The Beginnings of St. Paul

A Short History of St. Paul Church

The Beginnings

The first St. Paul Church building

• Rev. John Jacob Riess (1839)
• Rev. Wilhelm Flickinger (1839 - 1842)
• Rev. Alexis Dony (1842-1849)
• Rev. Johann Wettle (1850 - 1851)

• Rev. J. B. Hoppe (1851 - 1852)
• Rev. August Lepique (1852 - 1855)
• Rev. J. B. Hoppe (1856 - 1857)
(His second tenure as pastor)

In 1818, 1833 and later in 1848 there were political upheavals in Germany leading to several waves of German immigrants. Many of these immigrants settled in what now is the St. Louis Metropolitan area.

Rev. John Jacob Riess

On March 17, 1839 the Germans in Belleville asked Rev. J. J. Reiss to be their spiritual leader. His service to the Germans in Belleville was short-lived as he became seriously ill in the summer of 1839. Rev. Riess had asked at the first congregational meeting that a name should be chosen for the new church. The first president of the congregation, Mr. Adolph Hildebrandt, spoke in reply: "Rev. Riess and Abraham, remembering that we all, like Abraham, had to leave our home country, and our kindred, and our father's house, and come to a strange land; and remembering that we came to America as fugitives to seek liberty and freedom of thought here and true democracy and a government.

least oppressive; remembering that our troubled exodus really had its beginning in that political meeting at St. Paul's Church of Frankfurt on the Main; remembering all that, I say there can be only one name given to our new church, in memory of those who fought with us, and suffered and died for freedoms cause. And that one and only name, proper for our church, is "St. Paul's Church," and as St. Paul's Church be it known forever."

This group formed the "Freie Protestantische Gemeinde" in Belleville, or the Free Protestant Congregation. The construction of a church/school building was begun on September 7, 1839. The building was built at a cost of $413 on a site on a little hill where the Franklin School now stands on North Second Street. The building was dedicated before winter although the hymnals from Philadelphia did not arrive until months later. Church services were held every Sunday and school during the week.

Turmoil plagued the church from the beginning. The parishioners, a group of highly educated people, were often at theological odds with their pastors and the Germans refused to pay their spiritual leaders a living wage. The short terms of the pastors is a testimony to this reluctance.

What's New - Other Things

Click for the video of Reese Delaschmidtt. It is the last item under the Service Menu.

The Sermons are back online again. Click to go to the sermon page.

The Scholarship information has been transferred to "What's New at St. Paul"

The February OSP is online

The Bulletins and News and Notes for Sunday March 21^st, are available.

The OSP has gone electronic - sign up for electronic delivery on the website

Did you know that you can listen to the St. Paul Sunday worship service from anywhere in the world? Just click on Listen to KSTL at 8:30 a.m. or 11:00 p.m. CST on Sunday and a window will open with KSTL's broadcast.

Watch a short portion of the Fine Arts concert on Friday, Nov. 13th. It will open in Windows Media. If the video picture is garbled please upgrade to a later version of Windows Media.

http://www.stpaulucc.org/service/reecedelaschmitt.html

A Short History of St. Paul Church

The Beginnings

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What's New - Other Things