call being accepted.
Pastor Braun
began his work here in Sept. 1920. In the following year English
services
were
introduced, such services being held once a month.
Great distress befell the congregation when, on July 22, 1922
the church
was
completely destroyed by fire of an unknown origin. God’s
grace and
mercy was again
evident when on Jan. 2, 1923, it was decided to rebuild, dimensions
60X32, excluding
the sanctuary. The building committee include4d the following: Fred
Runge, Henry
Dicke, Martin Koeppen, Paul Wasmund and Frank Runge. On Sept. 2, 1923
the
cornerstone of this new brick building was laid and dedicated to the
service of the
Lord on June 15, 1924. The expenditures of this present church were
$10,931.16.
Due to ill heath Pastor Braun was forced to resign in June
1934, at
which time a
successor was called in the person of Pastor L. I. Going, who was
serving
St. John’s
at Pulcifer. Pastor Going was installed several weeks later and served
with zeal until
he accepted the call of the congregation in Fremont, Wi., preaching
his farewell
sermon in May 1940.
On June 4, 1940 L. F. Schneider, then pastor of Zion Lutheran
in Oconto
was duly
called to become pastor of both St. John’s Pulcifer and
Christ Church.
He was
installed by the Vacancy Pastor, K. R. Going, on July 8, 1940.
In Jan. of 1943 the congregation decided to decorate the
interior of
the church at a
cost of $600. A few months later the need arose to replace the roof
with asbestos
shingles and to make general repairs, the total of these projects
amounting
to $1400.
The Golden Jubilee Celebration was held on June 6, 1943. A
German worship
service
was held at 10 a. m. with Pastor Henry Naumann as the guest Pastor.
He is the son
of our former Pastor W. T. Naumann. An English service was held at
3 p.m. with
Pastor Martin N. Dicke, a grandson of Pastor Peter Dicke, as the guest
Pastor. The
offerings from the services were used to buy war bonds.
Pastor L. F. Schneider remained with us throughout the dark
days of
WWII. Sugar,
shoes, gas, and many other necessities were rationed. The auto industry
was
converted to making war material, instead of civilian vehicles. Car
parts and tires were
almost impossible to get; so, by war’s end, almost
everyone’s car was
in a sad state,
including our Pastor’s. When automobiles did become available
again,
Christ
congregation brought Pastor Schneider a new car.
In 1949 Pastor Schneider accepted a call to the new mission of
Saint
Luke in
Wisconsin Rapids and was installed there on Aug. 7, 1949.
There were a number of children who had regular attendance at
Sat. School
because
Pastor Schneider took the long route from Pulcifer to Hintz. He drove
by the Berry
Lake area to pick up a carload of Children.
During these years, the main floor of the church and balcony
remained
much the
same, except for painting. The basement changed the most. The
multi-purpose
room
was the schoolroom, complete with desks and a small wood-burning stove.
The
blackboards are still used to this day.
What is now the kitchen was the furnace room and had a large
coal/wood-burning
furnace in the center. What is today the furnace room was a storage
room. The small
windows in the present kitchen were formally coal chutes. Where the
restrooms are
now was originally the kitchen-pantry.
Since the church was not heated during the week, the janitor
had to
arrive well before
the service started to warm up the building.
Pastor Martin F. Sengele was serving in Illinois in 1949, when
he accepted
the call to
serve our congregations. The Sengele family had lived in Germany during
WWII and
returned to the U. S. after the war. Pastor Sengele kept us well aware
of our freedom
in Christ, as well as the blessings of living in a land where freedom
is our birthright.
During his time here, Sat. School was replaced with Sunday
School. Adult
Bible class
was taught by the pastor and all Sunday School teachers were required
to attend.
At that time, Christ congregation was not a member of the
Lutheran Church
-
Missouri Synod. We called Pastors from the Synod, supported the mission
work and
used LC-MS materials to teach our members.
During Pastor Sengele’s time here, the members voted
to become a member
of the
LC-MS in the North Wis. District, Circuit #2.
In the early 1950’s, we had ushers, retired the long
handled wicker
offering baskets,
and brought new offering plates. These are still used today. The
outside
lighted cross
was installed on the top of the bell tower in 1953.
Zion, the Swedish Lutheran Church in Mosling, closed in 1959,
because
they could
not get a pastor. And, as a result, Christ congregation was pleased
to welcome the
following families into its membership: Fred and Verona Carlson and
family, Richard
and Pat Reinke and family, Alfred (Swede) and Jeannette Nelson and
family, and
Walter and Hildegrade Nelson.
There was a District realignment of Circuits in 1961. As a
result of
the realignment,
Pulcifer and Hintz would no longer be a parish. St. John’s,
Green Valley,
became a
duel parish with St. John’s Pulcifer. Christ became a dual
parish with
Immanuel in
the Town of Gillett. Pastor Sengele bid us a fond farewell and
continued
to Pulcifer
and Green Valley until his retirement in 1974. Our congregation then
welcome Pastor
J. R. Westphal who had been serving Immanuel Town of Gillett.
We observed our 70th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of
the church
building
on June 30, 1963. Former Pastor Louis Going was the guest speaker and
the offering
to mission.
Also in 1963, we purchased a fuel oil furnace from
Gehrke-Montour of
Shawano for
$1350. Then we had automatic heat in the church.
The interior of the building was painted and redecorated by R.
F. Umland
of Shawano
in 1964 at a cost of $2056. In 1966, a well was drilled and pump
installed.
Pastor Westphal diligently served our duel parish until his
retirement
in 1973. He and
his wife then moved to Midland, Mich. where he served part-time,
helping
his son,
Pastor Leroy Westphal. Pastor Westphal died in 1982 and is buried in
Bonduel, Wi.,
his childhood home.
Immanuel and Christ extended a call to Pastor Roger Eden of
Indianapolis,
Ind. He
accepted the call and was installed on Jan. 13, 1974. Pastor Eden and
his wife,
Carolyn, left in Jan. 1976to serve a church in Louisville, Kentucky
and later moved
back to Wisconsin.
In 1977, Pastor Edward Steyer of Hamilton, Texas accepted the
call to
be our Pastor.
During the years that Pastor Steyer served Christ Church, he confirmed
many adults.
At a meeting in 1980 it was voted to construct an addition to
the front
of the church
and put in bathroom. The James Druckrey Const. Co. was engaged to do
the work.
The Trustees were the building committee, Irving Brandemuehl, Alfred
Strei, and
Ralph Fischer.
On July 5, 1981, the voting members approved the change
officially from
“Christus”
Lutheran Church to “Christ” Lutheran Church and it
was registered and
recorded as
“Christ”.
On Sunday, December 9, 1984, Pastor Steyer baptized Melissa
Ladwig and
went into
semi-retirement in Arkansas.
The old bell in the bell tower was retired in 1985, and a
Schulmerich
electric carillion
was installed.
Pastor Karl Rose of North Branch, Minnesota was called and
accepted
the call to serve
our congregations. He was installed on March 17th, 1985and faithfully
served until
1996, at which time he left to serve his home congregation.
In 1997, we extended a call to Pastor Ronald Andresen, which
he accepted
and was
installed in June of 1997. He served our congregation until the fall
of 1999, at which
time to moved to Col.
We are presently being served by Deacon Ralph Beversdorf, who
has served
us since
the fall of 1999. He is presently working to be ordained and is a
native
of Shawano,
WI. Before serving us, he was a teacher for many years and often was
a guest
speaker in our church.
(Much of information
taken from Centennial Book the
was published in 1992)