I took a closer look at the old Immanuel Evangelisch Lutheran Church, which sits at the corner of Marcus and Lexington.
The beautiful front portal features Christ in a mandorla, an almond-shaped Medieval icon, with two angels kneeling on either side with the Greek letters alpha and omega, referencing the book of Revelation. In English, the phrase, “All Glory to God” flanks the entrance.
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The cornerstone is interesting, as it has a Latin phrase, “AD GLORIAM DEI” written on it, which I would expect on a Roman Catholic church, not a Lutheran one, which focuses on the vernacular. The phrase means “To the glory of God,” which I also find interesting because it uses three of the four words of the motto of the Catholic Jesuits, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” which means, “To the greater glory of God.” The original location of the church, the second oldest Lutheran congregation in St. Louis as an offshoot of Trinity Lutheran, was down on 11th Street. It moved here in 1927.
The architecture firm was the prominent trio of Hoener, Baum and Froese.
In addition to the Book of Revelations, Jesus refers to himself as “the beginning and the end,” so it can be just one more identifier.
Your website is amazing! My father was the principal of a Lutheran grade school that existed in a (long ago) demolished building that existed to the right of the church on Marcus. He accepted the job in 1952 (at the age of 20!) and served as principal, teacher of grades 6-8, driver of the school bus (actually a van), and coach of the sports teams. The Immanuel congregation built a satellite church in North County on 11100 Old Halls Ferry in 1959, and the school moved there at that time. Move was due to the, er, demographic changed in the old neighborhood. Don’t know what the status of the adjacent cemetery to “old” Immanuel is; my father would get yelled at by the church groundskeeper for practicing softball with students after school.
The cemetery is being maintained by a congregation out in St. Louis County:
http://stlouispatina.com/western-lutheran-cemetery-revisited-again/
Thanks for pointing out this info, and thanks for this great resource that you provide.
You’re welcome. By the way, there must be a large number of gravestones missing from the cemetery, right?