St. Stephen's Lutheran Church - Wausau, WI
N 44° 57.688 W 089° 37.516
16T E 292949 N 4982022
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church located at 512 McClellan St in Wausau, WI. It is part of the Evangelical Church of America. It has been in existence since 1881. The cornerstone on the current building is marked 1909.
Waymark Code: WM5GKA
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 01/04/2009
Views: 10
From the church's web site (
visit link) :
1881 St. Stephen Lutheran Church is a daughter of St. Paul German Reformed Church. There was disagreement over the issue of the presence of Christ in Holy Communion. The Reformed view held that the bread and wine were symbolic representations of Jesus. The Lutheran position was that Jesus is really present in, with, and under the bread and wine. So, on November 26, 1881 a group of 25 people left St. Paul German Reformed Church to establish a new congregation with the Lutheran orientation. We bought the old Universalist Church building that stood on this same corner of 5th and McClellan and met there.
The Rev. Frederick Reinicke became our first pastor and led us to alignment with the Ohio Synod branch of the Lutheran Church.
St. Paul church still exists at its same location as St. Paul United Church of Christ. It should be noted that those early days of doctrinal disagreement have given way to friendship and cooperation between two congregations both serving Wausau’s downtown.
1910 On May 15 we dedicated the new church building. The style is Neo- Victorian. It combines majesty and formality with warmth and welcome. The rounded dome replaces the interior peak of the gothic style and its interior width equaling length gives it a sense of horizontality.
Dr. E. Pfeiffer of Capital University Columbus OH spoke at the dedication. Capital University was associated with the Ohio Synod and has since evolved into Trinity Seminary of the ELCA.
For the 1909 dedication, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany sent a German Bible inscribed in his own hand, “God is love; and he that abides in love abides in God and God in him.” (Pr. Wehrhan had been a personal friend of the Kaiser in Germany. The Kaiser had sent other such bibles to other Lutheran churches built at the turn of the century.)
The architect for the project was Anton Dohmen of Milwaukee (who also designed St. James Catholic church two blocks west and St. Mary's Catholic church in Marathon)
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