St. Paul Lutheran Church
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
St. Paul Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). Organized on Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 1868, by the Rev. B. Sickel. The Congregation was incorporated January 26, 1869. First church building on South Fourth Street dedicated Jan. 7, 1872. Present early English Gothic building was dedicated November 26, 1939. Over. (Reverse) St. Paul Lutheran Church - First church building 416 South Fourth St. abandoned because of 1937 flood damage. Bricks and some lumber of old structure used in erecting present building. The 1500-pound bell, almost 6 ft. in diameter, was removed and placed in the tower of the new church where it continues to ring out its call for all to worship. Over. Presented by Church.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
St. Paul Lutheran Church, a Missouri Synod congregation, was organized on Pentecost Sunday in 1868 by the Rev. B. Sickel and incorporated the following year, dedicating its first building on South Fourth Street in 1872. After that structure was damaged in the 1937 flood, the congregation reused its bricks and lumber to raise the present English Gothic church, dedicated in 1939. Its 1,500-pound bell was carried over to ring from the new tower.
Why it matters
The congregation reflects the German Lutheran immigrants who planted Missouri Synod churches across mid-America, and the resilience of a community that literally rebuilt its house of worship from the wreckage of disaster.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · B. Sickel
Related events
- · Ohio River Flood of 1937
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Temple Israel
Paducah, KY
An organized Jewish community has lived in Paducah since 1864, when a burial society was chartered; the first house of worship followed in 1871. In 1873 the congregation became a charter member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and in 1893 it built and incorporated as Temple Israel. The congregation later dedicated a new temple in 1963, carrying a continuous religious life across a full century.
St. Francis de Sales Church
Paducah, KY
St. Francis de Sales is the oldest church in Paducah still standing on its original site, its lot purchased in 1848 for $225 by Father Elisha Durbin. The first frame church of 1849 stood fenced against livestock that still roamed the streets, and a succession of German- and Dutch-named priests served a growing Catholic congregation. The present church, built for $30,000 under Rev. Herman Jansen, laid its cornerstone in 1899.
Unity Church (United Church of Christ)
Paducah, KY
Organized in 1874 as the German Evangelical Unity Church, this congregation first worshipped in German in an old schoolhouse church before dedicating its own building in 1894. English services began in 1905 as the community Americanized. Through a series of mergers—Evangelical and Reformed in 1934, and with the Congregational-Christian churches in 1957—it became part of the United Church of Christ.
St. John the Evangelist Church and School
McCracken County, KY
The first Catholic parish in McCracken County grew from German immigrants who settled the area around 1839, worshiping in homes where the missionary priest Elisha Durbin said Mass until a log church rose in 1849. Frame and then permanent churches followed, the present building dedicated in 1933. Its school began as the "Spring School" and was staffed for most of the twentieth century by the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of Mercy before closing in 2008.