The History
of Peace Lutheran Church
In the year 1883 Antigo,
Wisconsin, was a town of only 800 people. In that year Rev.
Christian Purzner of Wittenberg, Wisconsin, a theological
student from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri came
to this area on horseback in search of Lutheran families
and preached to them God's Law and His Gospel of grace. One
year later, in l884, the Rev. H. Daib, then a young
candidate from the seminary, succeeded Rev. Purzner at
Wittenberg.
Pastor Daib preached in Antigo, Polar, Norwood and as far
north as Hurley, Wisconsin, and Ironwood, Michigan, and
south as far as Tigerton.
On September 16, l884, Pastor
Daib called a meeting at the Gustav Ulrich tailor shop at
which time Peace Lutheran Congregation was founded with
thirteen charter members present. The founders names were:
Gustav Ulrich, H. Boldt, F. Berger, C. Voss, L. Theilmann,
C. F. Dallmann, H. Berner, A. Kropf, W. Kupper, Sr., L.
Krueger, C. Gaertner, H. Findeisen, and B. Stege. The first
president of the congregation was Mr. G.
Ulrich.
Church services were held in
various public halls, such as the skating rink, and in
private homes. Mr. C. F. Dallmann rented the second floor
of his house to the church the first winter for the sum of
two dollars. A contract was signed the following year in
1885 with the Congregational Church for the use of their
church building every Sunday afternoon for a rental fee of
one dollar per service.
Rev. H. Daib, who had been serving Lutheran families in
twelve communities received an assistant in 1885. He was
student Alfred Grimm, a young man of twenty years from
Concordia Seminary Springfield, Illinois, who was stationed
in Antigo and also served the people of Polar, Norwood,
Elmhurst and Birnamwood. At this time Peace Lutheran Church
numbered twenty-eight families. In 1886 the congregation
purchased seven lots of its present church property from
August Zellmer, who had acquired it from Michael Weix for
$175. After thirteen months of faithful service in the
Lord's work, Student Grimm returned to the seminary at
Springfield and was succeeded by another theological
student by the name of G. Drews.
In 1887 Rev. H. Daib was called
as the first regular pastor of Peace Lutheran Congregation.
In that year he built his own parsonage on the church
property by congregational permission. The first church
building was begun in June 1887 while student Drews was
serving, and dedicated under the pastorate of H. Daib in
July. It measured 26' X 40' and stood on the present
property 150 feet from Lincoln Street. Every voting member
was expected "to
help personally with the construction, otherwise hire a man
or pay $l.25."
In 1888 Rev. Daib accepted a
call to Merrill, Wisconsin, a larger field of labor,
leaving Antigo after only one year as a regular called
minister. The Rev. G. Kuechle succeeded him, but because of
poor health he remained about six months. In September of
1889 the Rev. R. Heike was installed as pastor and remained
about two years. It was during Rev. Heike's pastorate,
however, that our parochial school received impetus when it
was conducted in the upper story of the parsonage which had
been purchased from the Rev. H. Daib for $800.00. In
November 1889 the building of the first school measured 18'
X 26' was agreed upon and completed in February of 1890 at
a cost of $231.00.
On November l, 1891 Rev. Alfred
Grimm was installed as Pastor. He served for twenty-eight
years as pastor of Peace Lutheran Church.
The congregation outgrew its church building in 1901; there
was hardly standing room at the Sunday services. On
December 15, 1901 it was resolved to build a new church
building according to the plans designed by architect A. F.
Gruenhagen of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. On October 19, 1902, the
new church building costing $5,622.50, was dedicated to the
glory of the Triune God. The original furnishings cost
$625.00.
The 1887 church building was now remodeled to offer room
for a well-lighted school building to accommodate about
eighty children, a church hall to be used by the Ladies'
Aid society and the young people, and a well-equipped
kitchen. At this time the property west of the church was
planted with trees creating a little park and offering a
splendid background for the church buildings. It was under
these trees that many a church picnic and school outing was
held and concerts by the church band, under the leadership
of Mr. William Grimm, were enjoyed. In 1894 the
congregation, up to this point partly supported by synod,
became self-supporting.
In 1915 a new pipe organ was
purchased for $2,600.00 and on August 1st of that year it
was dedicated to the service of God.
During the month of April,
1919, Rev. Grimm resigned his pastorate of Peace Church.
The congregation reluctantly accepted it so that he might
enter the publishing business. He was a writer himself
under the pen name of "Alfred
Ira."
Following the resignation of
the Rev. A. Grimm, the Rev. O. Neumann of Athens, Wisconsin
was called and installed as pastor in July of 1919. In
addition to the regular German services on Sundays , an
English service was introduced for the first time under
Rev. Neumann. A large church bell was installed and the
interior of the church was redecorated. The greatest
blessing to our church property, however, during Rev.
Neumann's time was the building of our two story brick
school building during the depression year of 1929 for a
cost of $28,439.22.
In a special congregation
meeting February 4, 1938, Rev. O. Neumann offered the
congregation his resignation after a pastorate of nineteen
years.
The Rev. Arthur Fergin of Ironwood, Michigan, was installed
as pastor on June 13, 1938, by the former pastor, H. Daib
with the Rev. C. D. Griese of Polar
assisting.
A decision to undertake an
Extensive church property improvement program was made by
the congregation in 1949 when the congregation observed its
sixty-fifth anniversary. The actual work, however, was not
begun until about a year later and completed in 1951 at an
approximate cost of $40,000.00. A major improvement to the
church proper was the installation of stained-glass
windows. The three windows on the southwest side of the
1993 church building and the round "rose" window above the
altar were salvaged from the 1902 building. New stained
glass was added to our current church to surround and
compliment these keepsakes from our
past.
The
Rev. Arthur Fergin accepted a call to Redeemer Lutheran
Church, Dishman, Washington on November 2, 1955.
On June 17, 1956 the Rev. Robert A. Hobus of Milwaukee was
installed. After an energetic two years of faithful
service, Pastor Hobus accepted a call to Our Shepherd
Lutheran Church, a newly founded mission congregation at
Greendale, Wisconsin.
During the summer and fall months of 1958 Peace Church
undertook another school expansion program, namely that of
building two new classrooms and an office area to the
existing school building at an approximate cost of
$31,000.00. Rev. Luther V. Stephan of Arlington Heights,
Illinois, accepted the call to Peace Lutheran Congregation
and was installed on August 3, 1958. He served Peace until
accepting another Call on September 15,
1964.
Rev. Joseph Schultz was
installed March 7, 1965. In March of that same year the
congregation authorized an expenditure of $25,000 for the
erection of a new parsonage to replace the old structure.
This parsonage was built at the same location as the old
one - 1105 - 8th Ave. In April 1966, Pastor and Mrs.
Schultz and their family became the first
occupants.
During the years from January
to June of 1972, Rev. Bernie Lutz served as associate
pastor. He was a missionary on leave from New Guinea. He
had fallen down a mountain and broke his back while serving
in New Guinea.
As the
ministry work load became greater and more people were
becoming part of Peace Congregation the decision was made
that an additional full time pastor should be part of our
ministry. Rev. Donald Shoewe joined Peace Lutheran in 1972
and served as an associate pastor. He accepted a call to
another parish in 1975.
On March 3, 1976 Rev. Robert
Stohlman was installed to serve with Rev. Schultz.
He remained with Peace until late 1978.
December 10, 1978 Rev. Randall Neal, who was serving in
Ruston, Louisiana, accepted the Call to serve as pastor
along with Rev. Schultz. In December of 1982 Rev. Schultz
accepted a call to Fall Creek, Wisconsin after serving
Peace Congregation for 17 years.
In October of 1983 Rev. Joseph
Marsh, who was serving in York, Nebraska was installed.
He remained until October 2001 after serving along
with Rev. Neal for 18 years at Peace.
During 1984 the congregation
celebrated it's 100th anniversary with year long events and
reunions. As part of the remembrance a major expansion
project was undertaken. The project included new pitched
roofs, added a Conference Room, Library, Music Room,
Storage Room, ceilings and painting in the education and
office portion of the buildings.
On October 1, 1991 construction began on Phase I of a three
part building expansion project. On February 14, 1993
the dedication of a new 600 seat $1,200,000.00
worship center and Narthex was held. On December 2,
1998 the congregation voted to accept a master building
plan for Phase II & III for expansion. On
February 4, 2001 formal dedication services were held for a
33,000 square foot Phase II building expansion which
included converting the old gym into a 500 seat fellowship
hall, full size gym, commercial grade kitchen, computer
lab, library, music room, youth room, and expanded Narthex.
Including the purchase of three homes along Deleglise
Street Phase II cost $2,996,000.
Rev. Scott Kruse accepted the Call to serve as Associate
Pastor with Rev. Randall Neal as Coordinating Pastor in
2003. Rev. Randall Neal accepted a Call to Minnesota in
2004.
Rev. David Karolus accepted the Call to serve as
Coordinating Pastor in August of 2006.
We are grateful for our founders, who, because of their
faith and concern for Christian mission and education began
this congregation and school. To God be the
Glory!