About
The History of St. John's Lutheran Church
A 120 Year Story... through Glass, Grace, and Glory!
The year 2008 marks the 120th Anniversary of Saint John's Lutheran Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. This is a unique story born from the desire of 29 charter members who wanted nothing more than a Lutheran worship experience in the English language. So Saint John's was founded in 1888 as the first English Lutheran Church in Knoxville.
The small mission group began worshipping together on Sunday evenings in the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church on Asylum Street, located downtown, directly across from the L&N train station. The mission congregation was a diverse group of German people, including rural families, businessmen and former members of the German Church who all preferred the English language.
In 1889, the group moved to a leased building on the southeast corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, a building formerly owned by the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal Church. On January 7, 1890, the congregation voted to purchase the property for $6000. The church was formally incorporated on January 13, of that same year under the pastoral leadership of L. K. Probst. Under the jurisdiction of the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, the mission prospered. It included a total membership of 70 adults and 70 children, and St. John's Lutheran Church soon became self supporting.
As church membership increased, the congregation would soon require a larger building. In 1910, original charter member Martha C. Henson donated a parcel of land, which was a mere block north of the existing church. The church purchased an adjoining lot, and congregation members broke ground for the new church building in August of 1911. By the time the building was completed in 1913, Mrs. Henson had contributed almost $90,000 of the total $100,000 cost for the property and building in memory of her late husband, James A. Henson. Dedicated on May 25, 1913, the Gothic revival style building became a cornerstone of Emory Place.
