St. Paul’s in Latimer to Celebrate More than a Century of Service

The folks at the St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Latimer have a couple of important birthdays coming up. Next month, they will celebrate 100 years of the school being open — and 130 years since the church first opened up.

Join the church’s celebration on Sunday, Aug. 3, for the following events: Divine Service at 9 a.m., church picture at 10:30 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., stroll down memory lane and cake from 1 to 2 p.m. There will also be corn hole, ladder ball, frisbee, a bounce house, a tug-of-war tournament, three-legged races from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

St. Paul’s Church History

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was established in 1895 by a group of Christians who had been traveling to Zion Lutheran Church at Mill Pond (Beed’s Lake) Zion was the mother church of St. Paul’s Lutheran (Latimer), Trinity Lutheran (Hampton), and Grant Center Lutheran (Immanuel, Iowa Falls). The Latimer group began meeting in the country school north of Latimer in 1894. Services were conducted by Rev. Dietrich of Mill Pond. In 1895, services were held in a one room school in Latimer, where a congregation was organized in March of that year.  A church was constructed in 1895.  

The congregation became a member of The Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in 1897. A parsonage was erected in 1899. A bell was purchased in 1902, and a school building was erected in 1914 and was used for religious instruction.

Because of the growing congregation, this church was torn down and a new one, which still stands today, was constructed in 1941. A narthex was added in 1975 and a new bell tower in 1976. 

Currently home to 75 active members, the parish is located at 304 Main St. in Latimer. 

Pastor Peter Wagner was called to St Paul's Latimer in June of 2023. He and his wife, Rebecca, met at church in Minneapolis and married in 2017. They lived and worked in the Twin Cities until moving to Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft Wayne, Indiana in 2019. They have three children and a fourth on the way.

St. Paul’s School History

In 1911, the congregation voted to start a school, but for various reasons they were unable to do so at the time. Finally, fourteen years later, in 1925, a special meeting was held and a teacher was selected. His name was Mr. K.J. Traugott, and it was decided that a house would be built for him and that he would be paid $1,200 for his first year of work. It was also decided that children outside of the congregation would be admitted free of charge. 

The following community members were appointed as directors for the original school board: F.G. Lemke (town district), Carl Borcherding (south district) and Arthur Rathmann (north district). 

The first school year was so successful that the congregation decided to hire a second teacher. Her name was Miss Bertha Staeher and she relocated from North Dakota. She was tasked with teaching the four lower grades and she was paid $75 a month. The first class graduated in 1926 with eight students.

Times were tough for the school during the Great Depression. To help out, Pastor E.H. Grummer taught without getting paid in 1930 so that the school could remain in operation. 

For the first fifty years, the school’s eighth grade students had to take a county exam in order to enter high school. 

During the 1930s, the school choir, under the direction of Principal Edgar Steinbach, made personal appearances all over Northern Iowa, even singing on the radio. 

The kindergarten classes were started in the early 1940s. The school had two teachers at the time: one for kindergarten through fourth and another for fifth through eighth grade. 

The school’s parent-teacher league, which was recently revamped, was formed in 1948 with 38 members. Their goal: to aid the parents and teachers in the greater understanding of the educational needs of the children. 

On Sept. 19, 1948, the members of the church laid the cornerstone for a new school, where it currently stands, and it was dedicated the following year. The cost of the building (and new desks) came to a little less than $28,000. A decade later, a classroom, gym, stage, kitchen and projection room were added to the building. 

The school’s largest enrollment thus far has been 94 students, and that was in 1961. The high school curriculum was added to the school in 2023, under the guidance of Principal Cody Collier. 

St. Paul’s Lutheran School has been relatively small from the start, but its mission and offerings have remained consistent throughout the decades. Next year, they have 44 students who will be attending the school — children all the way from kindergarten to eleventh grade. And they have plenty of exciting plans for the students and their parents, including a recently added pom team for any aspiring cheerleaders and a revitalized PTO for parents who are looking to get more involved. 

The small student population is one of their advantages, said Principal Cody Collier.

“The students really become like brothers and sisters throughout the school year,” he said. “We're like one big family.”