The following is from Saleste, Paul H., Ninetieth Anniversary of Saint John's Evangelical and Reformed Church, January 1, 1935.

The eighth minister was Rev. F. Lenschau. Illuminating is an abstract from a letter written to a friend. He says, "My church has three windows on each side. Below is the church basement, low and rather small, also somewhat damp. In this basement room are rows of home-made desks, at each of which six or eight pupils sit on benches without back-rests. Here I am to conduct the vacation German School. 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." ...

...In that sort of faith your church began. Whatever else is uncertain that is certain. Details of record of organization, worship and church life are missing, or fragmentary. A fully accurate and authoritative account of an institution like our church is impossible. And we are brought back to this:-

"Ninety years ago, on January 1, 1845, forty sincere and conscientious men, believers in God, followers of the Christ, most of them recent immigrants from Germany, associated themselves together under the leadership of a servant of God, names A.L.W. Begemann, and organized in a most solemn hour, what we now call 'Saint John's Evangelical Church.'" ...

There had been scattered services in Mansfield before that eventful January First. There is one reference in entering nine baptisms from before 1845, which states.

"Entered out of the church book of the Nassauer church. This church has not merged itself with our church."

The reference, while not entirely clear, seems to relate to the early history of what is now Saint Peter's Church in Washington Township. Other similar entries could have been made, I am sure, but they are unrecorded. We do know, that there were services sponsored by miscellaneous German groups, in various sections of the county, and in Mansfield. There were beginnings of Reformed Churches here and there. And the Reformed church in the year 1834 became an organic part of the Evangelical Synod. There is also a reference regarding the ministry of one minister names Houck. But as far as our church is concerned, as a church organization, it began with Rev. A.L.W. Begemann, and the first forty members.

Some further light of conditions prevailing then, comes to us when reading the history of Mansfield. Mansfield was a village in those days. It was backwoods country, in which a rather primitive backwoods social life was exercised. The first directory of Mansfield dates back only to 1858 and lists 1415 names, and if you trace back to 1845 I don't think more than 1200 living souls existed in this village called Mansfield.

And so in this pioneer setting, it was an historical event, when forty men inspired by Rev. A. L. W. Begemann said, "Let's build a German Protestant Church." This first services, says one record, were held in an abandoned log church on East Market, (now Park Avenue) near Adams. This might have been one of the abandoned early churches of another denomination, probably M. E. and dating back to 1816, which had outgrown  its very crude house of worship. It is a fascinating thought, that the beginning of our first church was possibly made in the very first church ever built in Mansfield. This of course refers to meetings held earlier than 1845, when no thought was yet given to building their own church.

The first services of the newly organized congregation were held in a hall on North Mulberry and Bloom streets, (now Fifth). With regard to that church, it is again interesting, that the following document, later discovered from the cornerstone reads as follows, (translated)

"On the third day of April, in the year of our Lord 1845 and in the 69th year of the Independence of the United States, when Jacob H. Polk was President of the United States, and Mordicai Bartley was governor of the State of Ohio, the cornerstone of the Saint John's church was laid, (the first mention of the name Saint John) in Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio, for the purpose of building a German-Protestant-Evangelical Church. This church is built for the use and service of the German-Protestant-Evangelical congregation, and should remain a property of that church. Should circumstances arise, that necessitate a change in the fundamental character of this church and its services, that is should there be a need for English services, the vote of two-thirds of all eligible members of the church, including elders, trustees and deacons, will be necessary o make this change: with this reservation that, as long as charter members are living, the church property if in their custody."

The above is a true transcript of the minutes, and witnessed by A. L. W. Begemann, Pastor of the Church.

The first constitution, which we do not find practicable to include in this historical sketch, is signed by A. L. W. Begemann and five members of the first official board. They are:

George Bauer and Michael Schneider, Trustees (Baumeister).
George Bauer and Theobald Altvater, Elders.
Simon Kaueffer and Philip Fischer, Deacons.

The first membership list contains the names of the first forty.

The first church was used for exactly twenty-five years. It cost exclusive of much of its labor value, $2,100.00. ...

Friends of German extraction came from surrounding localities like Ashland, Galion, Newville, Orange, and as far as Delaware. Every Sunday from these and other places they came in slow-moving vehicles, over roads which are described as muddy trails, to hear the preaching of God's word, have fellowship in Holy Communion or present a child in sacred Baptism.

...During Rev. Lenschau's pastorate it became more and more evident, that the congregation was ready for a newer, larger, more modern church home. The congregation numbered 103 families. In the Sunday school were 125 children. ...The church willingly followed Rev. Lenschau's suggestions, and drew plans for a new church on the same site. So the building was sold, moved to Fourth and later to Fifth and Adams and used as a soap factory. One of the mothers commenting on this use of a venerable and beloved building said: "It is better that it got to be a soap-factory than a saloon. Souls were cleansed in it for twenty-five years, now they make soap in it for the cleansing of bodies." For many years it defied the ravages of time, but was later dismantled.