Church Addition At St Matthew’s To Be Dedicated
December 10, 1948

Dedication of their new parish hall will be Sunday afternoon by members of the congregation of St Matthew Lutheran Church of Raisinville. The congregation which was established November 12th, 1860, has used the present church building since the summer of 1879. Ceremonies will start at 3 p.m. Sunday with the Rev. N.A. Menter, D.D., of Detroit, president of the Michigan District of American Lutheran Churches, giving the dedicatory sermon.

Afterwards, a luncheon will be served by the Ladies Aid Society of the church with Mrs. Carl C. French in charge. Also to be dedicated Sunday are a new lectern and baptismal font. Donating these items as memorials were members of the William Carl Heiden family and the Weilnau family. Members of the William Nickel, Sr. family have made possible the new hangings for the lectern to match the liturgical colors being used every Sunday.

The cinder block hall adjoins the church at the southwest corner. Four folding doors form the entrance from the church into the hall making the hall available for overflow congregation. The main part of the new building is an auditorium paralleling the present church edifice. It measures 40 by 50 feet.

A secondary addition at the back of the church, adjoining both the present church and the hall, measures 22 feet by 30 feet. The secondary addition will house a kitchen. The hall when completed will have a stage, dressing room and two rest rooms.

Estimated cost is $11,000, much of the work being done by members of the congregation. Members of the church building committee and vestry in charge of building plans are the Rev. C.G. Althoff, Albert Miller, Reinier Hage, Harrison Dentel, Joseph Long, George Rath, Edward F. Miller, Wesley Reum, and Lester Heiden (right).

Within the past few weeks, the interior of the church was painted with the Ladies Aid Society paying for the work and the congregation for the material.

Rev. C.G. Althoff, present pastor, has furnished this brief history of the church. The first congregation in 1860 met at the Peter Seitz home, now the William Cominess home on North Custer Road. There were 12 men attending with the pastor, the Rev. F.A. Herzberger of Monroe. They were Friedrich Rath, Carl Rath, John Strass, Henry Burwitz, Carl Burwitz, Frederick Rehberg, Ludwig Schultz, John Schultz, Joachim Baas, Adolph Meier, John Goetz and Peter Seitz. The first services were conducted on June 3rd, 1860 in the Bridge School. They were attended by 30 persons, mostly German pioneers.

Dedicatory services for the new church building were conducted in September of 1879. It is interesting to note that following the service, the Peter Seitz funeral service was conducted. It was at his home that the congregation was originally organized. He is buried in the Doty Cemetery located east of Grape on North Custer Rd.

At present, the congregation has had 461 baptized, 339 confirmed, 83 couples married and 198 funerals conducted. Today the congregation numbers 208 confirmed and 271 baptized members. Serving the congregation have been 18 pastors.