News

Immanuel Lutheran Church celebrates 125 years

By Scott Wagar

06/24/2014

In the United States there is a saying that America’s communities were built around churches, making God the center of their community and placing all their faith in Him to bring peace and prosperity to their communities. For Immanuel Lutheran Church, which is a rural German Lutheran church that is located seven miles west of Willow City, this phrase in our nation’s history is true with one added touch, it is a church that has reached not only those German immigrants in the county’s prairie grassland, but numerous people from around the state and even the world.

According to, “A Century of Sharing the Faith,” the ILC booklet states that the German men and women who would establish Immanuel first came to Bottineau County in and around 1884 when they acquired land through the Homestead Act and settled in the southern part of the county.

The majority of these pioneers came to Bottineau County from the Grafton-Pembina area when the state was still part of the Dakota Territory. While in the Grafton-Pembina area these German immigrants were granted the Word of God by a pastor called M. Fuelling who served a church in St. Thomas, N.D.

After these pioneers of the land came to Bottineau County, they immediately sought out Fuelling to be their pastor in Bottineau County; however, because of the large number of congregations that were being established back east in the territory, the German immigrants of Bottineau County had to wait for a pastor.

Three years later, in the spring of 1887, Fuelling made his first trip to Bottineau County. He was invited to stay at the home of Theodore Lehmann who had homesteaded six miles from Willow City right on the banks of Willow Creek.

The trek for Fuelling from St. Thomas to Willow Creek was no easy task. At that time, the train came only as far as Rugby. When Fuelling stepped off the train, he had to take a horse coach from Rugby to Willow City. Once there, he had to walk the six miles to the Lehmann’s farmstead.

Once at Lehmann’s homestead, Fuelling realized just how difficult a homesteader’s life was in the territory. As Fuelling walked on the property he discovered Lehmann’s home was a dugout, a shelter in the ground with a clay floor and his walls decorated with Germanias, a German-American newspaper of the time.

During his first visit to the county, Fuelling gave sermons on Lehmann’s farmstead and Frederick Kitzman’s home. Fuelling would return one more time to Bottineau County before he accepted another call outside of the territory.

Taking Fuelling’s place was Pastor Stroelin of Hillsboro, N.D., who encouraged the homesteaders to call for a fulltime pastor, which they did in 1888. The first pastor to accept the call was a man named Huber from Springfield, Ill. Unfortunate for the people of Immanuel, 1888 saw a complete crop failure in Bottineau County and the congregation wasn’t able to raise enough money to pay for Huber’s fare to Willow City. With sadness, the church members had to call Huber and withdraw their offer.

With no money to bring a pastor to the area, Pastor F.W. Potratz from Hillsboro agreed to serve the congregation. However, crop production began to turn around for the better, and as the nation was starting to step into the Golden Age of Agriculture, the parishioners had the opportunity to move forward with its church.

Potratz is given credit for establishing Immanuel’s congregation, and with good crops in 1889, a call was made to M. Zagel of St. Louis who accepted and became the first pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Potratz ordained and installed Zagel in the home of August Hinz in August of that year with the following chartered members: Hans Rothgarn, Claus W. Schroeder, Theodore Lehmann, Aug. Erdman, Edw. Hinz, Aug. Zimmerman, John Dreyer, Julius Lueck, Friedrich Stumpf, Gustav Dumtai, Rud. Lueck, Andreas Rothgarn, Johann Hinz, Peter Schroeder, Aug. Voelker, Gottlieb Degner, Aug. Degner, Jacob Schroeder and Friedrich Kitzmann.

In the fall of 1889, the parishioners started to construct its first church, which was five mile west of Willow City. The church was 30 by 16 feet with an annex as a parsonage for Zagel that was 12 by 16 by 7 feet.

Zagel moved into the church’s vicarage in February of 1890, and his first days in the parsonage was a difficult task for him. Within hours after Zagel moved into the rectory, a blizzard moved into the county and lasted three full days. The structure didn’t have plaster, nor was lined with boards, making the structure an uncomfortable experience to sit out a storm. To make matters worse, the blizzard came on so quickly that Zagel didn’t have the time to store food in the manse, leaving him hungry and cold.

To show the character of ILC’s church members, and their love for God and their pastor, charter member, August Hinz, had such deep concern for Zagel and his well being during the storm, he made the decision to risk his own life to assist the pastor. In zero visibility, Hinz stepped out into the storm and began to make his way, slowly, to Zagel’s home. Although it was not an easy task, Hinz was determined to get to Zagel and made it to the parsonage late in the evening with a special gift in his hand, coffee and food for him.

Under Zagel, Immanuel grew in numbers and by 1893 the congregation moved its church two miles west to its present day site, which granted a central location for all its parishioners to travel to the church. At the same time, the congregation constructed a new parsonage that was 24 by 16 by 12 feet.

Additions were added on to the vicarage in 1904.

In 1897, the church members decided to build a new church, which is the one that stands today. The church was 32 by 50 by 14 feet. The corner stone was laid on Pentecost Sunday in 1897 and the church was dedicated Nov. 21 of that year.

From the church’s origin, the pastors gave their sermons in German, but during a Mission Fest on June 22, 1913, the first sermon in English was given. As time went by, the church transitioned its services in German to English.

What is incredible about the pastors who served the church, especially those in the early days, they served more than just Immanuel. When Potratz took over the congregation he had one congregation and two locations to serve, but by the time he left the church, he had 13 different locations to serve which were located anywhere from 15 to 100 miles away from Willow City.

Considering this was in the late 1800s, traveling to these locations was a difficult task. Potratz spoke about his time as a traveling pastor in the Dakotas during a lecture he gave at Waconia, Minn., which stated, “Driving over pathless prairies, fording swollen rivers and creeks, snow-bound on trains (every male passenger was obligated to shovel snow), lost on endless prairie by night, breaking through the ice while crossing the river, held up by hobos, going hungry on trips and sleeping in railroad stations for the lack of money.”

This was a norm for a large number of ILC’s pastors, but it was important to them to get the word of God out to the pioneers of the state and made great sacrifices in doing so.

Outside of giving sermons, baptisms, weddings and conducting funerals, the pastors of Immanuel lead the way in establishing confirmation and the church’s youth groups, along with the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

In 125 years, the German homesteaders of rural Willow City placed their fields and farmsteads around Immanuel Lutheran Church, and through that the congregation has centered its Christian community to bring the message of God, and His love, to their community, county, state, nation and the world. It is this service in Christ which has granted Immanuel this special anniversary year, and no doubt their work in Christ will continue many more years of spreading God’s word to all who will listen.