HISTORY OF ARNSBERG AND THE ST. JOHN'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

The German Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Church of Arnsberg has been inactive for over 100 years. Only the cemetery remains today and is located over one mile west of the 1-55 exchange on Route KK. The cemetery is currently being restored and a perpetual care fund is being established.

The first information we could find about the church is a deed on file in the Cape Girardeau County Recorder's Office. The deed is dated July 22, 1856.

According to the deed, Charles Hermann and Louise, his wife, and Henry Pohlmann and Caroline, his wife, sold land to the church. Trustees of the church at that time were: Charles Hermann, Christian Tuschhoff, Henry Pohlmann and Henry Richter.

At the time the church was built the area was not much more than a clearing. It had been inhabited earlier by the various Indian Tribes of the area.

On Feb. 3, 1864, George and Lizette Engelmann sold 110 acres of land to Adolph Tacke. This land bordered the church land and sold for $490.

On April 27, 1866, a second deed was made with the Lutheran Church of what was later called Arnsberg. This deed was between Adolph and Lizette Tacke and the Trustees of the church who were: Christian Tuschhoff, John Kiepe and Jacob Klempe.

About 26 years after the church was organized, Adolph Tacke built a town nearby. Mr. Tacke was born in Germany, April 21, 1833. He served three years in the Prussian Army and in 1857 immigrated to the United States, landing in Philadelphia. In 1859, Mr. Tacke settled in Bollinger County where he built a flour mill. That same year he moved to Cape Girardeau County.

In 1861 he enlisted in the Federal Army of the Civil War. He remained a privte in the army for six months with the Fourth Missouri Infantry. He re-enlisted as a, first lieutenant and was discharged as a captain in Feb., 1865.

He returned to Arnsberg where he built a saw mill in 1882, a flour mill and a mercantile store. A post office was located within the store. By 1884 there also was a blacksmith shop, a saloon and an octagon shaped dance hall.

Mr. Tacke first married Lizette Zoellnor, daughter of Ferdinand and Nettie Dolle Zoellner. After her death he married Nancy Caroline Milster. He was the father of four children: William Tacke, Mrs. Mathilda Holmes, Mrs. C.T. Maintz and Franklin J. Tacke, who married Carrie Lang.

Adolph Tacke, founder and owner of the town of Arnsberg, died June 1, 1909. He is buried in the cemetery at Arnsberg.

It is believed that the congregation of the St. John's Church was dissolved in about 1890. Dr. H.B. Futrell had an office in the old parsonage in Arnsberg in about that year. He married a Dolle, a relative of Adolph Tacke's first wife. Dr. Futrell later moved to Oak Ridge. Dr. Karl Jaeger also practiced in the Arnsberg area. He had an office in Old Appleton.

Perhaps the main thing that kept the little church from growing was the dreaded disease of tuberculosis. Many members lay buried in the cemetery because of the malady.

Family names found buried in the cemetery are: Bailey, Best, Bingenheimer, Dambach, Dickmann, Fiesler, Fulbright, Hoffman, Jaeger, Kaiser, Kayser, Kiepe, Klaus, Kroman, Lowes, Milster, Neislein, Powell, Puntmann, Reinemer, Rhyne, Richter, Rose, Ruppel, Sauer, Schmidt, Struwe, Tacke, Thomure, Tuschhoff, Underwood, Young, Zimmerman and Zoellner.

The Tuschhoff sisters and the Zimmermann family kept the records to the old church in Arnsberg at the time the farmers began getting their social security, in about 1956.

The Rev. A.M. Lohmann had them at one time, but gave them to someone else. If anyone finds the records they would be most helpful to the association.

In searching for the records they would not say St. John's 'Church of Arnsberg. The church had no name at first and Arnsberg was not established until about 1882. The deed only says the "Evangelical Lutheran Church of Apple Creek Township."