The posted coordinates will take you to St. Stephen's parking lot, where you will find a micro container with a log.
The Ecumenical Tour Series will take you on a Walking/Driving Tour that highlights the varied and beautiful historic churches in downtown Wausau. Go for a nice walk, or sit back and take a pleasant ride. Either way, we hope you enjoy your discovery of the history and inspired architecture of these magnificent churches.
You are visiting St. Stephen Lutheran Church, where we encourage you to stop and marvel at this amazing structure, which has graced Wausau's skyline for over 100 years. St. Stephen's was built long before it was possible to use cranes and other modern engineering conveniences. Imagine placing those impressive spires atop the towers using only horses and block & tackle pulleys!
The following was taken from the St. Stephen Lutheran Church website:
Welcome to St. Stephen Lutheran Church
These are exciting days in the life of St. Stephen Lutheran Church. We are a congregation that cherishes and reveres our history as a downtown church in Wausau.
Our History
1881 - St. Stephen Lutheran Church is a daughter of St. Paul German Reformed Church.
November 26, 1881 - A group of 25 people left St. Paul German Reformed Church to establish a new congregation.
The Rev. Frederick Reinicke became our first Pastor.
St. Paul German Reformed Church still exists as St. Paul United Church of Christ at its same location.
1882 - We bought and remodeled the old Universalist Church building, on the corner of 5th and McClellan Streets.
1885 - St. Stephen demonstrated its commitment to education by establishing a parochial school. This would serve families until its closure in 1954.
1898 - St. Stephen built a parsonage on 515 McClellan Street; our pastors would live in that home until 1944.
St. Stephen called The Rev. Frederick Werhahn upon the retirement of Pr. Reinicke.
1902—Pr. Werhahn established a mission congregation in Schofield that was initially known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Stephanus. That congregation has since become St. Peter Lutheran Church.
1908 - On December 30 we signed a contract with Anton Zwack to build a new church on the corner of 5th and McClellan, that we still use today.
1909 - On July 4 we set the corner stone on our current church building.
1910 - On May 15 we dedicated the new church building. The Neo-Victorian style combines majesty and formality with warmth and welcome. The rounded dome replaces the interior peak of the gothic style, and its interior width equaling length gives it a sense of horizontality. Dr. E. Pfeiffer of Capital University Columbus, Ohio spoke at the dedication. For the 1909 dedication, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany sent a German Bible inscribed in his own hand; “God is love; and he that abides in love abides in God and God in him.” Pr. Werhahn had been a personal friend of the Kaiser in Germany. The Kaiser had sent other such bibles to other Lutheran churches built at the turn of the century. The architect for the project was Anton Dohmen of Milwaukee who also designed St. James Catholic church two blocks west and St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marathon City. On May 15 we dedicated a two-manual Hausmann organ to complete the new building. The Rev. William Spiegel began his tenure as pastor at the retirement of Pr. Werhahn. Pr. Spiegel’s photograph is in the library that bears his name.
1914 - For the first time we confirmed children in English. Otherwise German remained the language used in our Sunday school until 1919.
1918 - The Ohio Synod Mission Board met in Columbus, Ohio and authorized the establishment of an English speaking Lutheran church on Wausau’s west side. That project became First English Lutheran Church; their founding group first met for worship in the basement of St. Stephen.
1925 - We erected a parochial school on the west side.
1931 - We observed the 50th anniversary of our founding.
1941 -The 60th Anniversary bulletin notes 1750 members at St. Stephen. This was typical for Lutheran parishes the first half of the 20th Century; to grow from 25 members to 1700 members, as the families of German immigrants increased in size.
1945 - The Rev. Ervin Seidel began tenure as Pastor after the retirement of Pr. Spiegel.
1949 - We completed the current parsonage at 516 McClellan Street. This beautiful home provided a quiet study area for the pastor and ample bedroom space for clergy families.
1954 - We discontinued the parochial school. Many members recall having been educated there and remember how the children’s choir was brought upstairs to sing for funerals.
1955 - The annual meeting of the congregation made the decision to embark upon the next significant building project – construction of a parish house. We contracted with Donald Schoepke. We needed a building large enough to hold fellowship events and a Sunday school averaging weekly attendance of over 200.
1956 - On April 29 we dedicated the newly completed parish house. Members still recall the severe late season storm that dropped 30 inches of snow that weekend. The Rev. Waldemar Schlachtenhaufen spoke at the dedication. We re-decorated the church interior, the first remodeling since its construction in 1910.
1959 - The Rev. Gilbert Meyer began his tenure as Associate Pastor. Pr. Meyer would stay as Associate to Pr. Seidel until Pr. Seidel retired in 1973.
1971 - We completed the balcony entrance from Parish House to the original church.
1973 - Pr. Seidel retired. Pr. Meyer moved from Associate Pastor to Senior Pastor. Though Pr. Seidel retired, he remained an active clergy until his death in 1999. Pr. Seidel’s wife,Lena, was also active in educational circles, ecumenical circles, and the church at large until her death in 1999. Pr. Metter began as Associate Pastor and Pr. Meyer became Senior Pastor.
1974 - The Rev. Karen Bloomquist is ordained at St. Stephen, the 4th woman to be ordained in the ALC and the first woman to serve a pastorate west of the Mississippi. Her grandfather was Frederick Reinicke, the first Pastor at St. Stephen.
1979 - Pr. Meyer retired. The Rev. Steve Larson began tenure as Associate Pastor.
1980 - St. Stephen called The Rev. John Swensen as Senior Pastor.
1992 - The Rev. Jeffrey Nelson began as Associate Pastor at the departure of Pr. Larson.
1997 - Pr. Nelson accepts a call to California. The Rev. Ted Johanson begins as Interim Associate Pastor. Former Pastor Larson dies (May 5) in Seymour, WI.
1998 - Pastor Swensen retired, having served since 1980. 2000—St. Stephen called Senior Pastor, The Rev. Dr. Michael Meranda. He remained at St. Stephen Lutheran Church until August 2007.
2001 - St. Stephen made the front pages of the Wausau Daily Herald when a light fixture overheated and caused a fire that, if undetected, would have done significant damage to this historic structure. The congregation responded by installing a state of the art smoke detection system. St. Stephen affirmed its commitment to serving Wausau’s downtown area by leasing our ample education space to Little Scholars Pre-School. We expanded our commitment to health and spirituality by introducing the Parish Nurse program. Kimberley Bizjak, R.N., was contracted as the first parish nurse at St. Stephen.
2002 - The St. Stephen church building received Historic Landmark status from the Wausau City Council. We held an open house for Wausau’s annual Art in the Park at which our church led the downtown community in a “911 Remembered” ecumenical liturgy.
2004 - The Rev. Carol Christianson becomes Associate Pastor at St. Stephen on August 17. She remains as Associate Pastor until February of 2006.
2006 - We celebrate our 125th Anniversary as a congregation.
2008 - The Rev. Gary Froseth becomes Senior Pastor at St. Stephen on June 19.
2010 - Our building observes its 100th anniversary.
2015 - The Rev. Jennifer Dahle becomes Senior Pastor at St. Stephen on September 13, 2015.
.
Permission to place this cache was granted by Pastor Jennifer Dahle.