In 1942 Zion Celebrated its 50th (Golden) Anniversary with the publication of this brochure.
Title page showing Zion Lutheran Church as it was in 1942
The first pastor of Zion Lutheran Church the Rev. F. E. Tilly
Rev. H Wehmeyer Pastor of Zion 1942

Historical Sketch
The first attempt to establish a Lutheran Church in Bridgeport was made by Pastor H. C. Steup of New York City in 1872. How thorough that effort was does not appear from the records. At any rate, nothing came of it. Then in 1892, a number of German-speaking Lutheran families delegated one Mr. C. F. Huehn to get in touch with a Lutheran pastor and ask him to preach to them. By the providence of God, as Mr. Kuehn relates, the name and address of Pastor Steup fell into his hands, and he wrote to him. Pastor Steup replied to him and asked how many families would likely come to a service. Mr. Huehn answered that he could vouch for about 30 families and made the special request that such service be held on a Sunday morning. A date was set – February 28th – but inasmuch as Pastor Steup had to serve his own congregation, he sent as his representative Prof. Feth from our Concordia College at Hawthorne. The service was duly held and, in a meeting which followed, Prof. Feth gave to the little flock the assurance that they would be served also in the future. This promise was scrupulously kept. A number of New York pastors, serving in turn, ministered to appreciative audiences of from 30 to 100 people every Sunday for nearly five months. The services were held in a rented hall.

Great was the joy of the congregation when, on July 24th, Pastor F. E. Tilly was ordained and installed as regular missionary in Bridgeport. The new missionary began his work under the most auspicious circumstances, and at the end of August, the time was ripe for the establishment of a regular mission congregation through the adoption of a constitution prescribed by the District Mission Board. This constitution was signed by 35 men. A Sunday-school was begun which soon had an enrollment of 130. A little later, a Ladies’ Society was founded, which has continued to the present time and rendered valuable service to the congregation. A factor which greatly encouraged the work was that St. Paul’s Episcopal Church placed its parish house at the disposal of the little congregation.
What was more natural than that Satan, the old evil foe, should see in this thriving little community a threat to his kingdom of darkness and that he should summon his forces to open combat. The lodge issue, his effective weapon in hundreds of other cases, lay in readiness. Since the time of the founding, some members had been dissatisfied with the stand taken by our synod and by the missionary with respect to lodgery. Their animosity was aroused when the pastor began to testify against these un-Christian organizations. The storm broke in the December meeting, when these members proposed a resolution calling upon Pastor Tilly to refrain from opposing the lodge. In the January meeting, to which, by request of the congregation, Pastors H. C. Steup and W. Fischer had been invited, an animated debate over the issue ensued. The meeting was then adjourned until the following Sunday and the pastor asked to prepare and read a paper on the subject. This he did, but he was not permitted to read it to the end. The opponents declared that he must either stop his testifying or they would leave the congregation. When the pastor declared that his conscience would not permit him to remain silent, they left the meeting, determined to form a congregation where lodgery would be suffered. That was the origin of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on the East Side. However, not all was lost. Sixteen voting members with their families remained loyal and resolved, by the help of God, to carry on. They were: Christian Brechlin, Reinhold Zdunek, Frederick Kalchert, August Kalchert, Ferdinand Loehn, Gustav Pitz, Simon Brostat, Albert Voigt, Bruno Strempel, Gustav Bahn, Wilhelm Voigt, Oscar Boelter, Carl Mueller, August Mueller, Carl Kuehn, and Carl Seifert. Their faith and courage were wonderfully rewarded as is apparent today.
It can, of course, not be denied that the hardships of these remaining few were greatly increased by this turn of events. One of these was that they were denied further use of St. Paul’s Parish House. Undaunted, they established a new home at the corner of Noble Avenue and Sterling Street, where they rented a store building, enlarged it by removing a wall, and equipped it with furniture purchased from the German Baptist Church.
On February 26, 1893, the congregation celebrated the first anniversary of its founding. Professor Feth preached the anniversary sermon.
In March 1894, a Young People’s Society was founded.
On October 16, 1895, the congregation was incorporated under the name “Erste deutsche Ev. Luth. Zionsgemeinde”. The articles of incorporation were drawn up by attorney William Eberling and signed by the members William Voigt (Hurd Ave.), William Voigt (Beach St.) and August Miller.


In August 1896, Pastor Tilly was called to become successor of his father as pastor in Winfield Junction, L.I., N.Y. The congregation granted him a peaceful dismissal. There followed a 3-month vacancy, during which a number of men were apparently called, but without success. Finally, Pastor Spannuth of Charlotteville, Va., accepted and was installed on November 29th by Pastors W. Fischer, E. Fischer, and F. Tilly. The coming of a new pastor to a church is almost always an incentive to new zeal and energetic action. Thus it was here. A project which had been contemplated throughout Pastor Tilly’s pastorate – the building of a church – was now put into action. After a canvass for funds and pledges, the purchase of a 100 ft. By 100 ft. building lot at corner of Grand and Catherine Streets was voted and a committee chosen to inquire into the cost of a modest church building. The lot was purchased, but the building project lagged, so that Pastor Spannuth complains in the chronicles “The condition is deplorable. If God does not interpose mightily, it seems that the church will not be built, since many of the members are showing no interest at all for God’s cause”. God did interpose, and on January 29, 1899, the church was dedicated. There were those who had hoped that the completion of the new church would usher in a period of greater activity and expansion. That hope was not realized. Pastor Spannuth, almost from the first, had failed to gain the confidence, good will, and co-operation of many of his parishioners. This finally brought about the resignation of the pastor in March 1900.

Fortunately, the congregation quickly found a new leader in the person of Rev. F. P. Wilhelm, previously the pastor of Redeemer Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He had accepted the call with some trepidation, inasmuch as he was in poor health and able to preach only once on a Sunday. However, God was good. He restored the pastor to health and soon the exceptional gifts of the latter as shepherd and leader were recognized by the parishioners, so that they gave him full-hearted support. Church attendance improved greatly, attendance at Holy Communion increased, and the financial books began to show a balance, instead of a deficits. Early in 1901, the congregation purchased a new altar, new vestments, a fine reed organ with two manuals and pedal, and also installed gas fixtures in the church. On Oculi Sunday, 1902, the congregation celebrated its 10th anniversary, Prof. Feth again serving as festival preacher.


At this juncture Pastor Wilhelm writes in the chronicles: “The congregation had now attained an age of 10 years, but as yet no Christian Day School had been established. However, the conviction that this institution was a necessary adjunct to a successful congregation has gained ground. And so it had been unanimously resolved on February 19, 1902, that a house should be built and a Christian Day School established. Some indeed doubted the feasibility of such an enterprise, for what had been said about the congregation at Philadelphia in the Book of Revelation “Thou hast a little strength”, was true also of the Bridgeport congregation. The successful termination of the undertaking proved that God can accomplish great things with little strength and that with Him nothing is impossible. In April, the men began the work of removing the stone ledge on the ground adjoining the church building, and in the summer of 1903 the school was built at the cost of $3,322. Application for a graduate teacher from our Teachers’ Seminary at Addison, Ill., had been made in March and so, on August 23, 1903, a double celebration could be held – the dedication of the school building and the installation of Teacher Adolf Meibohm. School opened with 50 children, and during the year 11 more were enrolled. Sad to say, Teacher Meibohm was not a success. He felt himself incompetent to teach, and though Pastor Wilhelm helped out in school through the year, the former became more and more discouraged and in April 1904, he resigned and moved away. Happily, for the next school year the congregation secured a very able and conscientious teacher in the person of William J. Wiersig.
During the summer of 1905, the present parsonage was built at a cost of $3,466.00.


Once more the congregation suffered two severe setbacks in a very short time. In November 1906, Teacher Wiersig had to resign because of ill health, and in July 1907, Pastor Wilhelm felt constrained to accept a call to Kingston, N.Y., because his wife could not stand the Bridgeport climate. For the remainder of the school year, Student John Baur from our Theological Seminary at St. Louis, took charge of the school and also and also assisted the pastor. During the summer of 1907 the vacancies were filled. Pastor Otto Hanser of Huff, Ind., accepted the call to Bridgeport, and from the graduating class of Addison Teachers’ Seminary candidates W. F. Preuss and Louis H. Eggert were assigned to Bridgeport. All three were installed an August 11, 1907 – a celebration probably unique in the history of the Missouri Synod. Teacher Preuss’ stay was of short duration. He followed a call to Louisville, Ky., in March 1908. Rather than call another teacher, the congregation decided to put the whole school in charge of Teacher Eggert. In October 1909, Pastor Hanser resigned because of friction between himself and a large part of the congregation.


A successor to Pastor Hanser was not found until May 1910, when Pastor W. H. Steup of Oil City, Pa., accepted our call. In 1914 the Concordia Sick Benefit Society was organized and the lot behind the school purchased. In November 1914, Pastor Steup had to resign. Pastor H. D. Wehmeyer of Decator, Ind., succeeded him, being installed on January 24, 1915. In March of that year, church, school, and parsonage were wired for electric lighting.
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In August 1916, Miss Henrietta Fischer of Danbury was engaged as teacher for grades 1-3 of our parochial school. She has served us without interruption up to the present time. Through this addition to the teaching staff, we were enabled gradually to raise the standard of our school so that our graduates were soon accepted without examination into the Public High Schools. There they have, almost without exception, made fine records in scholarship and behavior. Sad to say, our school has for several years had to contend with decreasing enrollment – 43 at the end of June 1942. Causes for this condition can, it is true, be pointed out, viz., the low birth rate, mixed marriages, and the great distances that so many of our members live from school, but that does not alter the fact that such a continued small enrollment must finally lead to the loss of this treasure. May the great awakening of interest in our Christian Day School which is just now noticeable in the Atlantic District be a spur to the members of our congregation to rally to the support of their school. Above all, though, may the Lord direct the hearts of our people, that they may heed the instruction that the Word of God gives with regard to child-training.
In August 1917, the congregation celebrated the silver anniversary of its founding. On that day, through a special collection for that purpose, the remaining debt on our church property was liquidated.

In April 1919, the Young People’s Society celebrated its 25th anniversary. This society, as said before, had been founded in 1894 for the avowed purpose of keeping the young people with the church and of rendering all possible assistance to the congregation. It began with the enrollment of 18 members. The only surviving member of this group is Mr. William Gollenberg, Sr. For ten years the society continued as an independent organization, but when, in 1894, the “Missouri Luther Liga des Nordostens” was formed, it joined this larger group. In 1913 the Liga merged itself with the International Walther League, continuing as the “New England District” thereof. As was expected, this union has been of great benefit, and the local society has continued uninterruptedly until the present time. For some years, however, Seniors and Juniors operated more or less independently.

In the spring of 1921, the great project of rebuilding and enlarging our church and school was begun. The work was completed in October. A plan for systematic monthly house collections for debt liquidation was at once put into operation, and by this means, supplemented by generous donations of the Ladies’ Aid Society, the debt was regularly reduced, so that at the beginning of this year it amounted to but $9,900.00 By the big liquidation campaign which was inaugurated in January of this year we are hoping to wipe out this remnant of our building debt.


In January 1934, the Bridgeport Trust Co., in order to close an estate, asked the congregation to make an offer for the 50-foot building lot behind our church. The need for additional playground space for our school children and of parking space for the members’ automobiles had long been felt, and so the opportunity of securing this lot was eagerly seized. Fortunately, we were the only bidders, and the property became ours for the small sum of $375.00.
In August 1927, the 35th anniversary of the founding of our church was celebrated. Our monument of gratitude this time was the installation of a fine two-manual Estey pipe organ at a cost of $4,850.00. By a special two-year drive for the purpose, this amount was oversubscribed by $500.00.
In September 1929, a “Men’s Club” was organized for the purpose of developing sociability and fellowship among the men of our church through the promotion of sports, athletics, and indoor amusements.
The most recent undertaking, carried out in 1940, was the erection of a new entranceway to the school building and basement, the building of an up-to-date- kitchen in the basement, and the transfer of the rest-rooms to the main floor. For this venture, the Ladies’ Aid Society and the congregation each spent approximately $1,000.00. The comfort and convenience that these improvements have brought to all have driven home the lesson that such things ought to be done when the need is first felt, instead of “suffering” for so many years.
In contrast to the stormy first quarter of the congregation’s history, the second has been exceptionally quiet and peaceful. By the grace of God, these 25 years have been marked by slow and steady growth, both inwardly and outwardly. The congregation has been duly cognizant of these blessings of God, but also of the faithfulness of those whom she has called to serve her. Hence, she has regularly observed not only every 50th anniversary of her founding, but also the silver anniversaries of Rev. Wehmeyer (1940), Teacher Eggert (1932), Miss Fischer (1941), and Financial Secretary Leopold Schwartz (1941). These latter events were celebrated not only by special thanksgiving services, but also by informal gatherings held in the school auditorium and by the presentation of gifts of appreciation to the celebrants. May this harmonious relationship ever continue.


CONCLUSION
In this the anniversary booklet we have touched upon the past and the present. What about the future? Zion congregation did not have an easy road to travel, as the record shows. There have been trials and tribulations which had to be endured, and there may be more to come. But, the everlasting Gospel of our Savior, which to this day remains the power of God unto salvation, has been the steadying influence in our past and will also enrich the days to come with heavenly blessings and the assurance of divine guidance. To Him be honor and glory both now and forever.
“The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” – Psalm 126:3.

Note: The text was transcribed with only the portions of the history included. additional photographs were added to enhance the text. (all photographs are from the collections of Zion Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, CT)