The Golden Anniversary Jubilee

St. John's Lutheran Church

Neillsville, Wisconsin--September 6, 1936 

The History of St. John’s Lutheran School of Neillsville, Wisconsin

ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN SCHOOL

History must have a starting point.  All recordings of events must begin somewhere.  So it is with the history of St. John’s Lutheran School.  It also has a beginning, and that dates back to January 18, 1886.

The peculiar circumstances under which our School was founded make its beginning vary from that of many similar types of schools.  Usually we find that a congregational school is first organized after the congregation itself is founded.  How different the beginning of our School!  Even before the organization of our congregation the previous foundation of the same was laid in the form of our Parish School on January 18, 1886.

On that memorable day Mr. H. H. Ebert, realizing the need of an institution to train the future members of the Church, opened the first Christian Day School in our midst in an office building in the heart of the city.  The opening enrollment was between eighteen and twenty pupils. This soon increased to thirty pupils before the close of the term. The School then occupied a hardware store on the North Side. The course of study adopted was the same as was used in the Public Schools of Neillsville at the time.  In addition there was added a thorough course in German.  However, far more important than all of these subjects, the Word of God came foremost, as it always should.  It was the Light midst the darkness of a sin-sick world.

The beginning was humble. There was no special building; no new seats were available; Mr. Ebert, in addition to his many pastoral duties, also took upon himself the duties of teaching.  This may all seem inauspicious, but let us not forget that “the One Thing Needful,” God’s Word, was taught to lead the pupils forward to better things.

Upon Mr. Ebert’s departure in the spring of 1886, Mr. F. Eppling, Jr., served as pastor and teacher, and he also continued to teach in the School after he was called as regular pastor.  At this time School was held in a room of the second floor in the present North Side Public Grade School.  Due to the Bennet Law, this tended to suppress parochial schools, our school later found quarters in various other buildings in the city.

Different paragraphs in the records of our congregation touch upon matters of Christian education at the time of the School’s early years, and one certainly can safely conclude that there was a great interest manifested for the school by the various members.  Noteworthy is the fact that a school board was elected. Mr. August Ketel and Simon Reinicke were its officers.

During Pastor Doehler’s time, the need for a permanent school building was felt. A committee, composed of Mr. C. Walk, C. Schultz, H. Blum, H. North and A. F. Radke, was appointed to go ahead with the work.  Plans called for a frame building 22 x 34 feet to be erected just north of the Church where our present park is at a cost of some $300.00.  This building, which is now occupied by our primary department, was completed and dedicated to the service of the Lord on Septuagesima Sunday of the year 1891.

Pastor Doehler’s and later Pastor Thrun’s zealous work for the School was rewarded by an increased enrollment of over fifty pupils. The need for a teacher was becoming more and more necessary.  And thus ends the first period of the growth of our School.  It had been firmly established and served by the pastors of the congregation.  The time had come for a change.  Increased pastoral duties made it hard for the ministers to carry on the work.  Some relief had to be provided and, with the coming change, begins the second period of the growth of St. John’s Lutheran School.

On November 7, 1897, the first teacher of the School was in our midst.  He was Mr. Louis Serrahn, who later was destined to become president of the General Teachers’ Conference of the Eastern District of the Wisconsin Synod.  It was during his time that Children’s Christmas Services were begun.  Mr. Serrahn was later extended a call to remain as teacher in the congregation permanently.  Upon his refusal to accept the same, attempts to call some other man were made.

At this time a “Schulordnung” or School Constitution was passed.  Among its outstanding features was the one point which asked that all children of the congregation attend the Parish school.

Mr. Kelpe succeeded Mr. Serrahn, and the School prospered and flourished greatly.  The Lord had through His workers increased the enrollment to more than eighty.

It was now necessary to provide more school room.  Two plans, one calling for an entirely new building costing three to four thousand dollars and the other for an addition to the old building costing some eighteen hundred dollars, were discussed.  The latter was accepted, and an addition 38 x 40 feet was to be added to the original building.  Pastor Brandt, F. Pagenkopf, and H. Warner were on the finance committee for this project while H. Bieneck, H. North, L. Duge, H. Bartell, E. Wiedenhoeft and John Rindfleisch were on the building committee.  The lots of the present school site were purchased, and the old building was moved upon this new location.  The new addition was then erected in the summer of 1906 and ready for use that fall.

Mr. C. Kelpe continued to serve this congregation as teacher until 1909, when, after having received numerous calls to Milwaukee, St. Paul, Watertown and elsewhere, he was given his release to rejoin his dear co-worker Pastor Thrun at Scio, Michigan.

Teachers Johann Jaeger and Mitzner were called but without success.  Finally a call was sent to Mr. Otto Hellermann of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.  He served as teacher until April 7, 1912, when he was granted his release to Neenah, Wisconsin.  It was during this time that a system of helpers was established to take care of some of the classes.  The move for a second teacher had thus begun.  Teacher Schultz succeeded Mr. Hellermann and remained until 1915 when he accepted a call to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

After vain attempts were made to call teachers Krause, Kuester, Gurgel, and Stindt, the congregation decided to have students from our Teacher’s Seminary at New Ulm, Minnesota, serve as teachers.  A certain Mr. Forbes was among these.

On May 6, 1917, Teacher A. Ehlke was called, and he was willing to serve the Lord in the School.  He showed a progressive spirit by attending summer school for several years.

In July of 1919 an important move to provide playground for the children was completed when it was decided to buy the lots west of the present school building for a sum of seven hundred dollars; that same year wash rooms were added in the basement.  Teacher A. Ehlke was granted his release to serve another school as teacher on December 25, 1920.  He, however, remained until the close of the school term.  Mr. G. Glaeser was then called, and he continued to serve the Lord in our School until 1925, when he began to teach at St. Paul.

Thereupon Mr. F. W. Kluhsman, of Athens, Wis., came to Neillsville as a teacher and remained until the spring of 1933, at which time he resigned from the teaching profession in the local congregation.

During his time and the time of Rev. Wm. Baumann, the third period of the history of St. John’s Lutheran School began.  Because of the increased enrollment it was decided to call a second teacher for the lower four grades.  The person to be called was Miss Hilda Beversdorf.  She served as teacher in the lower four grades from 1929 until 1932 when the Lord had for her another calling, namely, that of holy matrimony.

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