From the Mansfield News-Journal, May, 1944.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is another in the series of historical sketches on some of Mansfield's older churches.)
by PHILIP GREENE
It was Jan. 1, 1845, that St. John's Evangelical and Reformed church was organized to serve the ever-increasing stream of German immigrants settling in the village of Mansfield.
Previous to that time Germans has held religious meetings and there were the Lutheran and the German Reformed churches in Mansfield, but it was Rev. A. L. W. Begemann who founded St. John's as a German purely protestant evangelical congregation.
Today the congregation is outstanding in that it has second and third of its three churches and all of its three parsonages still standing. The second church building, constructed of brick in a870 at the corner of South Mulberry and West First streets, is today used by the Christian Apostolic church.
Beside it stands St. John's second parsonage, a brick building erected in 1880, and next to it stands the church's first parsonage, a frame house purchased in 1856.
And at the rear of the present church building at South Franklin street and Park avenue east stands the oldest of St. John's buildings and one of the oldest in the city, the third parsonage. It was constructed in 1835 as a dwelling house by Dr. William Bushnell, one of the city's pioneers.
St. John's first constitution lists 40 charter members, some of whom had the following well-known Mansfield names: Christian Brickmann, Stephen Balliet, Peter Wappner, John Peter Ludwig, John Peter Remy, John Hest and Heinrich Everle.
Signers of the constitution, besides Rev. Begemann, included George Bauer, Michael Schneider, Theobald Altvater, Simon Kaueffer and Philip Fischer, who acted as trustees, elders and deacons.
There are references to the people composing the St. John's congregation meeting in "an abandoned log church on East Market street" (now Park avenue east) near Adams street. Records do not state it definitely, but it is thought that the building referred to was the old Methodist church, Mansfield's first church building.
After the formal organization of St. John's, first meetings were held in a hall at the corner of North Mulberry and Bloom streets. (The latter now West Fifth street.)
But it wasn't long before the congregation had arranged for the construction of its own place of worship and on April 3, 1845 the corner stone of St. John's first church building was laid at the corner of South Mulberry and West First streets.
Sealed into the corner stone of that church was a document written in German. It was later recovered and translated into English. It said, in part, "...the corner stone of the Saint John's church was laid in Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, for the purpose of building a German-Protestant Evangelical church. Should circumstances arise that necessitate a change in the fundamental character of this church and its services, such as a need for English services, the vote of two-thirds of all eligible members will be necessary to make this change."
The first building was used by St. John's for 25 years. Its cost amounted to $2,100, exclusive of much labor supplied by its members.
St. John's second pastor, Rev. H. Hunsche, served until late in 1851 when he left the ministry and settled on a farm near Ashland.
Rev. W. Weiskotten, pastor from 1851 to 1853, influenced the congregation to affiliate with the Evangelical Society of Churches, which was later to become the Evangelical Synod of North America. In 1935 the Evangelical churches were merged with the Reformed churches on a national basis, thus making St. John's a member of the Evangelical and Reformed Synod of North America. It was during Rev. Weiskotten's pastorate that the church's first Sunday school was organized.
During the pastorate of Rev. W. Her, 1853 to 1855, the church was rocked with internal dissention over the issue of evangelical or Lutheran services and affiliation. Rev. Her had been a life-long Lutheran and desired to break with the Evangelical society.
However, St. John's, founded as as Evangelical denomination remained evangelical and Rev. Her resigned in 1855. The Lutheran issue caused some 25 families to leave St. John's.
Music in St. John's was first used during the pastorate of Rev. Albert Schory who served from 1857 to 1860. It was then that a choir of 28 voices was organized. Members absenting themselves from scheduled rehearsals were fined ten cents. During the Civil War days under Rev. W. Duerr the church obtained its first organ. It was dedicated on "Missionary Day," Aug. 16, 1863.
Rev. F. Lenschau became pastor of St. John's in 1864. In a letter to a friend he wrote, "The church proper is a plain room, but has a gallery in the rear for the choir. In the middle of the auditorium is a great big stove, which gives an immense amount of heat, when it is going full blast. When it really burns, members twist and squirm, and eventually move ten or twelve feet further away."
By the time of Rev. Lenschau's pastorate the church had prospered and consisted of 103 families, with 125 children registered in the Sunday school. It was felt that a new and larger church was needed, with the result that the old building was sold, eventually being moved to East Fifth and Adams where it was used as a part of a soap factory.
Rev. Lenschau was the driving force in the building of the new church. It was said that, day after day, the pastor and members of the congregation would go into the woods with axe and saw to prepare the lumber to be used in the building.
The new church, a $21,000 structure, was erected on the site of the old and during excavation a vein of quicksand was uncovered. Many loads of rock were dumped into the sand before construction could be continued.
Dedication of the new church took place June 25, 1877. Among other speakers for the day was Rev. Theodore Dresel, pastor of St. John's from 1855 to 1857.
In 1880 a new brick parsonage, the second, was erected next to the church. It housed the pastors of St. John's until 1921, and is still standing.
Rev. F. Buesser, pastor from 1886 to 1901, was one of the outstanding ministers of St. John's. During his time the church was redecorated and remodeled and a new pipe organ installed which served the congregation until 1936.
Rev. Buesser was noted for his many religious treatises in German which were published in the "Friedenbote." He was later to become vice president of the synod.
Rev. William Dresel, son of Rev. Theodore Dresel who had served the church from 1855 to 1857, was called to the pulpit of St. John's in 1901. Under his dynamic leadership the church experienced a new growth.
The first move toward serving the English speaking members of the congregation with services in that language was initiated in September, 1901 when evening services were set aside for that purpose. Under Rev. Dresel the cradle roll, the home department, the Willing Workers and the Missionary societies were organized. In 1902 a monthly church paper, "Der St. Johannes Bote," was founded. And the music department reached an unusual degree of development in 1905 under the leadership of Arnold Kallmerten who, at that tie, had been serving for 33 years as choir director.
One could hardly find a better example of the growth of "Americanism" in the United States than that offered by St. John's church in the issue of German versus English services. More and more members who spoke only English ewers entering the church soon after the turn of the century, and more and more the need of appropriate changes was felt.
First, one of the Sunday school classes was organized on a basis of the English language. Later, others of the church's societies switched to English. Meanwhile, the preaching services were being conducted in both languages, and as the years passed the predominance gradually swung to those in English.
A few protests were heard here and there, a little resistance encountered. But the change was bound to come. In recent years the same tolerance of German services was exhibited as was formerly shown for those in English when the German speaking members were in the majority.
By the time the present war with Germany broke out there were only a few who desired German services. After official board action a congregational vote on Jan. 10, 1942 eliminated the use of German in any services or among any of the church organizations. Today English is used solely.
The present church building, a $45,000 edifice, was dedicated May 5, 1912. Rev. G. A. Kienle was pastor then and his ministry was the longest in the history of St. John's, extending from 1907 to 1924. It was in 1921 that "Bushnell House: at the rear of the church was purchased and remodeled for use as a parsonage.
Following Rev. Kienle in the pastorate was Rev. Theodore Frohne. Under Rev. Frohne the church was enlarged and renovated at the cost of $40,000, of which $17,500 went for the purchase and installation of an electric pipe organ. Rev. Frohne resigned in 1929 to accept a pastorate in Milwaukee, Wis.
He was succeeded in the pulpit by Rev. Paul H. Saleste, present pastor. Rev. Saleste came to Mansfield from a professorship of psychology and philosophy at Findlay college. Before his position at Findlay he had served as a professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma and at Drake University. A graduate of Muskingum college, he obtained his doctor's degree in psychology from Ohio State university in 1925.
Present membership of St. John's is 1,100 and approximately 900 children are enrolled in the Sunday school.
Present activities of the church are highlighted by those in preparation for the congregation's 100th anniversary next Jan. 1. Outstanding in such plans is the offering donated last Easter (April 9, 1944) for complete renovation of the church. A goal of $10,000 had been set and Rev. Saleste reported that it was happily met in cash contributions that Sunday morning.