Celebrating our History while Looking to the Future
OUR HERITAGE
The area around what is now St. Lucas Church was originally settled by the family of John Sappington, who served at Valley Forge alongside George Washington, and later with Daniel Boone in Kentucky. The community was increased by German immigrations to Missouri between 1830 and 1850. In 1838, a group of these immigrants founded St. John’s Evangelical Church in Mehlville (now on Lindbergh Blvd. Near I-55). Within 40 years, the congregation was large enough to gather another church. St. Lucas Evangelical Church was formed at our present location.
Our founders first met on March 1, 1880 in an old stone schoolhouse near Grant's Farm, where they formed committees to solicit funds for a church and schoolhouse, to formalize the congregation and to call a pastor. On March 29, 1880, a Constitution and by-laws were adopted and the congregation was officially organized. Five acres of land were purchased on Denny Road where the new church was dedicated on July 24, 1881.
The first church building was a wood frame structure. The new stone church was erected in 1905, and dedicated on the 25th anniversary of St. Lucas. A German inscription over the chancel: "Blessed are they that hear the word of the Lord and keep it." An education building was completed in 1955 to accommodate our growing programs. The sanctuary was expanded and remodeled in 1971.
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Our 30+ acre campus now includes St. Lucas Cemetery, two full-sized softball fields with a neighboring picnic pavilion, a parsonage and sexton's home, an enclosed playground for our Preschool and a maintenance shop. Together, these facilities contain the activities and ministries of a large, suburban church. We have come far from 1880 and the era of the faithful German immigrants who built this church. They are still present with us, however, in many of our traditions and in the community identity, which is St. Lucas, part of a traditional faith for contemporary living.
Honoring Your Service
VETERAN'S PROJECT
The Heritage Committee sponsored the "St. Lucas Veterans Project in 2011." The mission of the project was to "recognize and honor the military service of St. Lucas members." We gathered information on each of our members who are serving or have served his or her nation in the military. On the weekend of Veterans Day (Nov. 11, 2011) we published a list of those individuals.
If you are a veteran who did not get into the booklet or if you have a veteran in your family who did not get into the booklet, we invite you to take a few minutes to add your name and information to our growing list of St. Lucas veterans. Ask in the church office for the form to fill out with the information about your military service or that of your family member or download the veteran form here.
