Trinity English Lutheran Church

Trinity English Lutheran Church. . , Henry Rudisill, whose efforts had resulted in the establishment of Fort Wayne's first German Lutheran congregation in 1837, also initiated the founding of the community's first English-speaking Lutheran parish, the English Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, in 1846. This newly-formed congregation immediately purchased from the Presbyterians the town's first church building, situated on the south side of Berry Street west of Lafayette Street. In 1864, a Gothic-style brick church building was erected on the southeast corner of Wayne and Clinton streets. The Rev. Samuel Wagenhals assumed the pastorate in 1868 and continued for 52 years, the longest tenure of any Fort Wayne clergyman. His successor, the Rev. Paul Krauss, served the parish for nearly 50 years and led the congregation in the erection of the present facilities, which were dedicated in 1925. From its steeple still rings the town's oldest church bell. It first rang in 1837 both as a call to worship and as the town's "alarm of fire"., [Caption:] , Sketch of Henry Rudisill, a founder of Trinity English Lutheran Church, by Bert Griswold. , (Bert Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, I, 1917, p.297).