Friedenberg
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Frankenberg
Unlike the Perry County, Missouri communities of Altenburg, Frohna and Uniontown that were settled by Saxon Lutherans from Germany, Frankenberg and Friedenberg south of Perryville, Missouri were settled by Lutheran immigrants from Bavaria. These Bavarians came from the Upper Franconian (German: Franken) region. Some were from the villages of Hutschdorf and Langenstadt near Kulmbach.
Worship
The Bavarian immigrants who began arriving in the summer of 1838 (before the Saxon immigration) worshipped in members’ homes. In 1846, the small group built a log cabin church on the north side of Cinque Homme Creek, about one-mile North of P Road and just east of present day Highway 61. Soon it was necessary to build a larger log cabin church. In 1852, they moved to the south side of Cinque Homme Creek at a location known as Frankenberg or Hill of the Franks in German. The congregation worshiped at their church on Frankenberg overlooking the Cinque Hommes Bottoms until 1885. Rev. C. F. Gruber of the Saxon Paitzdorf colony (today Uniontown) first served this congregation beginning in 1840. Peace Lutheran Cemetery is still located at this site south of Perryville, Missouri.
Friedenberg
In 1885, the congregation moved to the southeast on another hill at its present site in Friedenberg and built a brick church.
The Peace Lutheran Church is a simple, red-brick worship facility overlooking the quiet Missouri countryside. The Peace Lutheran School building across from the church is a visual reminder of the high value placed on Christian education by the settlers.
The congregation’s membership extended from Perryville all the way to the Mississippi River opposite Chester, Illinois. Peace thus became the “mother church” of Immanuel in Perryville, Zion in Crosstown, Zion in Longtown, and a congregation at Point Rest that no longer exists. It also helped Lutherans at Ste. Genevieve organize a congregation 1867.
Friedenberg – Name
The Bavarians who settled just outside Perryville, Missouri, beginning in the 1830s felt so strongly about the importance of peace that they named their church Frieden (“Peace”) Lutheran Church. The original name, Frieden Evangelical Lutheran Church of Friedenberg, followed the German tradition of using the word “Evangelical”, meaning Protestant, as part of the name. The name Frieden is German for ‘Peace’. And, when they moved in 1885, they named their village Friedenberg (“Hill of Peace”).
Peace Lutheran – Today
As the social and economic climate of the area changed, membership began to decline. In 1980, the Peace congregation voted to disband. The people resolved to preserve their buildings as a reminder of the heritage of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and asked Concordia Historical Institute to take over the property. It is now a “walk-in history book” that vividly demonstrates the change in the life of the rural church that was so important in previous eras.
Three annual Church Services are held each year at Friedenberg Peace Lutheran Church typically on the 2nd Sunday in March, October and December to celebrate and serve as a reunion of descendants.
Peace Lutheran Church also participates in the annual joint Perry County, Cape Girardeau County and Bollinger County Christmas Country Church Tour.
Information Sources
- Wikipedia – Friedenberg
- Concordia Historical Institute. Peace Lutheran Church, Friedenberg, Missouri at https://concordiahistoricalinstitute.org/hill-of-peace-lutheran-church/
- Perry County Tourism, History of Friedenberg Peace Lutheran Congregation at http://www.visitperrycounty.com/Friedenberg-Peace-Church/
- Friedenberg Lutheran Historical Society. Peace Lutheran Church, Friedenberg, Missouri at http://www.lutheranhistory.org/sites_hop.html
- Perry, Cape Girardeau and Bollinger County Churches Map. Downloaded from http://www.concordiafrohna.org/uploads/1/4/0/9/14095168/ccct_map.pdf
- Christmas Country Church Tour at https://www.facebook.com/pg/christmascountrychurchtour/posts/