Grace English Lutheran Church of Bushwick was organized in June of 1902. C. I. Intemann was the first pastor, installed in November of that year. The church was originally located on Bushwick Avenue near Decauter Street.1 The church was originally a mission of the Brooklyn English Lutheran Missionary Society, of which ex-mayor Charles A. Schieren was a member.2The church was incorporated on April 22, 1903. The elders at the time of incorporation were J.C. Betjemann, F.H. Schumacker and C.J. Weiss. G.E. Henschkel, J.A. Ross, J.R. Reuss, A.B. Alsgood, Fred Neunz and A. Geissler were the deacons.3
In 1906, the church selected Dodge & Morrison as architects for a new structure to be constructed at the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Weirfield Street.4 Schieren was the benefactor for the purchase of the property, providing $14,500 ($2,000 cash, with the balance held as a mortgage).5 The cornerstone for the new church building on Bushwick Avenue near Weirfield Street was laid on March 3, 19076, with Mayor Schieren serving again as a benefactor for its construction. Prior to the construction of this building, the congregation worshiped in the frame building at the corner of Bushwick and Weirfield (this building may have been moved as part of the construction of the church7). The new building, L-shaped in plan, wraps around this frame building, with frontage on Bushwick Avenue and Weirfield Street. The church was dedicated on September 22, 1907.8
Later in the 20th century, the building was used by the Holy Tabernacle Church; it has now subsumed into a condo box.
(Note, a separate Grace English Lutheran Church was located in Williamsburg, at Rodney near South Second Street.)
- 1"A Pastor Installed", Brooklyn Daily Eagle (November 13, 1902), 16.
- 2"Church Cornerstone Laid", Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 4, 1907), 19.
- 3"New Church is Incorporated", Brooklyn Daily Eagle (April 22, 1903), 2.
- 4"Churches", Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide (vol. 78, no. 2014, October 20, 1906), 641.
- 5"Church Will Burn $15,000 Mortgage", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 17, 1917, 19.
- 6"Church Cornerstone Laid", Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 4, 1907), 19.
- 7"Church Will Burn $15,000 Mortgage", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 17, 1917, 19.
- 8"Church Dedicated", Brooklyn Daily Eagle (September 23, 1907), 26.