St. Peter's Church repairs steeple

LANCASTER - Workers are installing metal scaffolding in the first phase of construction to reach and repair the highest peak of one of the tallest — if not the tallest — buildings in Fairfield County.

Once installed, it will take another four to six weeks to repair the St. Peter's Lutheran Church steeple, including louver replacement, brick tuck-pointing and slate repair. Slate has not fallen off the 137-year-old steeple, but that was a growing concern if the work had waited much longer.

Jon Hale, church council and congregation president, said the spire had "minor Band-Aid repairs" in the past, but this work will fix years of deterioration.

"It's stood pretty strong against storms and winds," he said. "... This will take care of a number of cosmetic and structural issues. I think you'll notice a significant enhancement to the look of the steeple when the scaffolding comes down."

The congregation has known for years that the steeple was in disrepair, both cosmetically and structurally. It wasn't until 2009 that the congregation launched a save our steeple fundraising campaign or 'SOS fund.'

The total cost of the project is estimated to cost between $300,000 to $350,000. The bulk of the funding, Hale said, came from the congregation. The church raised about $250,000, and the church will pay the remainder from a maintenance fund.

Hale hopes to measure the building from the top of the cross to the church's foundation to determine how tall it actually is once the scaffolding is installed. He suspects it may be the tallest structure in the county, not including cell towers — strictly buildings.

When workers erected the steeple more than a century ago, scaffolding was also used, but the process looked slightly different than it does today with advanced metal scaffolding complete with a stairwell.

On March 11, 1880, this is what a Gazette writer had to say about its construction:

"The spire of the beautiful new edifice of St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran congregation begins to pierce the skies. To watch the Lilliputian-looking workmen clinging to the tenuous timbers up there makes a man of ordinary equilibrium think he'd prefer to go to heaven by a different route from the one he'd be sure to take were he in one of their places."

The church was originally constructed at the corner of Forest Rose Avenue and Mulberry Street in 1819, according to St. Peter's chronological history. It wasn't until 1875 that the current lot at 105 E. Mulberry was purchased and the cornerstone was laid four years later. St. Peter's church approved plans to improve the building and add a parsonage and Sunday school in 1912 for $40,000.

Hale said the congregation had waited years to see the steeple restoration come to fruition.

"It's a sigh of relief," he said.

Longtime parishioner Gary Cook is also thankful to see the repair work begin. Cook has been coming to the church since he was baptized there 63 years ago. He said the building itself is a gem to the congregation and the community as a whole.

"It's just amazing to me the architecture in this place and that they could've built something like that," Cook said. "You'd hate to see an iconic structure like this go into disrepair."

Eagle-Gazette Correspondent Joyce Harvey contributed to this report.

sremoquill@lancastereaglegazette.com

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