MERGER OF TOWNS WILL PROVE BENEFICIAL

With little fanfare but sound margins, voters in the east Perry County communities of Altenburg and Frohna decided last Tuesday to come together into one yet-to-be named town of about 500 people.

The merger question had been defeated almost 30 years ago because many residents were concerned more about having to change the name of their town than about the economic benefits of joining forces.

But this time was different.

The Altenburg and Frohna fire departments had united about a year ago, and it seemed time to reconsider a merger.

Mayors and aldermen and residents of both towns got together at Emmanuel Lutheran church midway between two other Lutheran churches in the area to determine interest. A merger committee was formed to coordinate the effort, which culminated in favorable votes of 81 to 20 in Frohna and 78 to 40 in Altenburg.

Besides examining potential benefits of the merger, which include establishment of a larger tax base and a greater ability to qualify for municipal project grants, the merger committee spent the better part of a year talking about possible names for the new community.

Since the name is important, a door-to-door canvas of residents will determine the four most popular names.

Those names will be narrowed to two, and residents will choose the name they want in a non-binding vote.

The towns sit along Route C in the scenic farmland known as Saxony Hills.

The towns and a handful of others like them were founded in the 1830s and 1840s by German Lutherans who came to America to escape the Saxon State Church.

From these settlers came the Lutheran's Missouri Synod and Concordia Seminary, a major theological educational institution now in St. Louis. The seminary was founded in 1839 near Altenburg.

Its original school building, the Log Cabin College, sits in Altenburg across from Trinity Lutheran Church and is kept as a memorial and museum.

With their rich history, residents understandably are concerned about the name that will be chosen, and a favorite among many residents Saxony seems particularly appropriate.

Within the past three decades, the mergers in our area of Illmo and Scott City and Lutesville and Marble Hill have proved beneficial, and residents of Altenburg and Frohna can look forward to the benefits that will come from their merger.