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St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church
On July 15, 1889, Pastor H. L. Heidelberger of Hartland, Wis., was installed as pastor of the mission field. That same year the group of Lutherans at Escanaba organized themselves as a congregation. Using the German language they adopted as their name: "The German Evangelical Lutheran St. Pauls Congregation." Thirty-seven men signed the constitution.
Those signatures were: Louis Lippold, Win. Froehlich, Fred Luecke, Fred Haehnemann, George Kaufmann, John Hartwig, Henry Koenke, Gottlieb Essig, Jacob Moersch, Michael Dam, F. Schroeder, Fred Bittner, H. Breitenback, Win. Sprenger, Karl Meyer, Paul Kositzky, Julius Path, Julius Riten, Emil Wickert, Fred Selig, Herman Bittner, Emil Noe, Wm. Thielicke, Herman Rudiger, Louis Kaufrnann, Herman Buhrisch, Emil Rudiger, Robert Williams, Oscar Langhammer, Henry Burmeister, Emil Unger, A. E. Habermann, Adolph Hinze, Louis Willard and Michael Liedtke. 
A plot of ground was soon purchased and a church was constructed. It was located at the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Twelfth Street. The building was described as "a small white frame church set up on cedar posts." The building, expanded and remodeled in 1925, served the congregation for ninety years, till 1981. Sketches of Escanaba's built-up area in 1881 (copies In Delta County Historical Museum) suggest that when that church was built it must have been at the very edge of the built-up area - or perhaps a bit beyond.
Health problems forced Pastor Heidelberger to give up his work after only a few months. Pastor H. C. Zarwell replaced him. Though records of building the church are unavailable, there is a record that in 1890 a sidewalk and fence for the church cost $25.00. Each member of the congregation was to contribute $8.00 per year for the payment of the pastor's salary.
Pastor J. Rlen served St. Paul's from 1891-1895. In 1892 the parsonage was built. It cost $655.00; $200 had to be borrowed to pay the builder. The next year that debt was still a concern, as was also the insurance bill for church: $37 for three years coverage. A $600 loan on the church building also could not be paid and had to be renewed "because of the bad times." A member of the congregation loaned the money for five years at 5% interest.
Traveling missionary P. Korn served St. Paul's in 1895 and early 1896. Pastor Korn found enough Lutheran families establishing farms in the Hyde area to establish a preaching station there. This group continued to grow and was organized as St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran of Hyde in 1900.
In the spring of 1896 Pastor C. W. Wagner became pastor of St. Paul's. Part of his duties included serving as teacher for the congregation's school. We are uncertain today about just what calendar or course that school offered, but the report states that 24 children were enrolled and that a building committee was appointed to find out the cost of a school building. Since in 1898 the debt on church and parsonage still amounted to $4,000, it appears that no school building project was undertaken.
Eleven ladies of the congregation gathered on June 3; 1896, for the first meeting of the Ladies Aid Society. At the very first meeting the ladies began showing their special touch for supporting the work of their congregation. The minutes of that first meeting report: "It was decided to buy paper for a room in the parsonage and have Mrs. Wagner, Mrs. Kuhneman, and Mrs. Kaufman take care of it and have Albert Buttke do the work."
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