History

History of St. John’s Lutheran Church – Rural Gilman, WI
1900 – 2010

In the early 1880’s the pioneers who, emigrated from Norway, settled here in northern Wisconsin in what was then a virgin forest. At first they were only able to hold divine services at rare intervals when a visiting pastor came through the area. In 1887, a Pastor Thoraldsen of Chippewa Falls held services in the Cox School house, located about a mile west of the present church site. No formal services were conducted for the next 10 years. It was in the summer of 1897 that the Reverend Anders Bolstad of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church at Stanley, became aware of the few settlers living in the woods north of Stanley, and came at intervals to conduct services in the school house.

The Reverend Johannes Granskow continued the work begun by Reverend Bolstad in the small community at Yellow River. Under his leadership, St. John’s Congregation was formally organized with the first baptism recorded on May 20, 1900. The first confirmations recorded are dated July 21, 1901.

Members of the original roster and others who joined later, as well as friends and business firms in the Stanley area, contributed money, man-hours of labor, horses and materials for the building of a church in 1904. Ole Olson gave one acre of land on which to build the church at the junction of County Road H and County Road S, about 14 miles north of Stanley. Work continued almost without a break during the summer of 1904. The first service in the new church building was held on September 11, 1904, and services continued on a part-time basis conducted by a pastor from Stanley.

On November 19, 1911, the Ladies Aid of St. John’s was organized. Actually, the ladies of the church had been very active for eight years before their formal organization.

In 1929, St. John’s merged with Our Savior’s Lutheran Church of Cornell and Big Drywood Lutheran Church, north of Cadott.

During the summer of 1931, a basement was built under the church with a large portion of the work done by members.

Until 1934 the worship services were conducted completely in the Norwegian language. During this year, it was decided to use the Norwegian language for every fourth service. The Sunday School was organized in 1933. In 1936, a corner stone was placed in the foundation of the church and a spire added to the steeple. The Norwegian speaking services were discontinued in 1939.

The year 1941 brought electric lights to the church and the church grounds were landscaped.

In the summer of 1949 an extensive remodeling of the church was undertaken.

In March of 1959, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, town of Taft, was absorbed by St. John’s.

In 1960 through 1964, a remodeling project included a furnace room, a Sunday School room along with remodeling the kitchen.

The year 1966 brought the discontinuance of the annual Lutefisk Suppers.

In 1968, Our Savior’s, Cornell, decided to become a single parish. Once again, St. John’s joined Our Savior’s, Stanley.

On July 14, 1969, a lightening bolt struck the steeple of St. John’s burning the building to the ground. Worship services were held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Huron while the congregation decided what to do. It was decided to purchase the Sunny View School site, which is across the street from the original building. Many hours were spent transforming the school into a church.
On Sunday evening, December 7, 1969, the upstairs was sufficiently completed so that an Open House could be held. This was preceded by a very impressive Advent Candlelight service conducted by the youth group.
We do have a few things from the old Church in the present building. The original corner stone is now a part of this facility. The cross above the altar is made from pieces of stained glass from the old Church windows picked from the ruins after the fire.
Since the original remodeling of our building, many improvements and changes have been made. When we out grew the upstairs for our many functions, the kitchen was moved to the basement. The basement was finished off for a dining area and Sunday School.

In 1974, Jim Johnson, son of Merton and Dorothy Johnson, was ordained. Thus he became the first son of St. John’s congregation.

In 1983, Our Savior’s, Stanley, decided to become a one-church parish. At this time, St. John’s once again joined with Our Savior’s of Cornell.

In 2003, the first Bible School Camp was held. This was very successful and has been growing every year. Not only is this popular with the children from our own congregation, but with children from the community and neighboring communities as well.

In the fall of 2007, Our Savior’s Cornell decided, once again, to become a one-church parish. St. John’s was then left without a pastor. Since this time, the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin has been providing us with lay ministers. We are very blessed at this time to have lay pastors, Howard and Bonnie Weber with us.

In 2010, an extensive drainage project was undertaken in an effort to dry up the basement area. This has been highly successful. In the spring of 2011, we look forward to working together to landscape our grounds.

Other events that are looked forward to by everyone are Candlelight services, Youth Lock-Ins and Rally Day to name a few.

God has given St. John’s over 100 years in which we were able to witness for Him in our small community. It is our prayer that we will be granted many, many more years in which to serve the Lord.