Our Present Church Building
The following is taken from the 80th Anniversary Book of Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, 1947.
Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church
Mankato, Minnesota
1867-1947
Our Present Church Building
In this year of our Lord, 1947, Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, Mankato, Minnesota is observing the 80th anniversary of its organization.
Connected with this celebration is a Home-Coming. By this we mean that such members who have been confirmed in our church, together with others who have formerly held membership here and have moved elsewhere, have been invited to come to Mankato for this festival event and rejoice with us that God, our Heavenly Father, had guarded us and kept us in the true faith so that His Word is preached in truth and purity and the Scraments are administered in harmony with Chirst's institution.
Five years ago we celebrated the Diamond Jubilee. It had been planned to have a Home-Coming then; but owing to war conditions, with travel and gasoline restrictions and with hundreds of our young people in service with the armed forces of our Country in various parts of the world, it was not deemed advisable to carry out the latter plan. However, this year we want to see as many of our former members return to Mankato, to take part in the services and to renew old acquaintances.
Our Congregation has been an important factor in the development of this community. This has been conceded by one of the mayors of the City of Mankato.
Shortly before he left his office as Mayor of our City, the Hon. Chas. K. Mayer wrote a letter, addressed to the members of Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church. A portion of this letter is herewith quoted.
"Inasmuch as the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mankato, Minn., is this year to observe the 80th Anniversary of its organization I wish, as mayor, to extend the greetings, not only of myself, but all the people of Mankato, to the entire membership of the church on this occasion.
"During many of the years of my life I have been in intimate contact with members of your congregation. With some of them I have been officially connected in civic affairs; therefore I feel competent in saying, and it is also my deepest conviction, that your church has made many valuable contributions to the upbuilding of this community. In fact, it has been one of the outstanding factors for the good of the community.
"Permit me, therefore, to repeat the extension of best wishes and congratulations of the people of Mankato, as mayor, on the momentous event, your 80th Anniversary.
"Hoping that your organization will continue to be an influence for good in our city, I beg to remain,
Sincerely,
Chas. K. Mayer,
Mayor
This, in brief, is the record our forefathers have made. It is an honorable record. Quite naturally the question is asked: Why did our members come here? What conditions were obtaining when they came here?
Historically and geographically, speaking, this section of our great North Star State and of the United States is noteworthy
Of course, originally the Indians lived here, and later still were here by right of possession of land which had been given to them under a treaty negotiated February 27, 1855. These Indians were the Winnebagoes. Their reservation, assigned to them by the treaty, was located in Blue Earth and Waseca Counties. What is now known in Mankato as Main Street Hill was formerly called Agency Hill because it was part of the road which led to Winnebago Agency, now St. Clair.
Repeatedly Mankato and vicinity were threatened by Indian uprisings. Well-known is the uprising of the Sioux Indians when settlers were killed and settlements were destroyed, the City of New Ulm, 30 miles west of Mankato, bearing the brunt of these attacks. This was during the Civil War while many able-bodied men were fighting with the Union armies in the South. Of this we are constantly reminded when we pass the monument on North Front Street, near Main, commemorating the execution of 38 Sioux Indians in Mankato on December 26, 1862.
Of the Whites, the French were the first to explore the country of the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers. The French had claimed all the regions drained by the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers, by virtue of discovery. That, at least, was the theory, and eventually led to the great wars between the French and the English, with the English as conquerors.
Before this issue had been decided, the French explorers had come into the regions of Lake Superior, the Mississippi, the Minnesota and the Blue Earth Rivers. The explorer, most known in this early period, was Pierre Charles Le Sueur, born in 1657. A river, a city and a county in our State bear his name. He had established friendly relations with a Sioux chief by the name of Tioscate. Historians are agreed that Tioscate's home was at the mouth of the Blue Earth River which approximately marks the site of our City of Mankato.
Moreover, we learn that Le Sueur had obtained from the Indians samples of bluish-green clay. These samples he took to France and had them assayed by Le Huillier, an analyst. Le Huillier was positive his tests of the samples showed copper content and Le Sueur was confident wealth was in store for him by developing these mines. After some delay he finally returned to this region of our State. From France, he brought with him 30 miners. They reached Biloxi, at the mouth of the Mississippi which was under French control, and ascended this river in a sailing and a rowing vessel and two canoes. At the spot known to us as Mendota, not far from Ft. Snelling, they entered the mouth of the Minnesota River and went along this river till they came to the Blue Earth, or Mahkato River. This was on the 30th of September 1700. Near the junction of the Blue Earth and the Le Sueur Rivers they built a fort and called it Fort L'Huillier, in honor of the assayer in France. The name is preserved in its anglicized form and pronunciation in Le Hillier, a settlement today constituting a part of South Bend Twp. Suffice it to say that nothing came of this copper development project. The analyst had made a serious mistake.
A good deal may be said about the French influence in the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley regions, a region of which our Minnesota River Valley is a minor part. However with the overthrow of New France French influence decidedly declined. Only in the names of explorers, military leaders, missionaries and others do we recognize this epoch of the rise and fall of French influence in the New World. Names like Marquette, Nicollet, Joliet, Hennepin, Frontenac, La Salle, Jacques Cartier, Jean Ribault who was a leader of the Huguenots in America, Champlain and many others remind us of the part Frenchmen played on the American Continent, as do also geographical names, e.g. Eau Claire, Lac qui Parle, Prairie du Chien, Saint Esprit, Sault Ste. Marie, Creve-Couer, Presque Island, Montreal, Le Boeuf, Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) and the like.
Now the British had possession of the important territory comprising the Mississippi Valley to which our section of Minnesota belongs. However, it did not remain under British control. Liberty loving people fought the War of independence and finally a new nation emerged whose territory now stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. It is the great republic of the United States of America.
The fame of this nation spread and the United States, the land of unlimited possibilities, was the goal of millions of Europeans who were tired of warfare, religious oppression, economic slavery and political serfdom. After such European wars as the War of the Palatinate, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War waves of emigration were started. The emigrants sought and found a haven of refuge in our country.
This was also the case during the middle of the nineteenth century, especially so after the Revolution of 1848 had failed in Germany and other parts of Central Europe. Many left their native country, among them such who had held prominent positions at universities, in arts and commerce. In their adopted country they became prominent by giving unstinted and valuable service. There came also the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, the tillers of the soil, artisans, day laborers, merchants and the like who were not looking for gold, silver or copper mines, nor did they seek to enrich themselves by the sweat of slave labor. In the sweat of their face, by dint of hard work, they valiantly strove to build their homes and to earn an honest wage by giving honest service.
It was this type that predominated among the settlers living near the junction of the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers. Here was rich soil with promise of abundant harvests. The primeval forests gave fuel for heating and timber for building homes and barns, business places and warehouses. River navigation stimulated commerce, until later on railroads carried passengers and freight.
Speaking of Mankato to which the founders of our congregation had come, it may be of interest to our readers to learn something of the name. It is a well-established fact that the name is of Indian origin. Earlier in this sketch we referred to Mahkato or Blue Earth River. Mahkato means Blue Earth, undoubtedly having reference to the bluish-green clay deposits along the Blue Earth River. This clay was used as a pigment by the Indians. Not far from Sibley Mound was an Indian Village. The chief bore the name Mahkato. That is the original Indian name. Due to a misunderstanding the name was changed to Mankato. Col. D.A. Robertson, one of a company of promoters who laid out the townsite of Mankato, suggested this name. It was thought to be a German name from the fairy tale "Undine", written by Freiherr de la Motte Fouque, a German poet of French Huguenot descent. The changed name is now the legal name; in reality, however, it should be spelled Mahkato, meaning Blue Earth.
It had 2,200 inhabitants with approximately 300 frame dwellings, 22 brick and four stone houses. Besides a number of dry goods stores, grocery stores, restaurants, hardware stores, paint shops, millinery shops, it also had business places which have disappeared or are not needed to the sames degree today, namely eight cabinet shops, two chair shops, eight blacksmith shops, four cooper shops, three grist mills, three saw mills, one fanning mill factory, one oil mill, four livery barns, one pottery, one barrel factory, four brick yards, and the like. Changes in the mode of living and of manufacturing are responsible for the disappearance of some of these industries.
No community is complete without a house of worship. No civilization will endure without showing reverence to God.
Some people have tried to keep God out of their life and have failed most dimally. The preachers of the Word of God, found their way to Mankato and its settlers. Eight years before Mankato was incorporated as a city, Lutheran Missionaries had looked up the Lutherans and organized a mission. Pastors Rennecke and Weiss are mentioned as itinerant pastors who ministered to the Lutherans as time would permit. This goes back to the year 1860. In 1866 an organization of Lutherans was perfected. Articles of incorporation were drawn up by Henry Himmelman, F.H. Steuernagel, Jacob Traub, John Dreyer (no doubt, this should read: Dreher) and dated September 15, 1866. As an historical document it is important and is reprinted herewith:
Be it known that on this 15th day of September A.D. 1866 Henry Himmelman, F.H. Steuernagel, Jacob Traub and John Dreyer (Dreher) and Simon Blume of Mankato, Blue Earth County and State of Minnesota have associated together to form a church association or corporation according to the statutes of Minnesota and do make and enact the following articles, to-wit:
The names of the persons associated are Henry Himmelman, F.H. Steuernagel, Jacob Traub, John Dreyer (?) and Simon Blume.
This church corporation shall be known and designated by the name of "The German Lutheran Emanuel Church of Mankato" and its location shall be Mankato, Blue Earth County and State of Minnesota.
The officers of this church shall be three trustees for the first year, commencing at this date. John Dreyer, Jacob Traub and Henry Himmelman are hereby designated and elected to act as such trustees and these trustees and their successors shall conduct the business of the church. There shall be elected on the 15th of September, A.D. 1866 three trustees by the members of the church, one to serve for three years; one to serve for two years and one to serve for one year, and on the 15th day of September of each succeeding year there shall be elected one trustee. The said trustees to be elected by members of the church at an annual meeting on said day.
Witness
B.F. Smith
Henry Himmelman
F.H. Steuernagel
Jacob Traub
John Dreyer(?)
Our First Church
Personally appeared before me this 15th day of September, A.D. 1866, Henry Himmelman, F.H. Steuernagel, Jacob Traub and John Dreyer and were each by me sworn to the foregoing Articles of Incorporation.
B.F. Smith,
Register of Deeds
The copy bears the notation: Original recorded in 1913.
In 1866 a lot was bought for $500.00 on Washington and Broad Streets and a building which served as church and parsonage was erected. This is the place where Immanuel Lutheran School now stands. After the church and parsonage had been completed the Rev. William Vomhof of Forest Mound, Wabasha Co., Minn., was called as pastor. He accepted the call and entered upon his duties September 1, 1867. The church was dedicated October 27, 1867, and the parsonage was occupied on November 1, 1867. Pastor Vomhof was the first resident Lutheran pastor of our congregation. The following data of his life were obtained from his son Daniel W. Vomhof. He wrote about his father: The Rev. W. Vomhof was born in Westphalia, Germany, April 11, 1837. He entered the St. Chrischona Mission Institute, near Basel, Switzerland, with the intention of preparing himself for the field of foreign missions. He came to the United States of America in 1865. He died April 7, 1890, in Goodhue, Minn., and was buried there April 11, 1890.
The Rev. William Vomhof
September 14, 1867, Pastor Vomhof organized the congregation and a constitution was adopted which he wrote out in longhand and is recorded in the first church record of our congregation.
The entry made by Pastor Vomhof in January 1868 reads, in translation, as follows: "The church built under the supervision of the undersigned is called Immanuel Church of the German Ev. Lutheran Congregation, Mankato, Minnesota."
In the second paragraph the confessional basis of the church is stated: "In this Immanuel Congregation the sacred writings of the Old and New Testament are recognized as the revealed Word of God and it accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as the standard of faith according to which all doctrine in this congregation is to be judged."
It should be noted that the name of the Congregation is consistently spelled "Immanuel". That name is used in this form of spelling at the present time as the correct and original form, and is also spelled in this manner on the official seal of the church.
This is stressed here because many documents and legal papers have been executed in various spellings. Any change in spelling should be avoided in names of organizations.
Pastor Vomhof also had organized classes for weekday religious instruction and on November 10, 1867 he started a Sunday School and a Ladies Aid Society.
By the end of 1867 the indebtedness for church and parsonage had been reduced to $600.00.
In June 1868, Pastor Vomhof accepted a call to Davenport, Iowa. Illness of his wife had made a change of climate necessary.
The Rev. Albert Kuhn
As his successor the congregation called the Rev. Albert Kuhn. He accepted the call and was installed April 26, 1869. This pastor remained till spring 1882 when a call was extended to him by the Lutheran Church at Greenwood, Hennepin Co., Minn. Due to poor health and increased responsibilities in the constantly growing congregation his doctor advised him to accept the call. This he did, and now the congregation had to look for a new shepherd.
The Rev. Karl F. Schulze
It took until 1883 when Pastor Karl F. Schulze of Courtland, Minn., came to Mankato. On January 15, 1883 he was duly installed as pastor of our church by the Rev. L. Emmel.
At this time the City of Mankato enjoyed rapid growth. From 1880 to 1885 the city had an increase of 2321 inhabitants, the largest number of any five year period from 1857 to 1900. By 1895 it had surpassed the 10,000 mark. This influx of inhabitants included also many Lutherans who sought membership with Immanuel Lutheran Church. This necessitated the building of a new church. In the fall of 1883 the congregation resolved to build a new church and to relocated. The building site which was selected was that at Second and Spring Streets, the same place where a new church was built in 1913. The building and finance committees were very active. The second church was dedicated October 12, 1884. At this time the Lutheran day school grew rapidly. To assist the pastor in the school Mr. C.F. Diessner had been engaged in the fall of 1883. After he had resigned Mr. H.D.F. Brockmeyer of St. Louis was called. He came to Mankato in April 1885. It is not the intention of this writer to go into details on the history of our school, because this topic is covered in a different section of this memorial booklet. However, in the research work it was found that the initials of Mr. Brockmeyer were seldom given correctly. He used to sign his name: H.D.F. Brockmeyer. The initials stood for Heinrich Dietrich Friedrich. Under his wise leadership the number of pupils steadily increased. There was a time when he taught 168 pupils.
Our Second Church and Parsonage
Pastor Schulze remained in office until 1902. Previous thereto he had to submit to several operations. His eyesight also began to fail so that he became almost blind. For these reasons he tendered his resignation on September 21, 1902. He continued to reside in Mankato and after a half year in retirement he departed this life to be forever with the Lord. He was buried on the 27th day of March 1903, many pastors and a large concourse of lay people attending his funeral. The faithful work of this servant of the Lord has been a great blessing to the members of the congregation and to the entire community.
As his successor the Rev. A. Ackermann, at the time an instructor at Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., had been called. The Board of the College pleaded that he remain in his position at the College, so he declined the Mankato call.
The Rev. Albert F. Winter
The call was then sent to the Rev. Albert F. Winter, Stillwater, Minn., who accepted it and was inducted into office November 23, 1902. During his pastorate a new school was built on the site of Washington and Broad Streets and was dedicated September 20, 1903.
The congregation continued to grow. Some of the services were, of necessity, conducted in English. This widened the scope of the entire church work so that the congregation was compelled to make plans for a larger church. The old church was torn down and an imposing house of worship was built at Second and Spring Streets, and dedicated to the service of the Triune God December 7, 1913.
Pastor Albert F. Winter resigned from the pastorate in the spring of 1922.
To fill the vacancy, the Rev. Adolf Ackermann, New Ulm, Minn., was called in a meeting of the congregation, held April 2, 1922. He accepted the call and was installed as pastor on Sunday, June 25, 1922, the 2nd Sunday after Trinity. He preached his first sermon as pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church the first Sunday in July, July 2, 1922.
As the congregation continued to increase in numbers it became evident that with the many additional duties, such as bi-lingual preaching, instruction of special classes in religion preparatory to confirmation, especially adult classes, increased responsibilities with various organizations within the church, the challenge of missionary opportunities and various other duties, the load was too heavy for one pastor. Help was needed. The congregation decided to engaged Cand. rev. min. Manfred J. Lenz. After he had accepted a call to Monticello, Minn., Cand. E.L. Mehlberg was chosen. He remained with us for a few months and then accepted a call to Faith, South Dakota. His successor was Cand. Emil F. Peterson who arrived in Mankato February 14, 1940. He received a call as Assistant Pastor in a meeting of the voters held July 14, 1940 and was ordained in our church August 4, 1940. His status now is that of Junior Pastor and Director of Christian Education. He has met his responsibilities conscientiously and the Lord has singularly blessed his labor in our midst.
Inside of Our Present Church
Looking backward we have abundant cause to say: "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." (Ex. 34:6.7).
For eighty years the Lord has manifested His grace and mercy to thousands who heard the Gospel and received the blessings of His sacraments. For this kindness and long-suffering we thank and praise God, now and forever.
"Let the beauty of the Lord, our God, be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." (Ps. 90:17).
The committee in charge of the arrangements for the 80th Anniversary Celebration takes this opportunity of fulfuilling a request made by the Church Council early this spring. At that time, it had been brought to the attention of the Church Council that Mr. Hellermann, with the aid of his wife, had served as a teacher and principal of our Day School for a period of twenty-two years, having begun his work here in the fall of 1925. The request of the Church Council was that their years of service should be given special recognition in the Anniversary Booklet.
We, therefore, take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Hellermann. We are confident that those who have been instructed by him and have had contact with him and his wife are deeply grateful for the many sacrifices of time and talents which they have brought in their service to the Lord in this congregation. Our prayer is that the Lord will continue to bless their activity in our congregation in the future, even as He has in the past.
The Rev. A. Ackermann
July 1947
| Present Pastors of Our Congregation | |
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The Rev. A. Ackermann |
The Rev. Emil F. Peterson |