1906

Pastor Walter Frederick, 30, conducting services in the new church building (the present one) on Mill Hill Road in the village.

The church celebrated the centennial of its founding. You can see in the picture (to enlarge it, just click it) that there was no altar; in the center was a pulpit with a small, marble-topped table in front of it. Church historian Mark Anderson has provided some details and observations(1):

On either side of the pulpit were two ornate chairs that are still in use. The centrality of the pulpit was, of course, a common feature of churches of the Calvinist tradition--Reformed and Presbyterian. With the exception of the stained-glass windows, the architecture and furnishing of Christ's Church at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century shows the great extent to which Lutherans had been influenced by the "Protestant" churches in America.

Our centennial photograph also shows a prominent "pump" or reed organ on the right side of the chancel, with about eight chairs, probably for the choir, facing the congregation. There are three pews on the left side of the chancel, facing the pulpit and table. These were probably reserved for the trustees, elders, and deacons. There is a very large, central chandalier with kerosene lamps. We know from conversations… with Florence Peper that this chandalier was raised and lowered by rope and counterweight and that it took about ten minutes to light all of the lamps. In the pews there is a single hymnbook in each of the book holders. It was not until much later that hymnals were acquired in sufficient numbers for everyone to have one during the service. Because of the celebratory nature of the centennial occasion when this photograph was taken, the church is conspicuously draped with large 45-star American flags.

In preparation for the celebrations, Pastor Frederick asked a number of people to prepare papers for short talks to be given.

Years later Pastor Frederick commented on the celebration.(2)

It was a 3-day, 5-services celebration in which the whole congregation joined heartily. We were favored with beautiful weather and as the climax of weeks of preparation, the celebration was a decided success. Following is the list of addresses and papers:

• "The Times Which Demanded a Luther," Rev. A. S. Hain. Reev. Hain in the absence of the Rev. C. W. Heisler, D.D., spoke briefly on the life of Luther.
• "The Music of the Church," Miss Evadora Russell.
• "A Few Thoughts in the History of the Sunday School," Mrs. C. T. Kierstad [Helen Herrick Kiersted].
• "The Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Soc." Mrs. Helen Lasher [see below].
• "General Local Matters," Mr. N. M. Nash [a wonderful reminiscence about the previous church building].
• "Our Lutheran Ancestors in the Fatherland Beyond the Sea," Rev. [illegible] Hillar, D.D., Theo Prof. at Hartwick Seminary.
• "Lutherans in the United States," Rev. J. H. Weaver, D.D.
• "Greetings," Rev. M. P. Williams, of the local M. E. Church.
• Historical Address, Rev. C. H. Traver, D.D,
• Closing words by the pastor loci [that is, by Pastor Frederick].

During these services, our choir, assisted by Mr. Herbert Seley [? illegible] of the Dutch Reformed Church took the Tenor part, led in the singing of hymns and rendered a fine list of special selections.

The Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the Lutheran Church of Woodstock, with its motto "We will do what we can," reported that they had forwarded to the Synodical treasurer a total of $496.45 [$10,375.81 in 2006 dollars]; the value of box work to the mission school in India $18.64 [$377.25]; to Miss Mary Day, a Methodist missionary in India $2.00 [$389.58]; for Home Mission box work $18.05 [$41.80]; for a grand total of $535.13 [$11,184.22]. "We did what we could."(3)

A special offering was taken for the families of the miners killed in the West Virginia mine disaster.

According to Pastor Frederick's notes during the year(4),

During the winter season, Pastor Frederick conducted midweek cottage services for 26 worshippers to the community at Shultis Corners (the intersection of current Route 212 and Glasco Turnpike east of Woodstock; see the map). (To enlarge the picture of the pastor, just click it.)

The congregation paid its full quota in advance to the synod annually and made other contributions.

The Bible School was flourishing.

Florence Peper, 14, was confirmed on Palm Sunday.

Pastor Frederick planted 21 fruit trees and some strawberry plants on the parsonage lot. (To see an enlargement of the new parsonage, click the picture.) He later began to build a hen house.

Above is a postcard view of looking up Mill Hill Road in the earliest years of the twentieth century. Our church is in the distance on the left of the road, the new parsonage on the right. (To enlarge the view, click it.) There is no Joyous Lake or Denny's or CVS (Grand Union), no Woodstock Meats, Catskill Mountain Pizza, or Cumberland Farms to interrupt the view.

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Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) was President. The 59th Congress was in session. (The midterm elections that year would elect the 60th Congress.) A dollar in that year would be worth $20.90 in 2006 for most consumable products.

Immigrants from the British Isles and western Europe (especially Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany)--the so-called "Old Immigrants," most of them boasting a comparatively high level of literacy and accustomed to some level of representative government, who were either Protestant (most of them) or Catholic, were arriving during this decade at an average annual rate of 106,900. The "New Immigrants," those from southern and eastern Europe (especially Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia), largely illiterate and impoverished, who tended to be either Catholic, Orthodox, or Jewish and who had little experience with representative government, were arriving at an annual rate of 578,900--five and a half times as much as the Old Immigrants' rate, more than a threefold proportionate increase from a decade earlier and more than a threefold increase in raw numbers. The New Immigrants huddled together in large cities, such as New York City and Chicago.

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