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“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
St. Jacob Lutheran Church has been faithfully providing worship services to the area of Miamisburg since our founding in 1821. Can you believe we have figured that we have had over 13,000 worship services here? Did you read about our 189 year old bell? We figure it has been rung over a quarter of a million times! It will ring again this coming Sunday as we have worship services at 10:30 (led by the pipe organ) and noon (led by guitars).
St. Jacob is also on the national register of historic places. We are on their website right along with the Paul Laurence Dunbar House and the Wright Brothers Cycle shop! We are listed as “Jacob’s Church”. You can check us out by clicking on the link and going to the following website: www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/OH/Montgomery/state2.html
Pastor Hout is the 12th pastor at St. Jacob. Here is the list of the pastors who have served this parish of St. Jacob Lutheran Church:
Rev. John Caspar Dill..........1821-1824
Rev. Henry Heincke.............1826-1859
Rev. Christopher Albrecht....1860-1883
Rev. W. H. Brown.................1883-1899
Rev. F. W. E. Peschau.........1900-1916
Rev. J. S. Herold..................1916-1921
Rev. Walter L. Spielman......1921-1929
Rev. Charles H. Starkey......1929-1950
Rev. Joseph W. Frease.......1950-1959
Rev. Oliver Arne Rajala........1959-1982
Rev. Daniel Fant..................1983-1996
Rev. Michael G. Hout...........1998-present
We had a great 200th anniversary (right after the city celebrated their 200th). It was a great time to reflect on some great memories of the past and to look boldly into the future. Here are a few memories of our pastors:
-Pastor Rajala loved popcorn and used to dry his ears
of popcorn in the steeple around our bell. He also
worked at Boy Scout camp with John Glenn.
-Pastor Peschau lost his entire library of books due to the
flood of 1913. He also started the first Boy Scout troop
in the city.
-John Caspar Dill used to ride his horse to several
congregations he served in our area (including riding
it across the Miami River).
-Pastor Heincke served in Napoleon’s army and fought in
the battle of Waterloo.
-Rev. Albrecht was the pastor while our building was
erected. He was also an odd fellow (IOOF member) and
his picture was found in the old hall above Ron’s Pizza.
-During Pastor Spielman’s time of service here the church
name was changed from St. Jacob’s to First Lutheran (it
was during the first World War and we did not want to
seem too sympathetic to the Germans). The sanctuary
was also extensively remodeled while he was pastor.
-Old Pastor Hout still rides his unicycle in local parades
and competes in the top spinning contests. If you are
lucky, you can see him and his teammate Melody beat
Emmy and Evan in basketball.
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