Sara Stadem | Editor
The Zion Lutheran Church of Hartford will celebrate 140 years this Sunday, June 6, at 9:30 am. As they are celebrating their anniversary, Church Council President Jean Wehrkamp recapped some church history as to how their church came to be and has grown and changed over the years.
Started by 33 German immigrant families that decided they wanted a place to congregate to worship, the Zion Lutheran Church was established on June 6, 1881, Wehrkamp. “It was established on June 6, 1881, so it’s kind of neat that our anniversary is actually on a Sunday this year,” Wehrkamp said.
Wehrkamp explained the families first built a place big enough for a minister to stay and later built it larger. Two years later in 1883, the church itself was built. “The main part of that church still stands today,” Wehrkamp said. “There have been some additions and changes but the original part of the church is still standing after almost 140 years.”
When the church originally started, the minister was Pastor G. Schmidt and was organized as a German speaking church, according to Wehrkamp. In 1919, it was decided to have one English service at the end of the month unless it fell on a holiday. As times changed, another vote took place in 1928 to have two English speaking services and one German service each Sunday, Wehrkamp explained. “There is no concrete date as to when the church went to straight English for services but we are guessing around 1940 when WWII was getting into full force,” Wehrkamp said.
The church underwent many changes over the years as the congregation grew. The original church did not have a basement and in the 1940’s, some congregants dug out a basement and added a balcony, according to Wehrkamp. She further explained in 1955, the church was struck by lightening on Easter Sunday following the church service. There was some fire damage that took place and while they were fixing those damages, an additional 30 feet was added to the main church.
When asked if the church had any annual traditions, Wehrkamp explained Zion Lutheran Church used to have an annual church supper which started off as a chicken supper and gradually transitioned to a roast beef supper. From there, it moved to a multi-sale rummage sale down the road. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, they were unable to do the rummage sale last year. At this time, there are no plans to do anything for this year.
Wehrkamp said usually around this time they try to celebrate the anniversary of the church in some fashion. “This year the worship service is a little more special but because of COVID, we didn’t invite former ministers or anything. We had a historical marker put into place last year and couldn’t do anything to celebrate due to COVID last year,” Wehrkamp said. She continued, “So, we are going to proceed outdoors to do the dedication to that and after the dedication we will do light refreshments.”
To celebrate such a milestone, Wehrkamp also explained this year they made cutouts of doves out of cardstock paper and put the name of everyone that has been baptized in the church and hung them in the sanctuary. “We have 1,178 doves hanging in the sanctuary and it’s absolutely beautiful!” Wehrkamp explained.
Currently, the full-time minister is Pastor Lando Anderson and has approximately 225 confirmed members.
Wehrkamp concluded, “We are a country church but we are just so much more than that. We have so many young families that have moved into the area that have joined and it’s so welcoming.”
If you are looking to join the church or have more questions about the church, you can call their office at 605-526-3846 or call Pastor Anderson at 605-929-4972. They also live stream their services on Facebook under Zion Lutheran Church in Hartford.