November 2001 - Nr. 11
Oldest Lutheran Church in Toronto Celebrated its 150th Anniversary
On Sunday, October 21, 2001, First Lutheran Church of Toronto officially commemorated its 150th anniversary. A Service of Thanksgiving was held at the church at 116 Bond Street at 2:00 p.m. followed by a reception.
As
the oldest Lutheran church in Toronto, First Lutheran traces its beginnings
to 1850 when a small number of German Lutheran families begin to meet in
their homes for worship. The German population of Toronto was then extremely
small, no more than a few hundred, and probably equally represented by
Lutherans and Roman Catholics.
The
formal organization of the congregation took place on August 9, 1851 when 12
members signed its first constitution. Served by itinerant pastors for the
first several years of its existence, the congregation met in a number of
temporary locations which included the First Congregational Church, the
public school on Crookshank Street and the Temperance Hall-all in the heart
of what is now downtown Toronto. The first permanent pastor to serve the
congregation, the Reverend Gustav Reiche, was appointed in 1855.
It was also in 1855 that the congregation purchased property on Bond Street on which, one year later, the congregation began construction of its first church building, a small simple wood-frame structure. The completed structure was consecrated on August 23, 1857. It did however take several years of concerted fundraising, much of which was done in Europe, to pay for this first church building.
By 1897 with the original building deteriorating and generally inadequate for a growing congregation, a decision was made to build a more adequate facility. Despite the perennial financial difficulties of the congregation, funding was raised to complete the present building in 1898 on the same site.
For 150 years, First Lutheran has provided a spiritual home to Lutherans mainly of German descent. Services have always been offered in the German language, although English services have also taken place for the past 125 years.
First Lutheran is not only by far the oldest Lutheran church of Toronto but also the Lutheran mother church of this city. It provided support and encouragement to Lutherans of other nationalities as they became established in Toronto. Those have included Lutherans from Finland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
