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Lutherans in Chassell, the History of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church The land on which Chassell lies was given by the state of Michigan in 1855, to the St. Mary’s Canal company as part of a grant-in-aid for construction of the Portage waterway. In 1867, John Chassell purchased the site for farmland who then sold it to Sturgeon River Lumber Company in 1881. Chassell became a woodworking and farm center, the waterway being an asset. In 1902, the Worcester Lumber Company bought the forest lands, built new mills, laid forest railroads, and built new homes in the village.
Among the new
settlers moving into Chassell were Finnish-speaking evangelical
Lutherans. Many new workers and settlers moving into Chassell were Finnish-speaking evangelical Lutherans and initially, services were held in homes: The activity of the congregation was started in 1911 by Finnish immigrants, among them, John Jalkanen, David Kautto, and Elmer Savela as leaders. For many years clergy related to Suomi College, Pastors Johannes Back, John Nikander, and John Wargelin, provided pastoral services. The first church council lists the following members: Rev. Johannes Back, John Rasku, John Takala, John Makinen, Anselm Beltonen, Matt Kallio, Gust Nikula, Sam Komula, John Jalkanen, Elmer Savela, and David Kautto. Services were held in homes, the Congregational Church was rented when more space was needed, such as for funeral services. Sunday School and confirmation classes were conducted in several rural locations. Among the early volunteer teachers were Elmi Hill, Maria Holappa, John Ohman Sr., John Rasku, Gust Nikula and others. Church Building The first church was built 1911-12, on Hancock Street in Chassell and incorporated with the State of Michigan in 1912. In 1916, the building was enlarged, and a basement added to accommodate the Temperance Society's activity. "The church and the society cooperated closely to serve the constituency." This building was refurbished several times; but, was then damaged by fire on January 4, 1967. The building is now a privately owned abandoned warehouse. The first parsonage was built in 1930-31 across the street from the church on Hancock Street in Chassell, and was occupied by the pastor and family until 1974, when the new parsonage was built next to the new church on US41 just North of Chassell. Lakeshore Parish "Ranta piiri" In the early 1930s, the congregation elected to combine with the Evangelical Lutheran churches, which included nine congregations of the Suomi Synod: Freda-Beacon Hill, Oskar, Jacobsville, Aura, Pequaming, Lanse, Baraga and Keweenaw Bay to form the Lakeshore parish or “Ranta piiri” as it was called then. These combined churches selected Chassell as the center of the parish and a full time pastor, Pastor David J. Elm was called and in 1931 a parsonage was built on Hancock Street in Chassell, across the street from the church. Gradually, the congregations of the parish made other arrangements for pastoral services, until 1963 when Keweenaw Bay merged with Chassell, thus ending the Lakeshore Parish. Americanization During the 1930-50 decades, the English language was adopted in the activities of the parish. Prior to that, the Finnish language predominated when the immigrants from Finland held leadership. Sunday School and confirmation classes were the first to adopt English. First the pupils and then the teachers found English more facile. Confirmation Classes met for 2 full weeks in the summer; that class switched from Finnish to English in 1947. An English-speaking
Brotherhood was formed in 1956, to keep pace with the Finnish
Brotherhood started in 1945. The Women's group had been active for
many years, and during the Suomi-LCA merger became the Lutheran
Church Women.
From 1942 to 1945, Pastor Matt Luttinen became supply pastor until
Pastor F.Y. Joki was called, and served until 1954.
Pastor Henry W. Leino was called to the parish in 1954, the first
USA-born pastor called on a regular basis to the parish. Fluent in
Finnish, this marks a transition date in change.
An English
speaking brotherhood was formed in 1956, to keep pace with the
Finnish Brotherhood started in 1945.The Women’s group remained
active and during the Suomi-LCA merger became the Lutheran Church
Women. From 1958 to 1963 we were served by supply pastors, Giles Ekola, Ralph Jalkanen and Arnold Stadius. The congregation was a member from the beginning with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In the merger in 1962, the Lake Shore Parish was dissolved; with only Keweenaw Bay merging with Holy Trinity. And the parish became a part of the Lutheran Church in America, the LCA. This was a major leap in the process of Americanization. Pastor John Junttila was called in 1963 who served until 1973. The tragedy of a fire which damaged the interior of the church occurred in 1967, and for 3 years the church used and purchased the Congregational church. Probably the most momentous decision of our congregation was made to build a new church. The size of the undertaking can only be matched by the quality of the individuals and the pastoral guidance who devoted so much of their time to accomplish this construction program, always praising God for His many blessings. Generous gifts of land by church member Miriam Sauvolain in memory of her husband and additional property was given adjacent to the church by Waino and Ilene Junttila. The location of the new modern church built in 1970 on the donated land on highway US 41, just North of Chassell, placed the facility of the congregation in a very prominent view and attractive to the community. In 1970, the first service was held in the new church. Pastor Patrick M. Bell, called in 1973, our first pastor from outside the Finnish tradition, began a new era of Americanized pastoral service in the parish. In 1973, our new parsonage was purchased and built by 1974. The Conn Organ was purchased in 1974 with Memorial Fund and LCW funds. In 1974, property near the parsonage was purchased and the lower parking lot was blacktopped. In 1976 the old church memorial was erected and land North of the church was purchased. Pastor Bell left us in 1977 when Pastor Wm. Kleinbrook was called and he served until 1979. In 1979, the church office was added and occupied by Pastor George Weiland. Pastor Olaf Rankinen, a Finnish and English speaking Pastor, came to serve our church from 1985 until 1990. In 1987, improvements were made: painted church, repaired the parsonage and resurfaced the parking lot. Pastor Otto Sotnak accepted a call in 1990 preaching the wonderful gospel and caring well for all the different ages of members. Pastor Sotnak decided to retire in 1995. Pastor Ken Gibson accepted our call the same year and during his tenure, a huge remodeling and expansion of the building to include a large fellowship hall, came to fruition,, which was again an example of leadership and a labor of love from the congregational members. The comforts of air conditioning and the installation of the Rogers organ plus increase in pew chairs for the overflow room was evidence of a growing congregation. Pastor Gibson left us in 1999 to accept a position at Wartburg Seminary. As a salute to its Finnish heritage, Finnish worship and guild still convened once monthly until the 1990s. At these services, Finnish was used in the formal declaration, but even there, English was the language of pre and post conversations. Pastor W. Ted Koehl was Installed March 25, 2001, he served us until his retirement in August 2008. Pastor Koehl also served the Atlantic Mine parish. In 2003, we acquired a church bus through the resources known to past Pastor Gibson and it is served the youth trips and other transportation needs until 20-- when we passed the bus on to another church in need of transport. The Yamaha Baby Grand Piano was purchased in 2007 with Memorial Funds donated in memory of Erma Burkman, Clayton Frantti, and Art Michaelson. On June 29-30, 2012, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church celebrated our 100th Anniversary! We are blessed to have two young men from our parish, the late Alden Tormala and Dale Kemppainen, who heard God’s call as members in this church and entered the ministry. Pastors serving Holy
Trinity Lutheran Church, 1912-present: From January 1, 2012 to Sept, 2012 Interim Pastor was Rev. Dr. Melinda Quivik; Service Pastors included: Rev Robert Langseth, ... On June 29-30, 2012, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church celebrated our 100th Anniversary! We invited all living Pastors who had served our church to join us! October 2012; Interim Pastor Peter Vorhes Click here to see pictures of our Confirmation Classes starting in the 1920s. Click here to read about the early history of the Soumi Lutheran churches in America. |
