St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Goodhue Township is celebrating their 150th anniversary on July 27th, marking the milestone with special services and a catered noon meal. Former pastor, Andrew Krause will be the featured speaker at a 10 am service and Pastor Mark Henrich, son of Reverend Warren Henrich who served the congregation from 1963 to 1973, will conduct a 2 pm service. Group photos will be taken at 11:30 am.
The congregation’s history dates back to the late 19th century. Politics, military threats and religious freedom motivated Germans to leave their homeland, family and friends to seek a better life in America. Later immigrants knew people in the Flower Valley/Hay Creek area thereby settling in the nearby Goodhue area. They joined Immanuel Lutheran church, already established in Hay Creek in 1858. According to historical accounts, members soon found it to be “Quite a little jaunt by horse and buggy for Sunday morning worship services”. A more convenient option was for the Immanuel pastor to travel to them, conducting services in Goodhue area members’ homes.
On May 28, 1875, a group of 18 men met to organize their own congregation, choosing the name St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. The church’s founding fathers had last names that are still familiar in this area and congregation including Matthees, Benidt, Hadler, Reese, Augustine, Diercks and Nibbe. Only three of them were over the age of 40 when they purchased two acres of land from Johann and Catharine Bode for $80.00 and began erecting a church building. They soon purchased another two acres from the Bodes and four acres across the road. The four-acre parcel cost $850.00 and included a house which served as the parsonage and later the teacherage.
The new congregation continued some affiliation with the Hay Creek church until 1880 when members of St. John’s and nearby Grace recognized that it would be beneficial to share a pastor and also a teacher for their youth. Pastor William Vomhof served the two congregations until his death in 1890. In 1888, Vomhof requested a chicken coop and in 1916 a horse barn was built with each man paying for his own stall.
A grove of trees was planted in 1900 as a spot to host Mission Festival services. These services were an all-day joyous occasion with members visiting neighboring congregations. St. John’s spurred the organization of St. Peter’s congregation in Goodhue and a tri-parish was served by the same pastor from 1912 to 1918 when St. Peter’s became a dual parish with St. John’s Minneola. Grace closed its school in 1966, sending students to St. John’s. They continued as a dual parish until splitting into separate congregations in 2016. Today, Grace and St. Peter’s are sister congregations working cooperatively with the two St. John’s churches. The Mission Festival tradition is now observed at the high school gym with a joint service during Goodhue’s Volksfest.
In 1903, St. John’s celebrated their 25th year by completing a new church building. A bell that weighed 1200 pounds was shipped from New York and installed in the belfry. The total cost of the church and furnishings was $7,116.15. The original church was converted into the schoolhouse and used until 1958 when the current building was erected. Most of the classes were taught in German until 1920. Church services were offered in English once a month in 1904, but due to lack of interest were dropped until 1920. German services then became fewer but were not discontinued entirely until 1962.
Physical changes to the churched marked its 75th anniversary in 1950. A fellowship hall was added, walls and floors were upgraded and a new organ was installed. The steeple that had been damaged in 1947 was removed and not replaced until 1983 when a pre-built one was bought from Campbellesville, KY for $19,330.00.
In the early 1950’s, a fund was started for new windows in the church. Money donated by the Henry and Anna (Voth) Hadler estate was used to install stained-art church windows with protective storm glass in 1963. Thanks to a generous memorial gift from the Paul and Linda Betcher estate, work to reseal all of the stained glass windows, the outside film having yellowed, began in 2023. Reinarts Studio of Winona was hired for the project.
With restoration work in progress, someone remembered the rose window original to the front of the church. The window that appeared in old church photos and many family wedding pictures. The window that was removed when a new, enlarged entrance was constructed to allow wheelchair accessibility. The window that was put into storage in 1985 and forgotten.
The window was retrieved from storage, unfortunately reduced to “A pretty rough pile of pieces”, the frame completely rotted and the glass parts unusable. With approval of the Betcher family to allocate more endowment fund money, the round rose window was sent to Reinarts Studio. Duplicating the original design, the all-new window took several months to create. LED lights were added to mimic the sunlight that would have shown through the original exterior placement. On April 5, 2025, the new window was hung inside the church entrance that displaced it 40 years ago.
Looking back at the congregation’s past 150 years, many changes have taken place. More land has been acquired through purchase and donation. Old buildings have been removed and new ones built. Membership and school enrollment has both waned and flourished. Eyeing an expansion in the near future, more changes will follow. The one thing that has not changed is the desire to celebrate God’s grace and blessings.
Everyone is invited to join the anniversary observance July 27th. For questions or more information, contact Pastor Robbin Robbert at 907-315-3851 or pastrob2@yahoo.com. St. John’s Church is a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran congregation located at 36620 County 4 Blvd, Goodhue, MN 55027.
