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New Choir Robes
Tribune photo published April 4, 1958

The 1958 Children’s Choir of St. Paul Lutheran Church presented a song service wearing the new robes made by the Ladies Guild of the church.  Pictured in the front row from left: Dave Barnhart, Warren Kayl, Bobby Friedrich, Elaine Johnson, Nancy Johnson, and Margie Healey.  Second row, Dean Barnhart, Mike Royer, Janice Vittetoe, Linda Franz, Susan Buhl, and Ann Hemstreet.  Back row: Andrea McCurdy, Carol Carlson, Ronald Kayl, Bonnie Hatch, Cathy Carlson, Phyllis Michel, and Alan Bornmueller.

Among the men pictured are Herb Tschopp, second from left, and Del Osterman, second from right.

Prior to 1940, no Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregation existed in the city of Ames.  Residents and students affiliated with the denomination traveled to Trinity Lutheran Church in Boone for services.  In 1940, Memorial Lutheran Church across from the Iowa State College campus was completed and services begun, providing a local congregation for both college students and Ames residents.  Due to the rapid growth of Ames there soon was a need for a second LCMS church, and a committee was established to select a site in "north Ames."  Six lots were acquired at the corner of 15th Street and Wilson Avenue, and soon a conspicuous sign reading Future Home of St. Paul's Lutheran Church was erected there.

With construction underway, St. Paul was formally organized.  Incorporation occurred in June of 1953 with 47 members meeting in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  When the parsonage just south of the church was completed, services were held there until the November 8, 1953, dedication of the church building at 610 15th Street.  As both Ames and the size of the congregation grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, additional Sunday School rooms were needed, so the residence at 620 15th Street was purchased for use as a parsonage.  The original parsonage was then converted into Sunday School rooms.

When membership reached 600 in the early 1970s, an addition to the church structure was needed.  A groundbreaking ceremony for the new portion was held April 21, 1974.  The addition included a new worship center, 11 classrooms, sacristy, pastor's study, Sunday School office, and a youth lounge.  The original church was remodeled for use as a fellowship and social hall, kitchen, secretary's office and church library.  At the same time, the house on 15th Street was sold and the original parsonage was remodeled to serve again as the parsonage.

On March 15, 1981, a $47,000 twelve rank Wicks pipe organ was dedicated.  The original 1953 mortgage had been extended for the 1974 addition to the church building, but on September 17, 1989, St. Paul's congregation held a mortgage burning ceremony that signified the clearing of all debt.