St. Lorenz Lutheran Church

In 1845, in answer to the pleas of a Lutheran circuit rider serving the Midwest, a small group of Franconian missionaries departed their home in Neuendettelsau, Germany, to establish a mission colony in the Saginaw Valley of Michigan. Led by the Rev. August Craemer, they purchased land and built a community shelter and a crude church building. They named their settlement Frankenmuth, which means "courage of the Franconians."

The colony grew quickly, as letters sent back to family and friends in the homeland encouraged others to join the missionaries in America. The congregation was named St. Lorenz, in honor of other congregations so named in Franconia.

As the community grew and flourished, the congregation also expanded. A frame church building replaced the original structure, but in May 1879, the congregation voted to build a larger house of worship. The Saginaw Herald reported as follows on May 8, 1879:

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On Sunday last the Lutheran Society of Frankenmuth decided to build for themselves a new place of worship, the plans for which have been before them for some time. The new structure will be of brick, 120x60 feet, with a steeple 166 feet high, and will cost in the neighborhood of $20,000. The architect is Mr. Griese, of Cleveland, Ohio. The contract for its erection has been let to Kaiser & Hemerdinger, of Saginaw City, and it is stipulated that they must have the building under roof before winter sets in.

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The building was dedicated in 1880 and was improved and redecorated in 1905. The Detroit Free Press announced that rededication services would be held on August 27, 1905, and noted, in part: "The church has been improved and redecorated at a cost of $3,000, and new bells costing nearly $1,000 placed in the tower. The church is one of the most prosperous in the state." The building was again expanded in 1967 by adding transepts to accommodate the growing congregation. St. Lorenz has become one of the largest U.S. congregations of its denomination, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Cleveland architect Carl Heinrich Griese, was well-known for his ecclesiastical architecture, especially among Lutherans. Griese was born in Germany and trained for his field in Hanover before establishing an architecture firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Among his other church designs that are similar to the Frankenmuth building are Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cleveland (1873), and Holy Cross Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri (1869).

Hofmann, Karl. Kurzgefaszte Geschichte Der Evangelisch-Lutherischen St. Lorenz-gemeinde U.A.C. Zu Frankenmuth, Mich: Im Auftrag Der Gemeinde Zur Feier Ihres Fünfundsiebzigjährigen Jubiläums Am 15. Und 16. August 1920. St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Pub. House print., 1921. 

Graebner, Theodore. The Bavarian Settlements of the Saginaw Valley: the Story of Lutheran Pioneer Life In the Primeval Forests of Michigan. St. Louis: Concordia, 1919. 

Pollen, T. J. History of Frankenmuth: With Short Sketches of the Old Settlers. [Michigan?: s.n.], 1914. 

"New Church Edifice," Saginaw Herald, May 8, 1879, p.6.

"Church Will Be Rededicated," Detroit Free Press, August 27, 1905, p.10.

"The Celebration was a Big One," Frankenmuth News, August 19, 1920, p.1.

"Mission Festival Marks 100th Anniversary of St. Lorenz and Frankenmuth," Frankenmuth News, August 30, 1945, p.1.

"St. Lorenz to be Dedicated Sunday," Frankenmuth News, April 12, 1967, p.1.

Jackson, Cheryl. "Historic Church Attracts Flocks," Detroit Free Press, December 26, 1990, p. 14A.