Augsburg Evangelical

Augsburg Evangelical Lutheran

Source: Centennial History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maryland 1820-1920, Wentz

The local Board of Church Extension, of Baltimore City, on November 22, 1909, called the attention of the Board of Home Missions to a field in Walbrook, Baltimore, where a Lutheran church was to be organized.

On December 13 the local board decided to concentrate its efforts for the year on one point as a means of stimulating the interest in the work of the local board and fixed the minimum sum of $3,500 to be raised and applied to the Walbrook effort.

The Missionary Committee of the local board and the Board of Home Missions requested Rev. H. H. Hartman, of Newville, Pa., who had organized the Church of Our Savior, West Arlington, and was familiar with the field, to make the preliminary canvas. The result of the brief canvas was sixty-six Lutheran families, which was reported at the meeting of the local board on May 23, 1910. At this meeting Mr. George A. Klinefelter, a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and a member of the local board, offered to donate $1,000 if the churches of the city raised $2,500 and the whole of $3,500 be donated to the Walbrook Mission.

The Board of Home Missions was informed of this action and on May 26, 1919, called Rev. Hartman to take up the work of organizing the congregation.

Rev. Hartman began work on the field on August 1, holding the first service on September 4. 1910, at 3428 Mondawmin Avenue, the home of the missionary, the rent of which was partly paid by the Board of Church Extension. The services were continued here until the congregation moved to the lecture room of the church.

The congregation was organized as the Augsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church on October 16, 1910 with fifty-two confirmed members and thirty-four baptized children. Rev. H. H. Hartman was elected the first pastor of the congregation, and the following church council was elected: Elders: William H. Hoffman, John J. Buffington. Deacons: E. C. Stock, G. A. Mong, G. J. Lindauer, Benjamin H. Keister. A resolution recommending the location at the corner of Garrison Boulevard and Bateman Avenue as the future site of the church was unanimously carried.

The church was completed and dedicated on January 21, 1912. It had two floors, was built throughout of Woodstock granite, had a seating capacity of four hundred in the main auditorium, and when completed and furnished cost $40,000.

In 1916 a parsonage was built on the lot adjoining the church.

The church was organized as a mission of the Home Mission Board and was aided by the board. In 1913-14 the mission was receiving $750 aid. On February 1, 1919, the church became self-sustaining.

The Augsburg Church, in 1920, had a membership of three hundred and a property that was valued at $70,000. There was a nourishing Sunday school with an enrollment of two hundred, a Ladies' Aid Society with sixty members, a Luther League, a Men's Bible Class, and a Boys' Scout Troop.

Records at the Maryland Archives MSA S 1512-2503 (00/59/06/35)