This
file part of www.dodgejeffgen.com
website
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church
Concord
Cemetery file from our collection
St. Stephen’s Concord plans
150th anniversary celebration
2012
07 02
The
members of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church near Concord will celebrate the 150th
anniversary of their congregation’s founding on Sunday, July 15, with a special
10 a.m. service.
The
anniversary includes a special invitation to the friends of the congregation,
including past members and the public at large, to join them for both the
service and a free, catered, picnic- style lunch to follow.
First
organized in 1862 during the Civil War, the earliest members of St. Stephen’s
gathered at private homes until a church could be built. Today’s majestic building, first erected in
1907, stands two miles west of Concord at W2094 Church Road.
Today’s
congregation is led by the Rev. Alan Klatt, who will
lead the anniversary service along with his father, the Rev. Eberhardt Klatt. Special music is planned, and guests will be
invited to view other church facilities, including the former schoolhouse, and
to see a variety of historic photos.
Church
Road can be accessed to the north from Highway B between Concord and
Farmington.
2010
July
2010 -- St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, located between Johnson Creek and
Concord celebrated a new interior beyond a mere paint job. The church interior
hues are of solemn joy, with three church members the primary crafters and
artisans. The refreshed appearance
includes images of a dove and the cross. Gilded accents of gold leaf were
painstaking applied to set off the detail.
St. Stephen’s Concord plans
140th anniversary celebration
2002
St.
Stephen's Lutheran Church near Concord celebrated its 140th anniversary as a
rural congregation on October 7, 2002.
Sunday's
service included writings from early clergy of the congregation and
correspondence from relatives of family members who were involved in the Civil
War.
The
original St. Stephen's Church began when the newly formed congregation used a
log building as a church beginning in 1862, during the height of the Civil War.
The
current St. Stephen's Church building was built in 1906. Like the previous
church buildings, the German settler members of the rural congregation
accomplished the building project with their own skills using hand-hewn timbers
for the support structure and actually fabricating the blocks used to make the
exterior walls.
Prior
to forming a local congregation, members and families would often walk to
attend church in Lebanon.
Most
of the families of the rural Concord congregation are descendants of the
original congregation.