St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church Submitted by Don Knopf

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church of Rogers City (Presque Isle County), MI

   

Built in late 1872 under the direction of Friedrich Horn.  Dedicated in 1873, served until 1907.       







  St. Johannes Kirche (St. John Church)  founded 12 August 1873 by the following:  
       Rev. Joseph Antonius Bohn  
       Friedrich Christian Horn  
       Herman Hoeft  
       Robert Julius Horn  
       Henry Armst�dt  
       Ernst Papke  
       Wilhelm Repke  
       Friedrich Bertram  
       Rudolph Streich  
       Eduard Kuhlmann  
       August Wenzel  
       Johann Kaeding  
       Henry Wenzel  
       Wilhelm Domke  
       August Radke 

Church Leaders  (1873 � 1907)  First Church
       1873-1881  Friedrich Horn      Vorsteher

       1873-1875  August Radke        Vorsteher
	
       1873-1879  Herman Hoeft	      Trustee

       1873-1879  Heinrich Wenzel     Trustee

       1873-1874  Ernst Pepke(?)      Trustee

       1875-1885  Robert J. Horn      Trustee

       1875-1885  Friedrich Bertram   Vorsteher

       1878-1892  Eduard Kuhlman      Trustee

       1878-1915  Rudolph Streich,Sr. Trustee

       1879-1885  Ludwig Bruder       Trustee

       1882-1885  August Schlager     Trustee

       1882-1883  August Wenzel	      Vorsteher

       1883-1886  Bernhard Wenzel     Trustee

       1884-1886  Christian Reinke    Trustee

       1885-1897  Ferdinand Tank      Trustee

       1885-1888  Fred J. Keil        Vorsteher

       1886-1887  August Kohnert      Trustee

       1886-1897  Max C. Kuhlman      Vorsteher

-      1886-1890  John Kaeding        Vorsteher

       1887-1890  Carl Horn           Trustee

       1889-1901  August Kohnert      Vorsteher

       1890-1892  August Adrian       Trustee

       1892-1893  Eduard Kuhlman      Trustee

       1893-1897  Ernst Paepke        Trustee

       1895-1902  Herman Dode         Vorsteher

       1896-1904  Herman Hoch         Vorsteher

       1897-1907  Ernst Adrian	      Vorsteher

       1897-1907  Max C. Kuhlman      Trustee

       1899-1903  August Wenzel       Trustee

       1902-1905  Emil Poch           Vorsteher

       1904-1907  Fred Flemming	      Vorsteher

       1905-1907  Carl Maurer         Vorsteher


Vorsteher=Elder
 

      The 2nd St. John Lutheran Church on Erie Street in Rogers City, MI, dedicated 14 January 1907, served until 1970. 







THE 2nd ST. JOHN CHURCH 

With a growing population in Rogers, a larger church was needed.  Land at the corner of Erie and 5th Streets was given by Paul H. Hoeft,

immediately south of his Huron Heights mansion and gardens.  The new church was dedicated on 13 January 1907.  The building itself was

large enough to make room for the excellent gift of a Reuter pipe organ which was also donated by Mr. Paul Hoeft in 1921.  At the time it

was installed, it was one of the largest organs in use in Northern Michigan.  Soon after the new church was dedicated, more property was

secured for a new school building that was built in 1911 and a parsonage that was built in 1915.  The Lehndorff home and property was purchased

for use as a playground for the school children.

ST. JOHN�S  ORGANS
 
When Fred J. Keil, Sr. arrived in Rogers City, 1878, from Detroit, discussions were made of the feasibility of an organ.  At that time the

congregation was small, and the worshippers few in number, but it had the one thing of priceless worth: the pure Gospel and the unadulterated

Sacraments.  The congregation was none the less quite progressive, as the following incident will illustrate.  At that time the congregation had

no organ, so that the pastor had to lead in the congregational singing.  One day Fred remarked to Pastor Druckenmiller that the congregation

ought to purchase an organ to relieve him from the strain of leading in the singing.  The pastor more than welcomed the suggestion. Finally in

1887, a meeting on the matter was brought to the attention of the congregation.  Without much debate a resolution was passed to purchase a reed

organ, and soon after, Fred, while on a trip to Detroit in 1888, put the congregation�s resolution into effect.

In due time the reed organ arrived in Rogers city.  But of what good is an organ without an organist?  The congregation now had an organ but it

had no organist!  At that time it so happened that Fred played the clarinet and accordion, and some members insisted that if one could play the

clarinet and accordion he could also play the organ.  Other members took up his argument, and since there was no other way out of the difficulty,

Fred set himself to the task.  


The organ was carted to his store in Rogers City, where, in the intervals between waiting on customers, he familiarized himself with the organ,

and diligently practiced some of the more familiar good old chorales.  On the following Sunday, though with fear and trembling, he played the

organ for the church service.  And after that initial performance served the congregation in the capacity of organist till he moved back to

Detroit in 1890.   (Fred Keil was also partner with Robert Horn in the store they owned-operated in Rogers City.  The store was bought from

Hermann Hoeft.)

Upon Fred Keil�s move to Detroit, August Bertram played the organ, both in the First Street church and in the one on Erie and Fifth Street.

It was during August�s time a choir was organized.  The reed organ served St. John until 1921 when Mr. Paul H. Hoeft gifted the church with

a Reuter Pipe Organ.  The organ had 680 pipes and 11 stops.  After St. John�s 3rd church building was dedicated, those pipes and stops were

incorporated into the new Scott Wheeler Company Organ.  The organ was increased to 1701 pipes and 24 stops.  It is in played regularly for two

church services, yet today (2011). 
                   
        

 REED ORGAN (1878-1921)                

 REUTER PIPE ORGAN (1921-pesent)

  
Paul Herman Hoeft gifted St. John Church with the Reuter Pipe Organ.  Paul, age nine months, was on the same ship, KEPPLER, as Friedrich and

Wilhelmine HORN and family.  His parents, Hermann and Pauline Jagnow Hoeft, settled in Detroit on Sherman Street.  Living next door on Sherman

Street were my g-grandparents, Carl and Pauline Goltz Knopf and family, who arrived in America one year later in 1866.  Both families permanently

settled in Presque Isle County in 1873.  






 
The 3rd and present building of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church of Rogers City, MI, dedicated 15 April 1970.



THE 3rd  ST. JOHN CHURCH

In early 1960, the need for a new church building became increasingly apparent as the average church attendance reached 600 each Sunday.

The first step toward the realization of a new church building was made in 1959, when the P. H. Hoeft Mansion and Gardens property, just a

little west of the old church building, was acquired for $22,500.  On 15 February 1970 the new �trinity� plan Sanctuary of St. John was

dedicated.  That building serves the congregation yet today (2011).  A new Scott Wheeler Company Organ with 1,707 individual pipes with 24

speaking stops was installed that incorporated 680 pipes and 11 stops from the Reuter Organ.

Submitted by -
Donald Knopf
Fort Wayne, IN
20 August 2011