History of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

Curtiss, Wisconsin

Contributed by Eva Schiszik--From "100 yrs. to the Glory of God", 1985

Congregational Church where German Lutherans first met

*Present site of the Curtiss Alliance Church (in 1982)

During the summer of 1905 a group of early settlers organized to build St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church so they could worship in a church of their own. Previous services were held in the Congregational Church. The first members all worked hard Congregational Church where German Lutherans first met - present site of Curtiss Alliance Church hauling stone, sand and gravel from the country to complete the new building within a year. Late in 1905 the church was dedicated.

St. Paul's Kirche

Early members include the names of Mathias, Schroeder, Schultz, Tonn, Dunow, Klocke, Trapp, Jakel, Krusa, Jantz, Bublitz, Kluve, Karsten, Hoge, fokett, Richter, Ehianfeldt, Schaus, Schoeneman, Wachsmuth, Fink, Heinzel, Marquardt, Martin and Hollman. The names of Jakel, Dunow and Klocke still remain on the membership list.

The Ladies Aid was organized in 1906 and during the years gave help to foreign Missions. It also gave gifts to Bethesda Home of Watertown, Wisconsin, Valparaiso University in Indiana, The Lutheran Hour, School for the Deaf and Old Folks Horne. It was always held in members' homes.

The congregation was admitted to membership in the Missouri Synod in 1924. St. Paul's of Curtiss never had a resident pastor. We were served by pastors from St. Paul's of Green Grove until 1958. On February 17, 1958 the Curtiss parish was given a release from St. Paul's Green Grove. We were then served by Rev. Theo. Proedehl of Withee from 1958 to 1961. He then received a call to Glidden, Wisconsin. We were then served by Rev. F. H. Sprengler for less than a year.

Confirmation, April 10, 1960 showing interior of St. Paul's Kirche.

(Back Row) D. Lzischer, A. Dunow;

(Front Row) D. Lindau, M. Anger, Rev. Proedahl, D. Jensen, R. Lindau.

Rev. Witschanke was the first pastor from 1905 to 1908. Succeeding him were Rev. August Behrendt (1908-1922), Rev. Martin Goetsch (1922-1949), Rev. Paul Dietz (1950-1952), Rev. Wm. Grafe (1953-1955) and Rev. Martin Krause (1955-1957). Pastor Krause was the last Green Grove pastor to serve the Curtiss church.

In 1955 the congregation celebrated its 50th Anniversary. following the worship services a dinner was served at the village hall.

An annual event was the Mission Festival sometimes observed with St. Paul's at Green Grove. Only men were on the church council. In the 1950's the congregation had 22 voting members and 55 communicant members. Services were held at 1 1 am with Holy Communion on the last Sunday of each month.

For many years the German language was used exclusively in all church work. As English was spoken more in the homes and became the language of the younger generation it was also used in church. The German language was then dropped. The last class to be confirmed in German was in 1923. in 1942 it was again decided to have one German service a month.

A change for St. Paul's came with the abolishment of the Klingel Beutel, a collection bag and the introduction of the envelope system in January of 1951 by Rev. Dietz. He also introduced what we now know as Vacation Bible School. The children from Curtiss attended Bible School at St. Paul's in Green Grove.

The last class to be confirmed at St. Paul's in Curtiss was on April 16, 1961 by Rev. Proedehl. The class members were: Thomas R. Lindau, Marvin Strassberger, Norman Thieme, Judlith Augustine, Beverly Schmidt and Rosella Lueth.

In September 1962 St. Paul's Missouri Synod of Curtiss was disbanded and Walter Degnatz, Delmar Augustine, Norma Utke, August Buchoiz, George Lindau, Carl Sheets, John Strassberger, Henry Dunow, Arthur Thieme, Vilas Luscher and Arthur Tonn became members of the A.L.C. church, while others decided to join St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church at Green Grove and St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church at Dorchester.

In 1976 the old St. Paul's Kirche was sold and torn down.

St. Paul's LCMS on left and St. Paul's ELC on right - 1957