In the late 1860's a small group of mostly German families in the Fulton area began gathering in eachother's homes for worship services. In 1870 they founded St. Paul's Lutheran Church and in 1871 built a small wooden church to which they added a bell tower and bell (1893) and a chancel(1898).
While still in the midst of the Depression in 1932, the congregation was rapidly outgrowing the small wooden church. Men of the congregation, in order to build a new and larger stone church as economically as possible, excavated the basement adjacent to the old church (later sold to a congregation in Savage) with horse-drawn scoops, picks, and shovels. To do their share to provide funds for the new building, the ladies of the congregation served over 800 turkey dinners as well as served fried chicken, ham, and oyster suppers, held strawberry festivals, and staged plays.
In
1954 the congregation built a new stone parsonage adjacent to the stone church. By 1957 the congretation saw the need to expand the seating in the church and to add a fellowship hall, a pastor's study, a new kitchen, a nursery, additional Sunday school rooms, and the church's first indoor restrooms.
In 1992 as the St. Paul's community continued to grow, the our recent addition to our facility
was built including new office space, a much enlarged
narthex, additional restrooms, and a chapel. Now,
134 years after its founding, St. Paul's congregation continues to grow from its farm community to a church serving and increasingly diverse suburban community.
Courtesy of the St. Paul's Archives Committee
