German Lutheran Church, Park Street, Cheetham, Manchester

THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH IN MACHESTER. The neat gothic structure which for the last six months has been in course of erection in Park-street, Cheetham hill, was yesterday opened as a place of worship for members of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. Fifteen years ago, there were as many as 20,000 Germans in Manchester with no place to worship in. This serious fact led a number of gentlemen to establish a mission with a view to the establishment of a section of the Deutsche Evangeliseht Kirche. They engaged the services of the Rev. J. Steinthal who was studying at a college in England, agreed to him a yearly stipend of £100, and directed him to mission among the humbler class of Germans who could not understand the English language. In January 1853, Mr. Steinthal commenced his labours, and in the course of a year he succeeded in getting together, in a room in Miller-street, Shudehill, from 30 to 40 Germans, to whom he preached every Sunday in their own native tongue. The congregation increased much beyond the limits of the accommodation which the room afforded that in a very short time large premises had to be hired John Dalton-street. The denomination of German Evangelical Lutheran Church was then assured. Mr. Steinthal was ordained its minister, and he was recognised as such in Germany. The room in John Dalton-street was used for 13 years, and at the end of 1865 a meeting of the Church members passed the resolution to erect building in which services might be conducted according to the forms of their fatherland, as well as a school-house for the training of the children of the German poor. An English master and a German mistress had been engaged teaching a mixed school for the past thirteen years. After the passing of the resolution referred to, a site was sought Cheetham-hill, where very many of the humbler classes of foreigners live, and about nine months ago 1,100 square yards of land on the estate of the Earl of Ducie were secured in Park Street, and the foundation-stone of the building opened yesterday was laid on the 15 August 1866. Mr. Thomas Waddingham, junior, is the architect. The style is Gothic, and the total cost will be about £520. Sittings are supplied for 130 persons. The front of the building is of fire brick with dressings of stone and blue brick. There are six windows in the front and four at the back. Welsh slating covers the roof, and ornamental tiles are placed along the ridges. Although the present structure is to serve as a place of worship, it is formed for school purposes, and will be so used as soon a new church capable of accommodating four hundred persons is completed. Of the £520 the cost of the present structure, £450 has been collected by Mr. Steinthal; two-thirds of the amount having been subscribed by English and one-third only by Germans. This is the proportion the subscriptions received during the whole oi Mr. Steinthal's labours in Manchester. The new building was opened yesterday by the Rev. J. Steinthal. [Manchester Courier 11 February 1867 page 3]