One of the bells from the rock church building which was destroyed by fire during the 1920s. The four bells from that building still ring in the St. Paul’s bell tower to this day.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church — The Church on the Hill — was founded in the fall of 1852 by German immigrants who wanted a place to worship in their own community rather than relying on itinerant preachers who passed through.
Seven families gathered together and began looking for property that would make a good location for a church. They found 40 acres atop a hill in Lohman and bought it for $50.
St. Paul’s first church was a simple log structure, and no one is really sure when it was built, but one thing that is for sure: the second church was built in 1872. The stones for the building were quarried in the Lohman area, and when it was completed, the old stone church cost a whopping $4,716. Later in 1880 the church built a school house,
This church was used until the 1920s when a fire destroyed the interior. The members of the congregation rallied again, and around that old stone bell tower and steeple, the current church was built. Four bronze bells from the old church tower and the original pipes for the organ were also incorporated into the new church. Work was completed in nine months and the building was dedicated in November of 1924, and the new church cost $23,000.
A major building project was undertaken in the late 1990’s, with the addition of a 4,800 square foot educational wing and expanded fellowship hall. How times have changed! This new facility had a project budget of $215,000–far more than all the budgets for all the churches combined!