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First Lutheran Evangelical celebrates roots with German Fest

By Madeline Scarborough 3 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The 2019 German Fest, hosted by the First Lutheran Evangelical Church on 19th Street, was extra festive this year, in celebration of 125 years of Lutherans in Parkersburg.

On Saturday, as part of this year's German Fest, church members went through archives, and gathered as much history as possible to create a detailed timeline from the 1860s to the present day.

"There is a lot of history surrounding the Lutheran denomination in Parkersburg," said Jerry Kohler who assisted in making the timeline.

According to Kohler, the first Germans came during the oil boom of the 1800s to make barrels for the oil.

"The Wheeling Synod established a church at Red Hill Road and, present day there is a Methodist church there, although I am not sure if it is the original building," he said.

Kohler said the cemetery at the Methodist church does have a lot of Germans buried in it.

Other than meeting in that building, the records showed that services in the city were held at the courthouse and local parks. The first church was built on Avery Street in 1905, but it was destroyed in 1909 during the city water tank disaster.

"The bell, which is still used in this church today, is the only thing other than a square of stain glass which survived the water tank disaster," said Kohler.

While rebuilding a small church from the rubble of the first, services were held in a "portable chapel."

That building is still standing today, as the Dale Brum D.D.S. office.

In December 1922 land was purchased at the corner of 19th and Plum streets, and the groundbreaking was held on April of 1926. The cornerstone was laid on Aug. 15, 1926, and the dedication was held Oct. 9, 1927.

"At that time we had a congregation of 275 people," said Kohler.

This is the church that stands today, which was built by the Free Masons.

"Masonic Language can be found inscribed inside the church, and the trinity window shines directly onto the cross on summer solstice," said the Rev. Ian Reid.

In 1929, which was during the Great Depression, the Lutherans lost the church and became bankrupt. In 1933 the charter dissolved and in 1934 the church officially disbanded. In 1935, the church was reorganized as the First Lutheran Evangelical Church.

"Due to World War I we dropped 'German' from our title, started using English and waving the American flag," said Reid.

Reid said that while gathering all the history, there were bits of the archives the church could not translate, as they were written in a special dialect which does not translate over properly with present German.

Aside from tours of the church, and the chance to learn their history in Parkersburg, German Fest offered traditional food, kids activities and live music on Saturday.

"My wife and I are members of the church, but we brought some friends with us to enjoy lunch at the festival," said Mike Carpenter.

Children were able to do crafts, play in a bouncy castle, have members of the Actors Guild paint their faces and go take photos with German-themed photoprops.

"I just love my unicorn," said Cornelia Kimes, 3, who had Guild member Sandia Sommers paint a unicorn on her arm.

Madeline Scarborough can be reached at mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com

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