Some history of North Salem Lutheran Church by Mary Ellen Gottfried

North Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church located at Upper Sandusky, Ohio,Wyandot County, in Salem Township will celebrate 150 years in the year 2000.  We do not know the exact date as the early records are gone.

The history of Lutheranism in Wyandot County goes back beyond the middle of the past century.  When nearly all of this section of Ohio was a trackless forest, inhabited by native Indians, immigrants from the cradle of Reformation were carving homes from this fertile wooded land.  Many of these early pioneers were Lutherans, who desired the public ministrations of the Means of Grace,  preaching the word of God and dispensing of the precious Sacraments according to Christ's institution and the practice of the Lutheran Church.

The congregation gathered by the missionary pastor, Rev. Heckleiber, held its first meeting in the home of Nicholas Baumgartner in the spring of 1848.  The congregation was organized in the same place in 1850, under the name of "German Evangelical Protestant Church of  Salem Township" with Rev. Dollmatch officiating.

In 1850 the society purchased a quarter of an acre as a site and cemetery and in 1855 by voluntary labor a log church 24 x 32 feet was erected at a cost of $200.00. A substantial brick church building, which occupied the site of  the old Log Structure was erected in 1872.  It was 36 x 42 feet in dimension, comfortably furnished at the cost of $2500.00.  In 1904 the church was remodeled and enlarged at the cost of $4000.00.

On Jan. 29,  1941, a fire of undertermined origin destroyed the church and all its contents.  The congregation set about planning to rebuild and within a weeks time all the rubbish had been removed and all useful bricks placed in neat ranks.  The corner stone was laid on June 15, 1941.  The style of the building is Romanesque English Parish Architecture. The overall dimensions of the church are 50 x 77 feet.  A velvet finished brass cross surmounts the copper covered steeple which rises from the center of the roof directly above the chancel steps. Upon entering the church the eye is drawn to the chancel, with the alter having a velvet red material back and a triple stained glass window above it.  The beamed ceiling is open timber work constructed of native white oak from the wood lots of and donated by the members of this congregation.  The interior is of Ulrichvills pressed brick in the light grey tones.

The basement is properly furnished for Sunday School and social programs.  The church was built and furnished at a cost of $21,500.00 not including donated timber and nearly 10,000 hours of labor donated by members of the congregation and friends.

The new Education addition was built onto the church and dedicated in 1972.  Sunday School Rooms were added and also the nave was enlarged and the seating was also increased in the church.

North Salem Lutheran Church will be celebrating their 150th anniversary sometime in the year 2000.  Our pastor Jon Baker came to serve North Salem in 1998.  We thank God for our many blessings, our pastor, our church and the members and our many friends.

Written by Mary Ellen Gottfried

Return to North Salem
 
  Last modified on Tuesday, November 06 2001