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Hubbard Lake’s St. Paul Lutheran celebrating 125 years

Courtesy Photo The first St. Paul Lutheran Church, built in 1905 in Herron. Prior to that, the congregation met in the schoolhouse from 1894 to 1904.

HUBBARD LAKE — From meager beginnings in the home of a German immigrant family, to a large but simple parsonage and school, to the rise and fall of a new church building in Herron, to the former school in which the church worships now, one thing is certain about St. Paul Lutheran Church. It is not the building, but the loving family within that makes this church special.

On Sunday afternoon the church will hold a celebration commemorating its 125th year as a congregation. A 4 p.m. service on Sunday will be held, instead of the usual morning services. After the service a dinner will be held at the church at 6891 Nicholson Hill Road on the corner of Hubbard Lake Road in Hubbard Lake.

Pastor Joe Llewellyn said although the church location has changed over the years, the love of the Lord has continued on with the congregational family.

“For 125 years, this congregation has shared and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus, and that’s going to continue for hopefully another 125 years,” said Llewellyn, who has pastored the church for nearly five years, becoming its 18th pastor on July 13, 2014. “We’re reflecting on God’s story, through his people here in Hubbard Lake, and Herron, of course, before that. But that story is not ending. We are remembering that story and not only looking backward but also looking forward.”

The young pastor said this year is one of both celebration and transition as the church looks ahead.

Courtesy Photo The inside of the first church built in 1905, after a devastating storm destroyed it in 1943, and it caved into the hole that was made for the basement.

“We’re putting together our future plans for the next couple years, and looking at how God can use us in Hubbard Lake and within our community to better share the gospel,” Llewellyn said.

“That is the reason why we are a family,” said octogenarian Judy Bartz, who is co-chairing Sunday’s celebration with her husband and fellow octogenarian Gordy Bartz.

Gordy Bartz and Ed Ritthaler were five and six, running around the former church on Herron Road before the violent storm that hit during Sunday school on May 16, 1943, destroying the building. Bartz and Ritthaler were two of the children who were evacuated immediately when the building started swaying and lights started to flicker. No one was hurt but the structure was doomed.

“I remember I was in Sunday school and it was like being inside of a boat because the church was moving from side to side,” Gordy Bartz recalls. “Finally, we were all told to leave, and the members decided to come back in the afternoon.”

“Before the men of the congregation could return that afternoon to reinforce the supports, the heavy wind caused the church to fall of the supports and into the excavated hole that was to be the basement,” a document about the church’s history reads. “Irreparable damage was the result, and over the years, many stories have been told about this mini-distaster that befell the congregation.”

Courtesy Photo The new bell tower at the church, which features the original bell, installed in 1910. Moran Iron Works constructed the new tower.

“I went in there after it fell, and toward the very front where the pulpit was, them pews were this way and that way and every which way, all over,” Ritthaler added.

Two current members of the congregation, Joyce Bisanz and Keith Rich, are the last two who are related to one of the original founding fathers who began the church in 1894. Their great-grandfather was John Bisanz, who drafted the church’s first constitution.

The first meeting of St. Paul Lutheran Church took place in the home of Wilhelm Bindschus on Feb. 24, 1894. From 1894 to 1904, the congregation met in the school on the same property as the parsonage built for the first pastor.

The first church was erected on property donated by Bindschus and Christian Dege, both founding fathers. In addition to these men and John Bisanz, founding fathers included Wilhelm Heine, Julius Brick, Ernst Prillop, Ernst Meyer and Theodor Hiller.

The first church was built in 1905, on Wolf Creek Road in Herron, where it stood until the violent storm took it down.

Courtesy Photo St. Paul Lutheran Church, now located inside the old Hubbard Lake school on the corner of Hubbard Lake Road and Nicholson Hill Road, is celebrating its 125th anniversary all year long, with events planned monthly. This Sunday a service and dinner celebration starts at 4 p.m. at the church. Here is the current St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hubbard Lake.

From 1944 to 1973, the congregation met in a newly constructed building made from many of the salvaged materials from the first church, in the same location of the original building. Then an addition was built on in 1974, so the congregation remained there until 2008. In 2009, the opportunity to expand and move into the vacant Hubbard Lake school presented itself, and the church moved to its current location, where Pastor Llewellyn leads services.

“He’s small, but when he’s up on that pulpit, he’s pretty big,” Ritthaler said of their pastor. “He’s a blessing.”

Joanne Bryngelson, celebration committee member, said this church truly is a family full of the love of God. She and her husband Donald have been with the church for nearly three years.

“As a new member, it is so obvious that this is a family,” she said. “This is not a congregation. It is a family.”

Courtesy Photo Judy and Gordy Bartz stand in front of one of the many stained glass windows in the new sanctuary. The couple did all the work using glass from the original church building.

News Photos by Darby Hinkley Pictured from left to right, are Judy Bartz, Joanne Bryngelson, Gordy Bartz, Pastor Joe Llewellyn, Ed Ritthaler and Carolyn Ritthaler.

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