West Dundee congregation marks 100th anniversary

What's not to love about an old church and the stories it holds?

Aside from all the people who have been married and buried, baptized and saved in them, the buildings themselves house memories and stories of how their humble beginnings carry on through present day.

The Bethlehem Lutheran Church on West Main Street in West Dundee is one of those churches. The stories and the memories start in the basement and rise up to the neon cross on top of the 100-year-old steeple.

That cross itself, which can be seen for several blocks at night towering over Dundee Township, has a story about its beginning.

The tale involves a motorist grieving over his deceased son. In 1962, that motorist drove into a West Dundee gasoline station owned by church members Bernice and Robert Duff. Robert, who was known to be friendly and willing to talk at length, started a conversation with the customer. The motorist explained that he made lighted crosses to lessen his grief over his boy. Duff bought one and donated it to the church.

"It has a neon bulb in it," said member Fred Doederlein. "We haven't had to change it in 25 years. I don't even know how we would change it if we had to. We'd probably have to hire someone with a bucket truck."

That is the furthest thing on members' minds now. They're thinking about how they will celebrate the church building's 100th-year anniversary. They have a dinner planned for 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 at Holiday Inn and Suites, along Route 31 in Elgin. They have other programs planned throughout the year, said senior pastor, the Rev. Steven Woita.

"We'd like to have as many members as possible attend the dinner," he said. "We'd like to have members who live in neighboring towns and those who live close by attend.

One of those programs was an open house during the Heritage Fest in West Dundee last month. The more-than-100 people who walked through the church had a chance to view old photographs and to hear the story of how the congregation started in 1844.

In that year, property was purchased on Fourth Street in West Dundee for $100 and the building was constructed for $1,000. The current brick church was built 65 years later.

People who attended the open house also heard the story about how Bethlehem Church leaders closed their school in 1928. Students then went to the Immanuel Lutheran Church in East Dundee. Both congregations belong to the Missouri Synod.

Those were the days when the neighborhood-church concept ruled, said Woita. Churches were built in residential neighborhoods so congregation members could walk to services on Sunday. Since that was the case, parking lots didn't have to be big and neither did the churches.

But that concepts did not carry through the ages. Homes were built around the churches and people who attended services didn't always live within walking distance. Eventually they drove their cars to services.

The stories about old churches, especially Bethlehem Lutheran Church, will no doubt include how parked cars lined side streets when the lot became full.

This story has a happy ending though. Three years ago, congregation members bought the adjacent and historic First Congregational Church, when its members constructed a new building along Route 31 in West Dundee.

"We were able to double our parking spaces," Rev. Woita said. "We have about 180 members worship here on the weekends."

The additional building also allowed the Lutheran congregation to open an adult day care center and expand its ministry and facilities.

To hear more about these stories or for information about the dinner, call the church at (847) 426-7311.