From The Church Dedication booklet of 1952.
The congregation was founded June 1, 1846 as the First German Evangelical Lutheran
Church and Congregation in the City of McKeesport. The incorporation was made over the
date of July 4, 1848, the organizing members being Johann Spory, President; George
Kinzenback, Christian Weber, Martin Kohler, George Zinn, Wilhelm Nicolaus, Nicolaus
Hartmann, Johann Nicolaus Egly, George Veit, Gottfried Krapf, Conrad Best, Nicolaus
Rosenberger, Christoph Koch, Heinrich Schneider, and Conrad Hartmann.
There are no extant records prior to 1852, "at the very beginning of the pastorate of
Rev. Julius F. Zoller," when, at his suggestion, a church-book was purchased and he,
with the approval of the church council, made the first entries, consisting of the
charter, the church council, four years after it had been granted by the court, six years
after the foundation of the church. In Pastor Zoller's handwriting also is the small
number of early entries, which must have been copied from some records since lost; the
first recorded baptisms of 1847, a record of communicants of October, 1848. But the whole
is scant. As said, years later, Rev. David Leeman, "The church record books are . . .
in an entirely wretched condition . . . Some ministers made no entries ; not one kept full
and accurate records.
There is uncertainty as to the time when the church dropped the name Lutheran and turned
to the Evangelical Protestant movement, but it seems probable that this took place in the
pastorate of Julius F. Zoller, when Dr. William A. Passavant, President of t he Pittsburgh
Synod, attempted to exercise authority over the congregation or the pastor. Probable,
also, is the authorship of the liberal basis of the teaching of the church as being that
of Pastor Eduard Graf, 1856-58. That condition is still maintained in our by-laws,
requiring that the teaching of the church shall always be founded upon the principal
tenets of the Christian faith and that it must be in harmony with the
"Zeitgeist" ("The spirit of the time") and the latest findings of
modern science. Pastor Graf formulated a moralistic evolutionary catechism, which is in
our files, and taught the theory of evolution before Darwin's publication of "Origin
of Species." Thus, from the 1850's, the church has been a liberal congregation, in
harmony with the spirit of the Evangelical Protestant traditions.
There always were Germans in McKeesport, from the white settlement of the community. The
only person to be killed by Indians in the present area of the town was a German by the
name of Kaiser, as he was fleeing an Indian raid at Riverton. But as the people were
widely scattered, it was difficult to form a congregation. Until the present pastorate,
the Minister was called by German families for special functions from Greenock, Elizabeth,
Duquesne (which was formerly called "Germantown") and all points hereabout.
There is in this community more German blood than that of any other nationality but by
virtue of long residence, the people are almost wholly diffused among the population. And,
especially during the last years, intermarriage generally has mad e great changes in all
churches, so that we have more than twenty nationalities represented in our congregation.
In earlier days, before Jewish and Swedish churches were established, the pastors of the
church served those people also. Ours was the first church-home of the German Jews. And
for a period the Swedes came for pastoral ministrations. The story goes that the last call
upon Pastor Leeman was made late one night under pretense of emergency, which then turned
into a surprise party of appreciation with the presentation, from Swedish friends, of a
gold watch.
The liberal spirit of the congregation, the language apart, helped to isolate the church
and pastor in the community. To a degree that condition still prevails, despite more
enlightened social theological conceptions. To be intelligently true to the genius of the
past, in Christian spirit, yet to live and work in the community which has become a
genuine melting-pot, where youth of all backgrounds receive the same training in the
public school, while national cultures are fading away, that is a situation which taxes
all available wisdom and resources of the church. Formerly, as a "German
Church," the congregation could chart its course, in teaching and activities with a
degree of disregard of the public mind. Now, a part of the community more intimately than
ever before, the function of the church, in harmony with its great past, becomes more
difficult as it is the more needed by a creative congregation.
Whence did our congregation come? The records give no clear light. The first rosters
seem to include several names that might be from Reichelsheim, Hessia. On the whole, the
people come from the southern portion of Germany rather than the northern half . Quite a
few came from Eastern Germany, a few from the West; a few, over the years, from
Switzerland. A number came from the Rhine areas. Some were Germans from Dobschau, Hungary,
others came from Bohemia. The largest single group, perhaps, more than a generation ago,
were from Reichelsheim. But the representation of immigration was rather general, as from
all Germany, with exceptional individuals from the north. The present pastor, from
Schleswig-Holstein, found only one person from his own province. The more remarkable that
through the years the congregation remained loyal to the Evangelical Protestant tradition
of teaching and spirit of liberal Christianity and denominational freedom. Withal the
church was faithful to the larger organization o f churches, taking the lead, at times, in
the former pastorate, in organic fellowship of the Pittsburgh area churches.
Their story is practically lost. Their descendants live in a world of their own and
have no share in their world of experience. Yet alive, at the beginning of the present
pastorate, were veterans of the former generation, who had in some case crossed the ocean
in sailing vessels. The crossing was sometimes delayed by contrary winds. One old lady
told how her family was ninety days en-route, until the water had become unpotable, and
fresh foods were exhausted. Sometimes plagues would sweep the vessel clean of all children
under two, and childbirth meant, too often, the death sentence of the mother and the babe.
After arrival, there was no social security. The start was slow. Illness, particularly of
children, was frequent. The summer heat slaughtered the innocents, as the church records
show, with four and six deaths of little ones a month. Before industries were established
(the National Tube Company came in 1871), farming, small trades and handcrafts were the
chief occupations, with meager financial returns. Coal mining was common, with river
traffic. And Germans were all about this country, working the top seam of coal. During one
strike, extending over a year, the mother of the family had not one dollar of money to
carry through. Handwork, a garden, some livestock, and wage-work on the farms helped the
people to carry over.
Then, with the establishment of the great factories, McKeesport became a typical
industrial community, with the advantage of steady work, regularly paid, but also with the
consequent disadvantages. But a steadily growing population resulted, bringing, until the
1890's a strong German immigration, which, in the case of this church, brought a stream of
new members, many of whom merely made the church a stopping place on the American course.
That immigration also delayed needed adaptation to the requirements of the American-born
and intermarriages in the language and ways of the new homeland. "When es ihnen bei
uns nicht gefaellt, dann lasst sie gehen," was something of a slogan. ("If they
don't like it with us, let them go.") That problem of "Americanization" was
shared by all groups of foreign-born, and the Germans did not worse, but perhaps some
better than did congregations of other national groups.
From the very beginning until 1918, the church maintained a "week-day
school." For half the life of the church, it, rather than the Sunday school, was a
primary concern of the parish. Over the last twenty years or more, the school had
decreased in size until at last it was merely a summer school during the vacation season.
Sometimes, the ministers were the teachers. Pastor Leeman
says, i.a., "Pastor Heddaeus undertook that great
task himself. He taught, each year before his call to Columbus, from sixty to seventy
pupils." More often there was a teacher, who was also the organist and choir
director. Best remembered by the older people, even to this day, was Carl Ebertshaeuser,
who passed away in Duquesne about 1936.
The subject matter was taught in German, chiefly. The newcomer-teachers were not perfectly
versed in English. And much of the material was Biblical and selections from German
literature. The use of German folk songs and hymnody was considerable.
The erection of the school house and parsonage, in 1873, gave a significant advantage to
the parish. When the building was torn down in 1935 to make way for our splendid parish house, it could fairly be said that no other
educational building in the City had given so much value for the small investment. For
years, the sexton and family had occupied the living quarters. The Carl Eckersbergs were
the last residents.
By 1900 the public school had claimed the whole allegiance of the members of the parish,
as the use of the mother-tongue was fading from the conversations of the homes. Then, for
some time, there were only two pupils left in the "week day" school, and later
only one, John Bangert, five years of age, who for two weeks comprised the entire student
body. And when his mother learned of that solitary status, she kept him at home. After
that, classes were held on Saturdays and during summer vacation. Then only in the summer,
until, during World War I, the vacation school was also discontinued. Two of the last
teachers were Ernestine Bechsteadt and Alberta
Volk.
The bell was a gift, by bequest, of Henry Linkner, a convict. Sentenced to death for a first-degree murder, his sentence was commuted to life-imprisonment in Western Penitentiary. In appreciation of the spiritual ministrations of Pastor Leeman, and wishing to share in the service of the Church, he gave his remaining estate, $300, to this purpose. The inscription of the bell is as follows: "Cast by A. Fulton's Son and Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., 1877. Rev. J. D. Leeman, Pastor. Presented by Henry Linkner, March 14, 1877. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits'." (Inscription in German.)
In 1856, the congregation acquired a half-acre of land in the McKeesport Versailles
Cemetery at the price of a hundred dollars. It was intended as a free burial place for
members of the congregation, without provisions for the cost of maintenance. Therefore,
over the decades, the constant factor was an obvious neglect, until a committee, in Mr. H.
Papke's last years, raised a maintenance fund, whose income was used to repay the
management of the cemetery for proper care. Perhaps forty single-grave plot s are now
left. The present thought is that the congregation will entrust the property and future
care to the management of Versailles Cemetery, in return for the available lots and the
amount of the endowment, which would ensure proper care to the resting place of those who
are buried there from our congregation.
Cornerstone laying
was held February 4, 1951. The cornerstone contains the following: 1. "Ninety Years of Service." The anniversary book of the ninetieth year celebration, 1936. 2. Centennial Book, "One Hundred Years of Service," 1946. 3. Picture of the Pastor. 4. Picture of Rev. Charles L. Burns, Jr., son of the church ordained in the last service in the old church building, August 6, 1950, the first minister from our church. 5. Pictures of the interior and exterior of the old church, taken by Mr. William E. Haag. 6. Pictures of the interior and exterior of the church, taken by Mr. Edward Golz. 7. Picture of the Senior Choir, Palm Sunday, 1950; taken by Mr. Herbert Morgan. 8. Picture o f the 1950 Confirmation class, by Mr. Morgan. 9. Photostatic copy of the charter of the church, 1880. 10. A German Bible, Luther's translation. 11. A German hymnal. 12. Statement of the policy of the Congregational Church. 13. Catechism of the Evangelical Protestant church of North America. 14. "Daily Devotions," Congregational, Winter, 1951. 15. "Message to whomsoever opens this box," and historical facts about the church, by Mrs. Minnie Kolbe. 16. Copies of the parish paper, "The Monthly Messenger." 17. Evangelical Protestant Hymnal, published by the Association of Ministers of the Evangelical Protestant Church of North America (German.) 18. Member's dues book. 19. Canvassing card, 1950. 20. "Kirchenbote," March, 1898 and "Kirchenzeitung," November, 1907. 21. Copy of "The Advance" Congregational Christian Church, December, 1950. 22. Confirmation program in German, March, 1904. 23. Good Friday program, April 7, 1930. 24. Rally Day program, October 8, 1950. 25. Program, April 30, 1948, recognition of church school workers who had served twenty-five years. 26. Palm Sunday program, confirmation, communion, April 2, 1950. 27. World-Wide Communion program, October 1, 1950. 28. Program, First Sunday after the New Year, J anuary 7, 1951. 29. Last service in the church, Sunday, August 6, 1950, with notation of baptism of Jane Ann Dyal and Louise Holiday, niece and cousin of Lic. Charles L. Burns, who performed the baptism. 30. Program of the ordination service, Mr. Burns. 31. Program, Christmas Eve, December 24, 1950. 32. A copy of "Christ und Welt," a leading church organ of Germany. 33. Two letters to the Pastor from Bishop Otto Dibelius, Berlin, who was guest at the parsonage and preached at the first McKeespor t Union Reformation service, 1947; two letters from Mr. Erik E. Siewert, an officer in the German Church at Oslo, Norway, where the Minister preached, Pentecost, 1949. 34. A copy of "Christian Century," a leading American church paper. 35. Copy of McKeesport, Pa., Daily News, Saturday, February 3, 1951. 36. Photograph of the cornerstone laying committee, by the Daily News. 37. Names of the church council, 1951. 38. A copy of "The Wayside Hymnal." 39. A Book of Prayers. 40. Three Sunday School cards, in German, from the time that the Sunday School was conducted in German. 41. United States postage stamps. (The copper box was made and presented by Charles L. Burns, Sr.)