Zion Lutheran Church building turns golden
Congregation to celebrate 50th birthday
By SARA HILL
Staff writer
The congregation of Zion Lutheran Church, Hillsboro, will celebrate 50 years of worship in their building Sunday with a picnic on the south lawn of the church. Members will share memories of building the church.
Zion Lutheran Church is the second congregation to be formally organized in Hillsboro. Services have been conducted irregularly in the Hillsboro area since 1878.
The first church building was constructed in 1884, on land purchased from John G. Hill for $387.75, and was located at the corner of East Grand and North Lincoln. This wooden building served the congregation for three generations until 1954, when it was replaced at the same location with the current structure built of Texas white limestone.
Members of the building committee for the new church included Jacob Herbel, Arthur Ebel, Wilber Vogt, Leo Wiederstein, Victor Ebel, and Rev. B.A. Hobratschk, who was the pastor at Zion until 1959.
The modern, Gothic-style building, including all fixtures and furnishings, was built for approximately $100,000 and seats 225 to 380 people. The two-manual and pedal organ with 389 pipes was custom-built by Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence. The original bell from the former church was installed in the new church's stone bell tower in 1986. Dedication services for the building and new Reuter pipe organ were Sept. 19 - 26, 1954.
Work on the new church began in September 1953. By October, the concrete arches which support the roof and constitute part of the walls and ceilings were raised. The arches were made with a special concrete mixture to resemble stone when polished and reinforced with steel. Each arch weighs six tons.
Ron Matz, a 45-year member of Zion, remembers working on the building when he was a teen-ager. Since there was no ready-mix in Hillsboro, the contractor brought in a cement mixer. Ron, his father, Gustav, and his uncle, Carl, were among those who fed the cement mixer.
Ron recalled that it took six bags of cement for every load and all the cement was moved by wheelbarrow to the foundation.
"My dad, uncle, and I were on the day shift," he said. "A lot of the labor was donated. There were several shifts and they worked around-the-clock 24-hours until the basement was finished."
Ron also recalled that Austin limestone was used because it does not turn brown like local limestone.
The building committee and architect, Henry Wiebe, decided to put in stained glass windows. In February of 1954 Rev. Bernhard and Mrs. Dorothy Hobratschk drove to Ellinwood to study the stained glass windows in a newly constructed Lutheran church there.
Wiebe and Hobratschk worked on the story that was written in the windows by means of symbols. The windows were produced by St. Joseph Art and Glass Company, St. Joseph, Mo., and sold as memorials. The windows of the church, striking in their design and color, portray the story of the Christian church year in symbols.
The stained glass window in the chancel is the suffering Savior. The other windows are opalescent glass. The windows in the nave on the south wall depict Advent, the twelve Apostles, Christmas, Epiphany, the Purification, Lent, and Palm Sunday.
The mother's room window shows the annunciation; windows in the vestibule, the Lutheran Hour and Luther's coat of arms; and the windows in the narthex, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Windows in the nave on the north wall depict Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Visitation, Michaelmas, Reformation, and all Saints.
The church still is heated by radiant heat emanating from hot water pipes laid in the floor when it was built. The roof is made of solid cedar decking imported from Canada and the marble altar was imported from Italy.
The cornerstone of the new church was laid March 21, 1954, after the regular Sunday morning service. A copper box containing a Bible, a copy of "Martin Luther's Small Catechism," a copy of the "Lutheran Hymnal," a "Lutheran Annual," a "Lutheran Witness," the official church paper of the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), a copy of the German paper The Lutheraner, a copy of the Star-Journal, a list of names of the membership of the church, and a history of the church was placed in the cornerstone.
Several hundred worshipers attended the ceremony including William Schaeffler, oldest member of the congregation and a signer of the original German constitution of the present church. Rev. Hobratschk presided over the ceremony.
The last service in the original church was held in July 1954. The building was dismantled and sold to Wilbur Vogt of Goessel. Services were conducted in the basement of the new church until its dedication during the week of Sept. 19, 1954.
The former parsonage which sat east of the church and faced south was moved to the 300 block of North Birch.
The initial service dedicating the new building was at 10 a.m. Sept. 19 with another celebration service at 2:30 p.m. and a service of music and song at 7:30 p.m. An open house was held Sept. 20 and a special service stressing Christian education was held Sept. 22. Rev. Hobratschk was officiant and liturgist. A final dedication sermon with combined confirmation and Holy Communion service was held Sept. 26, 1954.
To celebrate 50 years in their building, the congregation of Zion Lutheran will gather outside the sanctuary, as they did 50 years ago. After a few words of rededication and prayer, they will enter the church together.
After the Sunday worship service, the congregation will gather on the south lawn for the annual church picnic, complete with fried chicken and a 50th anniversary cake. Members that were at the dedication of the church 50 years ago will share their memories and stories of the building of the church.
The Zion Lutheran congregation is currently searching for a pastor. Sunday School classes begin at 9:15 a.m. and worship service is at 10:30.
