The Early Years

On June 2, 1853, a congregational meeting was held where a parcel of land was purchased from Mr. Mathaeus Roth, one of the charter members, to place the first house of worship. In 1854, the first house of worship was built and dedicated on the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity.

On December 23, 1855, a congregational meeting resolved to build the congregation’s first parsonage. This parsonage was destroyed by fire in 1879. It was immediately replaced and then expanded over the next few years.

On May 30, 1858, Trinity resolved to apply for membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States (now known as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod).

The beginning of the congregation’s constitution dates as far back as August 1854. Pastor Beyer presented a draft of the constitution on January 19, 1859. This draft was carefully discussed in a series of meetings and adopted on May 26, 1859.

In 1885, Pastor Karth’s first year at Trinity, a new church building was erected. Most of the labor was donated by church members. Pastor Karth himself built the pulpit, altar and baptismal font (all of which were still in use until the remodeling of 1960). On the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 1886, the new church building was dedicated to the glory of God. In 1896, a new organ was purchased for the congregation. It was dedicated in June of that year.