Huntley’s Trinity Lutheran Church Marks 140 Years

Huntley town founder Thomas Stillwell Huntley platted land for three churches when he laid out the town in the early 1850s. A deeply religious man, he set aside property for the Congregational, Catholic and Lutheran churches.

Previous columns have described the origins of the local Congregational and Catholic churches.

Huntley’s on Church Street has roots that date back equally as far. This year the congregation marks its 140th anniversary.

formally was organized in 1871, although services had been held locally in members’ homes for several years before that.

The congregation was predominantly German and the first church, built in 1874, was known as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. Services were conducted in German, and scripts on the inside of the church were in that language as well.   

The first church was an imposing white frame structure with a tall steeple that was added in 1878. The steeple was 105 feet high from the base and housed a 1,545 pound bell cast in New York the same year it was put into service. The bell was used to summon the faithful to church, and tolled each time a funeral procession left the building.   

Sometime after the mid-1930s lighting struck the steeple, and the tall tower and bell were removed, replaced by a shorter steeple. The weighty bell was put into storage.

According to church history, the original church was heated by two stoves at the back of the pews, with the stove pipes extending from the back of the church to the front.   

Men sat on the right side of the church and women on the left. Those who wanted to take communion on a Sunday had to visit the pastor’s home on a Friday or Saturday and announce that they would take communion.   

In 1875, the Rev. John Baumgaertner organized a parish school in the rear of the church building.

A more permanent brick German school was built on the corner of First and Church streets, across from the church, in 1912. Classes were held there until 1923. The building was razed in 1968, and a parsonage was built on the site the next year.   

The old German church eventually gave up its old country ways and a new, brick was built on the same site in 1957.   

In 1983, the old bell that had been in storage for nearly 50 years again saw the light of day. The congregation voted to build a new bell tower to house the historic chime.  On July 10, 1983, the old bell rang in the new tower for the first time.

The longest-serving pastor of the church was the son of the first Rev. Baumgaertner. The Rev. Louis Baumgaertner was born in Huntley in 1877 and attended the Huntley public school. In 1910 he began his service as pastor of , a position he held for 37 years, until his retirement.

In 1993, a school once again was opened at the church, this time a preschool, with the fitting name TLC. TLC Preschool still operates today with Linda Kranz as director.   

The Rev. Charles Kittel is pastor today. He has served the congregation for nearly 32 years, having arrived in December 1979. Joe Janda now serves the church as lay minister.

Trinity is a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.