Connecting With Zion’s Past

by Dennis Dugger

Recently the Council was informed that the northwest corner of the sanctuary appears to be settling, evidenced by a gap between the wall and the ceiling molding.  This problem definitely has a connection with the past; there have been problems with these walls almost from their beginnings.

The Deutsche Evangelische Zions Kirche was established by a constitution on April 2, 1872.  The next year, a building site, described as “partly a water hole”, was purchased for $600.  Our first sanctuary was built upon this site in 1874, but by 1900 the building was inadequate.  So on Sept. 2, 1900, after much discussion, the growing congregation decided to build a new church.

Demolition of the old church began immediately, salvaging as much material as possible.  Among the salvaged items were the bell, the cornerstone, the anchor cross on the steeple, and the windows.  Three of these windows are currently in the gym/auditorium.  The old cornerstone was reinstalled on the west wall. The anchor cross, used on the new steeple, was removed during the 1922 Jubilee Project.

A new sanctuary’s cornerstone was laid on Sept. 30, 1900.  During the construction Zion’s services were moved to the YMCA; then located at the corner of Third and Allen.

The new church, designed by an architect named Joseph Ransley, was 94 ft. by 58 ft. with a 65 foot steeple.  It included a sanctuary (our present one), parish hall with a lecture hall, class rooms, and a pastor’s study.

$1000 was budgeted for the stained glass windows, and Pastor Bomhard was authorized to select them, but the bill for the windows ended up being $1200.  The Building Committee asked the Ladies Aid Society, the Sunday School, and the Young People’s Society to raise the extra $200.  The windows were imported from Germany through a Mr. Brand in Chicago.

The pews (our present ones) were purchased for the new sanctuary for $687.25.  Originally, they were a light oak finish and were arranged facing the pulpit and the northeast corner.  During the 1922 Jubilee Project, the pews were shifted to the present alignment facing the east wall.

The new building was dedicated on Aug. 18, 1901.  The cost of the building, excluding furnishings, was $12,000; 50 percent over budget.  Rolling doors (reported to have seldom worked) divided the hall into individual class rooms.  Doors could be opened between the Church and Sunday School hall to take care of any overflow in church attendance.  For many years during the winter months, the Hall was kept in use with roller skating for youngsters, and volleyball and basketball for the men.  The new church used electricity for lighting while the old church used gas lamps.

By 1915, defects appeared in the sanctuary walls and some of the ornamental stonework had fallen.  Due to safety concerns, more of the stonework was ordered removed. According to one story, the bricklayer in 1900-1901 had not always been sober and he had either mixed the mortar incorrectly or worked in temperatures too cold for bricklaying

As part of the 1922 Jubulee Project, large portions of the walls had to be rebuilt.  Under the directions of architect J. W. Whitehead, the north and south walls of the sanctuary were reconstructed beginning about ten feet above ground level.  In addition, new face brick was used on the Allen and Seventh Street walls and the steeple was redesigned as a tower.  The sanctuary work also included a new roof.  During this project, the stained glass windows purchased in 1901 were removed and reinstalled.

So our present wall problem may be the combined results of building our church on the site of an old watering hole, poor brickwork, and, of course, old age.

The 1922 Jubilee Project also included construction of a new educational building behind the sanctuary.  It included a kitchen, dining room, and club room in the basement, and an auditorium/gym with adjacent classrooms on the first and second floors.

During a recent conversation, I discovered that the heritage of one of our members traces back to a signer of Zion’s original 1872 constitution.  I’ll tell more about this next month.

Dennis