Evangelical Lutheran Church, Georgetown, District of Columbia

Evangelical Lutheran Church
Present (Third) Church Building.
Erected 1867

Lay Delegates | Present Organization of Church| Membership of Church 
Congregations of Washington DC

Brief History

Georgetown now a part of the city of Washington, D. C. was laid out under an act of the English province of Maryland, dated June 8, 1751, which authorized commissioners "to lay out and erect a town on the Potomac River, above the mouth of Rock Creek, in Frederick County. Maryland." Tt was incorporated December 25, 1789, by act of the General Assembly of Maryland of that date the very year of the establishment of the government of the United States.

The act to locate the seat of the national government on the banks of the Potomac was passed by Congress and approved July 16, 1790, and under its provisions the seat of government, beginning "with the year 1800, was located permanently at Washington. The authority of the government of the United States over the District of Columbia "in full and absolute right and exclusive jurisdiction as well of soil as of persons residing or to reside thereon, became vested on the first Monday of December, 1800."*

According to the census of 1800 the inhabitants of the city of Washington numbered 3,210, most of whom were workmen employed on the public buildings; the population of Georgetown was 2,903; and the total population of the District of Columbia, then containing 100 square miles, and including Alexandria and surrounding territory, was 14,093. It can readily be seen, therefore, that thirty-one years earlier, in 1769, when the so-called Beatty and Hawkins addition to Georgetown was laid out and a lot therein was donated to the Lutherans for church, school, and burial purposes, the population of Georgetown, including slaves, colored freemen, aliens, and all, was probably not more than between one and two thousand at most.

The records of the County Clerk's office of Frederick County, Maryland, show the original grant of this property, which is still held and occupied by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Georgetown, on the northwest corner of the streets now known as Wisconsin Avenue and Volta Place.

First Church Building
Erected 1769
Drawn from description

A log church was at once erected on this lot by the German Lutherans who lived in Georgetown and along Rock Creek, and services were conducted more or less irregularly by various non-resident ministers, whose services from time to time could be secured; and this structure thus antedated any other Lutheran church or parochial school building in what is now the District of Columbia by 64 years. Tradition says that George Washington attended at least one service in this church. The founder of Georgetown Presbyterianism, Rev. Stephen Bloomer Balch, D. D., held his first services for his people in this Lutheran church about 1780. The church appears to have been under the fostering care of the famous Lutheran missionary preachers, the Muhlenbergs. Rev. Peter Muhlenberg, the "fighting parson" of Woodstock, Va., made missionary tours in many directions seeking to gather together the scattered members of his faith.

List of Lay Delegates who have represented the congregation at the annual meetings of Maryland Synod from the time of its admission to that body to the present time:

1871, 1872 and 1874. John W. Eli
1890. John H. Nenhaus
1897. Alex. P. Beatty
1899. M. I. Rohr
1900. W. S. Richardson
1901 and 1902. James M. Richardson
1903. William A. Pettis
1904. Alex. P. Beatty
1906. John S. Berryman
1907. John F. Darcey
1908. Charles L. Blessing
1909. M. W. Michael

Present Organization, November 1, 1909

Pastor: Rev. Luther Hess Waring, Ph. D., 1503 30th St., North West.
Elders: John F. Darcey, Henry F. Kunkel, Philip A. Moyer
Deacons: John S. Berryman, Alvin Cooper, James R. Hall, William A. Pettis, Henry G. Wagner.
Trustees: John S. Berryman, E. S. Walmer, D. V. S., and Henry G. Wagner.
Treasurer: John F. Darcey, 3120 M St., North West.
Secretary: William A. Pettis, 3308 Reservoir St., North West.

Sunday School

Superintendent, Henry F. Kunkel
Assistant Superintendent, William A. Pettis
Superintendent Primary Department, Miss Georgie Gray Wenner
Superintendent Cradle Roll, Mrs. J. R. Lang
Superintendent Home Department, Mrs. H. G. Wagner
Secretary, Anton Kracke, Jr.
Assistant Secretary, William Albrecht.
Birthday Secretary, Miss. Clara Hinzen.
Treasurer, Alvin Cooper.
Librarian, Ernest Loffler.
Teachers, Miss Mattie Akard, Mrs. Helen Albert, Alvin Cooper.
Henry F. Kunkel, Miss Katherine Muhlenberg, William A.
Pettis, Mrs. Mary Scrivener, Rev. L. H. Waring, Mrs. L. H.
Waring, Miss Georgie Gray Wenner, Miss Leonora Wise.

Ladies' Aid Society

President. Mrs. Henry G. Wagner
Vice-Pres., Mrs. George W. Allen
Secretary, Mrs. Henry F. Kunkel
Treasurer, Mrs. John S. Berryman

Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society

President, Miss Georgie Gray Wenner
Vice-Pres., Miss Katherine Muhlenberg
Recording Secretary, Mrs. Mary Scrivener
Corresponding Sec, Miss Georgie Gray Wenner
Treasurer, Miss Mattie Akard

Children's Mission Band

Superintendent, Mrs. L. H. Waring
President, Margaret Kunkel
Vice-Pres., Martin Ricker
Secretary, Ruth Berryman
Treasurer, Margie Beatty
Librarian, Freddie Schafer

Footnotes:
*Cranch's Circuit Court Reports, Vol. 1, pp. 15-21, 102.

Membership of Church  | Congregations of Washington DC

AHGP District of Columbia

Source: History of the Grand Lodge and Freemasonry in the District of Columbia, compiled by W. Brother Kenton N. Harper, 1911.