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St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Ixonia

160 years

1849 - 2009

10 22 2009

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation” town of Ixonia, to celebrate 160th anniversary

In 1843 a group of Lutherans left Germany to come to America. Under the leadership of Pastor Kindermann they were the founders of St. Paul’s Congregation in Ixonia. The congregation was actually established in 1849 with the Rev. J. Hoeckendorf as its first pastor.

The first church was built of logs and in 1860, a new and larger edifice was built of gravel, clay and lime. In 1866, the pastor and a number of families left St. Paul’s Congregation and migrated to Norfolk, Neb., and founded another congregation also named St. Paul’s. It was shortly after 1866 that the congregation officially adopted the name “St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation” town of Ixonia. In 1882 they joined the Wisconsin Synod.

In 1892 a new church of wooden structure with a high steeple and a bell was constructed. On Feb. 5, 1926, the remodeled and redecorated church was destroyed by fire. A new brick building was erected immediately and began holding services again on Oct. 17, 1926. A large addition, including a driveway canopy, enclosed entry to the church and meeting and storage rooms in the basement, was completed in 1973. Twenty years later, in 1993, the west tower of the church was lowered and the bell removed to be put into a new bell tower built west of the church where it remains today.

St. Paul’s currently has 512 communicant members led by the Rev. Kenneth Ewerdt and assisted by the Rev. Edward Lindemann. The church and its members are the sole supporters of St. Paul’s Lutheran School of Ixonia. The school currently has 104 children in prekindergarten through eighth grade, with Jonathan Lindemann as principal. There are five teachers, a teacher assistant and a remedial teacher. The congregation has also been part of the Lakeside Lutheran Federation since 1967.

Cross Reference:

MENNERCHOR (Men’s Choir), St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Ixonia, circa 1890