CELEBRATING BAPTISMS–St. John’s Lutheran Church, Ruma, recently celebrated baptisms from 1931-2022.
CELEBRATING 175 YEARS–St. John’s Lutheran Church, Ruma, is celebrating their 175th anniversary this year.
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Ruma, was founded in 1848 under the leadership of Rev. Karl Strasen, who was the pastor at Trinity, Prairie. On June 24, 1848, an acre of land as a site for a church and cemetery was sold for $1 to St. John’s Church by Dieterich and Louise Kueker. That same year, a log church building was erected on the southeast corner of the lot and stood until it was torn down in 1874. To this day, the cemetery remains.
In 1858, for $50, the congregation bought five acres of land one and a half miles southwest of the first church location. A log parsonage was built on this parcel in 1860. In 1866, the current brick church was built on the five-acre parcel.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1868. In 1891, a new schoolhouse was built and still stands today. The congregation maintained a one-room school until 1962.
For more on St. John’s Lutheran Church, please see this week’s print edition.