St. John’s Lutheran Celebrates 135 Years in Mazeppa Township
St. John’s Lutheran Celebrates 135 Years in Mazeppa Township
Members of St. John’s Lutheran Church will celebrate the congregation’s 135th anniversary with a special worship service at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 25. A luncheon will follow. The church is located at 45704 153rd St. in rural Summit.
As the rolling prairies of the Dakota Territory beckoned in the 1800s, many Lutheran families settled in what became Hamlin, Codington and Grant Counties. Those gathered in Mazeppa Township were served through the 1870s and early 1890s by a circuit rider stationed in Marshall, MN.
In 1884, the Minnesota Synod called Pastor F. Johl to serve these three counties. He lived in Germantown Township and traveled by horse and buggy to the several congregations under his care. It was not possible for the Mazeppa group to be served more than once every three weeks. He was paid $85 per year and a bag of oats per every member.
The congregation at Mazeppa Township, Grant County was formally organized on May 14, 1888. It was named St. Paulus Gemeinde until 1897, when its name was changed to the present one – St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. During these early years, worship conducted in several of the one-room schools scattered over the prairies. Service alternated between the Beschow School and the Quitsch School until the current building was constructed in 1897.
Pastor Johl died in 1888. Pastor A. L. Luebber accepted the call to serve these congregations. An important concern was to establish an appropriate location for a church and cemetery in the Mazeppa Township. In 1891, the Lutherans of this area acquired land from Mr. Helmuth Heuer. In May of that year, the present cemetery lot was dedicated.
In 1892, the United States government opened the Sisseton-Wahpeton Indian Reservation for homesteading. The eastern boundary of this was only one-half mile from the present church. This opening meant much for Mazeppa Lutheran Congregation, and the membership grew rapidly. By 1894, this congregation had grown to such an extent that Mazeppa and Germantown wanted to form a separate parish.
In 1897, ground was broken and the church was dedicated the same year. Pastor Gausewitz, president of the Minnesota Synod, conducted the dedicatory services. The present altar was purchased the same year, and the baptismal font dates back to 1917. The Vogelpohl and Spaeth pipe organ was installed in 1907 and continues to meet the needs of the congregation.
The traditional language of these people was German, and prior to 1916, all worship services and confirmation instruction was conducted in German. The first English services were conducted in 1920, and by 1925, fifty percent of the services were conducted in English. It wasn’t until 1948 that German service were discontinued entirely.
The St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran church of Mazeppa Township became a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1920. In 1921, the congregation decided to become self-supporting. That year, they built a parsonage and called Pastor J. Carl Bast.
In the drought years of the 1920s, the congregation lost many members who left the area seeking jobs. However, that was only temporary and once again St. John’s was a growing and flourishing congregation.
The summer of 1950 showed a big change when the church was turned and faced to the south, and moved a few yard north onto a newly constructed full basement. The familiar steeple was removed and a large cross erected in its place.
On December 9, 1956, St. John’s congregation of Mazeppa and St. John’s of Rauville formed a dual parish. The pastor and his family continued to reside at the Mazeppa parsonage until a vacancy in 1966. The parsonage was sold, and a house was purchased in Watertown for the pastor.
In 1972, the joint parish with St. John’s of Rauville was dissolved. St. John’s of Mazeppa was then served as a vacancy by Pastor E. J. Werner until 1983.
In April 1983, it was decided to form a dual parish with Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Milbank, a new mission, and to jointly call a pastor to serve them. This union was dissolved in early 1985 and each church went its separate way, with St. John’s retaining Rev. Kauffeld.
In 1987, St. John’s formed a dual parish with Christ Lutheran Church of Wilmot. Pastor Kauffeld served both congregations until Christ closed in 1991.
In 1992, a dual parish was re-established with St. John’s and Peace, Milbank. The churches were served by Pastor T. O. Meyer from 1992 to 2001 and by Pastor J. A Schultz from 2001 to 2013. In 2001, the church put in plumbing, a new fence, painting and a new steeple to replace the old cross which had been blown down by the wind.
Pastor N. Zastrow served St. John’s from 2013 to 2018. St. John’s is currently being served by Pastor Albert Meier.
For more information about the anniversary celebration, call 517-581-3692 or email stjohn.mazeppa@gmail.com.
