DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker at St. Peter's Lutheran Church tells it, here's how Duane's passing the story along to you. Picture Washington County in the 1880s, when German immigrants were putting down roots in a place called Gay Hill.
They hadn't come all that way to go without a church, and they weren't the kind of people who waited around hoping someone else would handle it. In 1884, this congregation purchased land right here at this site and constructed a church building, with their own hands and their own determination. Now, a full-time minister wasn't yet in the picture, so pastors from neighboring congregations stepped in and held worship services to keep the faithful gathered.
That arrangement held until 1885, when the Reverend Ed Schuelke arrived and became the first full-time minister this congregation had ever had. You get the sense that his arrival felt like the last piece clicking into place. And those German roots ran deep, people.
Deep enough that German remained the language of every official church record all the way until 1937. That is not a detail you gloss over. Decades of births, deaths, marriages, and minutes of meeting, all recorded in the tongue those founders had carried over from the old country.
The congregation that grew out of those years has counted among its members prominent community citizens and descendants of the very founders who first bought that land back in 1884. Some stories don't so much end as they just keep going, quietly, right where they started.
What the marker says
This congregation was founded by German immigrants who came to the Gay Hill community in the 1880s. In 1884, they purchased land at this site and constructed a church building. Pastors of neighboring congregations held worship services here until The Rev. Ed Schuelke arrived in 1885 to become the first full-time minister. The German language was used in all official church records until 1937. Members have included prominent community citizens and descendants of the founders.