Trinity Lutheran Church records

The following information is largely taken from Trinity Lutheran Church's 100th Anniversary publication, God Spoke in English ...and We Understood, as well as documents in the collection.

The organizational meeting of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was held 15 March 1912. At this meeting, a charter was signed affiliating the church with the Augustana Synod as an English-speaking congregation, one of the first of its kind at the time. The church had 36 charter members, and the following deacons were elected: J.B. Oakleaf, Theodore Weigandt, Albert G. Carlson. The first trustees were David B. Freeman, Frank J. Landee, N.O.W. Johnson, Walter L. Olson, Charles Ydeen. The church’s first pastor was Ira O. Nothstein (then pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Rock Island, Illinois, and future librarian/archivist of Augustana College), who served as interim pastor until an official pastor could be hired. A call was sent to Samuel Miller, a student at Augustana Theological Seminary, who would become the church’s first official pastor.

Trinity struggled financially in its early days. According to a series of letters written in January 1913, the church had failed to pay for a communion service supplied by the American Baptist Publication Society (at a cost of $38.25) for almost a year, until some of its members agreed to settle the bill. The letters are located in the church history scrapbook, 1898-1987, in box 20 of the collection.

Rev. Miller left the church in 1916, and a call was extended to Walter Tillberg, who also was a student at Augustana Theological Seminary at the time of the call. This would be Tillberg’s only call to minister, and he would become the congregation’s longest-serving pastor, serving from 1916 to 1959. By 1927, Tillberg had made 21,900 pastoral calls and performed 1,412 pastoral acts, and communion had been administered to over 21,000 people.

Trinity found its first permanent home in 1916 near its present location at 1330 13th Street in Moline, Illinois. An old fire station was razed to generate lumber to build the chapel. This chapel served the congregation until 1922, when a new church was constructed at the present location and dedicated in 1923. The new church included a Bennett Organ, which was, at the time, the largest organ in the Tri-Cities. The 1923 building has served the congregation for almost 100 years. In 1959, an addition was added to the building and named Tillberg Hall in honor of Walter Tillberg’s retirement. The church’s property continued to be expanded and remodeled throughout the following decades, including upgrading the stained glass windows from 1965 to 1970 and substantial remodeling projects in the late 1970s (“A Building for All Generations”) and the early 1990s (“Vision 2000”). The sanctuary underwent a nearly $600,000 remodel in 2011.

From its earliest days, Trinity Lutheran Church was active in promoting service among its congregation, particularly for its women. One of the congregation’s most prominent women’s groups was Trinity Circle, founded sometime in the 1910s or 1920s. The purpose of the organization, according to its earliest constitution, was “to work for the upbuilding of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church; to lend assistance to the pastor and officers of said church in whatsoever thing is possible and for the good of the church.” Membership was open to “all ladies of the church.” Members served on a number of committees, such as the committee for visiting the sick, program committee, Altar committee, kitchen committee, decorating committee, membership and receiving committee, improvements committee, and nominating committee. Trinity Circle provided flowers when a member or her husband passed away, and promoted general fellowship and comradery among churchwomen. Trinity Circle was a unifying organization for most of the women’s groups within the church, and the circle itself was further subdivided into various divisions, some of which are identified by number (e.g. Divisions 3, 5, and 6) and some of which are identified by name (e.g. Rainbow Division, Faithful Division). In 1959, the group became known as the Trinity Lutheran Church Women.

Trinity also conducted targeted outreach to its youth community from its early days. Trinity established a Sunday School around 1911. This was an outgrowth of the Seventh Street Sunday School of Grace Lutheran Church in Rock Island, founded in 1893 by Augustana College professor Andrew Woods Williamson. When Williamson died in 1906, management of the school was taken over by John Hauberg, who served as its superintendent until 1911, when he married his wife, Susanne Denkmann. After Hauberg’s resignation, Trinity picked up where Hauberg left off. The church also coordinated a number of Luther League chapters for its children and adolescent members, operating under the tutelage of Pastor Walter Tillberg’s wife, Bertha Tillberg. Youth ministry activities continue to this day, including retreats, Vacation Bible School, and community service activities.

Trinity’s leadership changed hands several times between Walter Tillberg’s retirement and the close of the 20th century. In 1993, Trinity appointed its first full-time female pastor, Associate Pastor Rev. Laura Koppenhoefer, who served the church until 2012.The congregation’s current pastor, Lawrence Conway, has served since 1997.

1912

Rev. Ira O. Nothstein (interim)

1913-1916

Rev. Samuel A. Miller

1916-1959

Rev. Walter A. Tillberg

1959-1962

Rev. Eric J. Gustavson, Sr.

1963-1973

Rev. Marvin L. Raymond

1973-1988

Rev. Lowell R. Dallman

1989-1997

Rev. Ellis E. Eskritt

1999-2004

Ref. Gary LaCroix

2007-2017 (present)

Rev. Lawrence J. Conway, III