Encyclopedia Dubuque
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ST. PETER'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
ST. PETER'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. The congregation of St. Peter's English Lutheran Church organized on November 10, 1910 to fill the need for an English language Lutheran church in Dubuque. (1) Soon afterwards, the church acquired its original church property including a church and parsonage. The membership grew one hundred percent the first year. The Sunday School was organized with an enrollment of forty students. On the first anniversary, the attendance had grown to one hundred. (2)
As an off-shoot of ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, St. Peter's started as a wooden frame church at 21st and Elm STREETS. Services at both churches were held in German, but interest in English services grew so that on November 10, 1910 the mission was incorporated as a church. (3)
The original church at 21st and Elm served the members for more than fifty years. On the 29th anniversary of the church, 175 members and friends gathered to celebrate. Property improvements during the year had included extensive renovation of the interior of the parsonage, complete refinishing of the church exterior, and installation of forced air circulation. (4) During that time the sanctuary was lengthened, a bell tower was added, and the entire building was raised six feet to prevent it from receiving flood damage.
The Sunday school predated the congregation by several years. As the only English Lutheran Sunday school in its part of the city, it cared for many children who were not Lutheran. (5)
The first consideration of moving came in the early 1950s. At the same time a parsonage was purchased on Grandview Avenue, and Sunday school classes were held for several years in the LUX CLUB. Six lots were purchased on Asbury Road in 1958. An additional lot was purchased in 1959, the same year a congregational meeting decided to construct a new church.
On April 16, 1961, ground was broken for the new church. The cornerstone was laid on July 30, 1961.
On February 25, 1962 the church's congregation held a service at the old church at 21st and Elm and then formed a motorcade to the new church at 3200 Asbury. Those arriving at the new church then participated in a special door opening service for the new $200,000 building. Forty members of the America Lutheran Church headquarters from Minneapolis, Minnesota were guests. (6)
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Source:
1. "St. Peter's Lutheran Plans Major Expansion Program," The Telegraph-Herald, August 31, 1958, p. 14
2. "St. Peter's English Lutheran," Telegraph Herald, June 15, 1913, p. 14
3. "St. Peter's Lutheran..."
4. "Local Church 29 Years Old," Telegraph Herald, Nov. 13, 1939
5. "St. Peter's Lutheran," Telegraph Herald, June 17, 1923, p. 44
6. "New Church Opens Sunday," Telegraph Herald, February 25, 1962