Zion Lutheran Church
                          Edgerton, Ohio
 
 
 
 In Spring 1845, Rev. Loehe sent several pastors and a group of 
 colonists to form missions among the Michigan Indians. These are the 
 colonists who founded Frankenmuth in Saginaw County. One of these 
 pastors from among the colonists was 28 year old Adam Detzler. He 
 traveled throughout the nearby woods and throughout Northwestern 
 Ohio in search of German immigrants who might be willing to hear his 
 Gospel message. Encouraged to find at least three groups of settlers, 
 he hurried back to Ft. Wayne where he was formally ordained. In early 
 1846, Detzler went to work with great zeal and was able to form three 
 congregations, one of which was Zion in Edgerton, formed on July 
 22nd.  He returned to Ft. Wayne in July 1846 to help plan the synod, 
 which Edgerton eventually joined in either 1852 or 1861.
 
  Zion was the largest and most progressive of the three and had 45 
 souls and 6 communicant members.  The congregation quickly set out 
 to construct their very first house of worship. It was a tiny log church, 
 built from lumber taken from the woods belonging to members. It had 
 pews which were hand hewn from slabs of wood. Even though it had 
 no pulpit or altar, surely it afforded the congregation great joy and 
 blessing as they gathered there to dedicate it to the Lord on Easter 
 morning of that first year.
 
 The local area was harsh and Rev.  Detzler was extremely overworked. 
 He was the only pastor serving four counties and maintained thirteen 
 preaching stations other than Edgerton. There were few roads and 
 people had to walk many miles, usually on foot, to hear him preach the 
 life-giving Word. For this reason, the congregation was probably 
 unable to see their pastor very often during the six years that he served 
 them. At this time, it is interesting to note that a pastor's salary was 
 about $17 per year, some of which was paid in oats. $1 of this was 
 allotted for shoe repairs. Because few records are available from the 
 early years, little is known except that Edgerton continued to grow 
 under the amazingly difficult conditions.
 
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     This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg
     by Debbie Harris and is in the public domain by permission 
     of Rev. Manfred K. Rembold. You may freely distribute, copy or
     print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: 
                      Rev. Robert E. Smith of the 
           Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
                                       
                       E-mail: bob_smith@ctsfw.edu
                                       
       Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
          Phone: (219) 452-2148             Fax: (219) 452-2126
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