TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH (SAINT PAUL, MINN. : 1855- ):

Trinity Lutheran Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, claims to be "the oldest Lutheran Congregation of Synodical-Conference affiliation in the State of Minnesota."' The church was founded informally on July 25, 1855, when a group of German Lutherans in St. Paul held an organizational meeting and decided to extend a call to a pastor. The church was formally established as the German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, at a meeting held on September 14, 1855, when articles of incorporation were written and adopted. In the church's first constitution, adopted January 31, 1858, the following name is used: Trinity German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in St. Paul, Minnesota. The church currently (1987) is called Trinity Lutheran Church and is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

Church services initially were held in an Episcopal church building (until August, 1855). Thereafter, they were held for a time in the Ramsey County courthouse and then in a school building. The need for a church building became increasingly apparent as membership in the parish grew with the arrival in St. Paul of more German immigrants. In February, 1858, the congregation purchased a lot at the corner of Wabasha and Tenth streets. It planned to construct a two-story building housing an auditorium, the pastor's residence, and classrooms. Construction began in 1858, but only a portion of the first floor was completed by October of that year, when the first service was held in the new building. Another portion was finished and dedicated in October, 1863. The third, and final, section was completed and dedicated in 1866.

Membership in the parish continued to grow during the 1870s. The congregation realized that the existing building was not large enough to accommodate the increasing number of worshippers attending services and pupils enrolled in the Christian day school (established in 1864, along with a Sunday school). In 1877 Trinity purchased enough land for both a church and a school at the corner of Wabasha and Tilton streets. The school was built first and was dedicated in 1880. Construction of the church was begun in 1884 and was completed in the spring of 1886.

When the Minnesota state legislature enacted laws in the 1940s approving the enlargement of the capitol approach park, it became evident that Trinity's church, school, and parsonage would be among the buildings demolished to make room for the park. In 1947 Trinity joined with several other Lutheran churches to form the Central Lutheran School Association for the purpose of operating a Christian day school A new school building at the corner of Lexington Parkway and Englewood Avenue was dedicated in 1951. The congregation purchased land for a new church and parish hall at the corner of Rice Street and Aurora Avenue in 1950. Construction was completed the following year.

Trinity Church began operating a cemetery in 1858, when the owner of a two-acre tract of land at the corner of Victoria and Orchard streets granted the congregation permission to use the land for burying its deceased members. The church purchased the land in 1861. Within ten years it needed a larger cemetery and purchased a second tract of land on Dale Street. This second site is known as Elmhurst Cemetery. As of 1955 it was owned equally by Trinity and St. John's Lutheran Church of St. Paul and was operated as a public burial ground.

Over the years a number of auxiliary organizations have been established in the parish, including the following: Men's Choir, organized in 1884, and mixed Choir, organized 1894; German Fire Insurance Society, organized 1890; Ladies Aid Society, organized 1897; Willing Workers, organized circa 1920 as a women's group whose activities were confined to serving Trinity parish; Men's Club, organized 1913; Married Couples Club, organized 1947; and Young People's Society, organized 1903, and Junior Society, organized 1913 (these groups were renamed the Senior Walther League and the Junior Walther League in 1924, when they became affiliated with the synod's Walther League; the two societies were combined in 1949).

Several Lutheran churches were established in Minnesota through the missionary work of Trinity and its pastors: St. John's Lutheran Church of Baytown (est. 1850s), St. John's Lutheran Church of St. Paul (est. 1871), Emmanuel Church of St. Paul (est. 1873), and St. Stephanus Lutheran Church of St. Paul (est. 1890).

Most of the information for this historical sketch was taken from Trinity Lutheran Church. One Century of Lutheran Activities by Trinity Church of St. Paul, Minnesota. 1855-1955 ([St. Paul, 1955?]).

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Access Restrictions:

Original parish registers (1855-1983) that have been microfilmed are closed to general use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Trinity Lutheran Church (Saint Paul, Minn. : 1855- ). Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Microfilm Production:

Microfilm available for sale or interlibrary loan from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Originals of the parish record book loaned for microfilming by the church in 1935.

Provenance:

Trinity Lutheran Church loaned the parish record book reproduced on roll 1 to the Minnesota Historical Society for microfilming in 1935. The Society returned the volume to the church after microfilming was completed. The church donated its original records and roll 2, which was produced for the church by Dakota Microfilm, St. Paul, to the Society in 1987. This donation did not include the volume reproduced on roll 1. It did, however, include the four parish registers reproduced on roll 2.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 4121; 13,880

Processing Information:

Processed by: Deborah Kahn, December 1987.

Catalog ID number: 990017294960104294

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Access restricted. Due to their deteriorated condition, these volumes are closed to general use; researchers are directed to use the microfilm.

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