St. John's Lutheran Church for Riley County, Kansas

RILEY COUNTY, KANSAS

St. John's Lutheran Church

(submitted by Verlin Wichman)

Front view of the St. John's Lutheran Church (photo date unknown)

St. John's Lutheran Church

Part of an old news paper clipping , unknown news paper. Winkler Congregation Farewell, Jan 1, 1961. Congregation held its last and closing service Jan. 1, 1961. The Congregation had to disband due to the Tuttle Creek dam near Manhattan.

The church building has been razed and a historical sketch has been place in the Manhattan Historical Society.

St. John’s Church was located 33 miles northwest of Manhattan and 26 miles northeast of Clay Center . Some former members of St. John’s Congregation affiliated with St. Peter’s of Barnes, and some joined St. Paul’s in Clay Center.

St. John’s Congregation resulted from the efforts of Pastor F.J. Th. Jungek who was Pastor of the St. John’s Church at Palmer. He traveled by horseback over the southern parts of Washington and the northern parts of Riley counties. On these travels he found a number of Lutherans of German extraction living in the Winkler Mills, Bodaville, and Chepstow communities