Salem Lutheran Church Marks 150th Anniversary

An overflow crowd gathered at Salem Lutheran Church Monday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a treasured landmark that also serves as a testament to the community’s ethnic heritage and pioneer past.

Built in 1867 at Plumer Settlement (west of Mineola), the “Little Brick Church” stands as a lasting tribute to the pioneer Lutherans of predominately German descent who settled the area in the middle part of 19th Century.

Although the church hasn’t had a formal congregation since weekly worship services were halted in 1933,  the rural structure is still known as the Mother Church of the Central District of the American Lutheran Church, from which 100 other Lutheran houses of worship have been created, including St. John Lutheran Church just a few miles away in Mineola.

One service is held annually at Salem Lutheran Church - on Memorial Day - to coincide with grave side services at Lutheran Cemetery, which sits across the road from the church.
Many of those in attendance at Monday’s Salem Lutheran Church sesquicentennial commemoration and Lutheran Cemetery service are direct descendants of Plumer Settlement’s first residents and builders of the historic church.