On
the 23rd of April, 1903 the building of today's church began.
Already the year before 200,000 bricks were ordered from the St. Vrbas
brick worker Stiefelmayer which cost 28 Kronen per thousand.
During the winter they started to transport the bricks and from the
corner of the choirmaster's apartment to the corner of the church the
whole street was piled with an overabundance of bricks.
Behind the church there was a pile of
bricks which alone was as large as the old place of worship. The building
plan and cost estimate were done by J. Cocek, architect in Novi Sad, for 300
Kronen. The building of the church was handed over to architects Jakob
Klein, Sr. and Jakob Klein, Jr. from Novi Vrbas. The community paid them
31,700 Kronen for it, without working overtime. Ing. Leopold Berzeller
from Novi Sad was entrusted as the construction foreman.
The site where the old place of
worship stood was too short and narrow. So the community purchased the
empty house lot behind the parsonage courtyard for it which was the private
property of the local pastors. The width of the church required that a
room of the parsonage had to be torn down. In place of this a kitchen was
built on the yard side of the walkway and as compensation for the reduced size
of the parsonage yard, a part of the house lot just purchased adjoined the
parsonage yard.
The foundation used up an
enormous quantity of bricks. There at the prescribed depth no solid ground
could be found. So the overtime work demanded a considerable amount of
pay.
A water source was found
which could not be scooped out. So more curves needed to be put into the
foundation. Not as many of the smaller bricks were used in the ground as
above the ground. The whole building required approximately a half million
bricks.
On the 1st of June, 1903, on
Whitsunday, at 2 PM the solemn setting of the foundation stone took place.
With the foundation stone a small box was bricked in which had a document
enclosed. This document, written by Rev. Hamel, contained the development
history of the Evangelical congregation up to the 1st of June 1903, as they just
numbered 1,426 souls. It says in this document among other things: "Many
advise and worry and suffer and fight, but those who believed and were active
participants of human love were visibly blessed. Thanks be to the
almighty, merciful God without whom we would not be able to do anything and whom
we honor with the confession; this is the day that He made, makes us joyful and
happy to be in it. So now this church wanted the purchase of the
foundation stone now set in place so there would always be a place for the care
of the religion." The document was signed by the following esteemed and
venerable emn: Ferd. Hamel, Evangelical pastor,; Wilhelm Pratscher, secretary
and Evangelical teacher; Peter Gutwein, treasurer; Georg Spies, Georg Karbiener,
Jakob Häuser, Jakob Dietrich. (Wouldn't it be beautiful if this certain
document was also signed by women in the future?)
An airtight baptismal container was
introduced together with the foundation stone and the document to receive coins
from the passing traffic. It was built into the foundation on the left
side of the entrance, 2½ meters from the parsonage and a meter deep in the
foundation, so the hammer blows of the community members were accompanied by
curses.
Construction now progressed quickly.
Before the winter break the roof was covered and the brickwork for the tower was
completed. The 8 to 10 story high scaffolding enticed so many up on it to
see the panoramic view of the surrounding area as far as Stari-Betschej.
The break in construction work only lasted 3 or 4 weeks. The mild weather
permitted work to be continued, mainly on the inside of the church, to work on
the vault. It is noticed that during the construction of the entire church
no worker had an accident.
During this construction church
service in the first three months was conducted at the local German Reformed
church instead. But because this was only permitted every second Sunday,
afterward the church service was held every Sunday in the Evangelical school (in
the big school), except during eulogies in the cemeteries.
The benches were finished by the
Vrbas cabinetmaker Johann Hamm for 1476 Kronen. A. Konz made chairs for
the pulpit, the pastor, and the pastor's wife for 600 Kronen. The pulpit
was decorated with a (Sämann?) which was donated by the Johann Dietrich family.
Unfortunately little consideration
was given to the interests of the native workers in employing them. So the
construction site often swarmed with foreign workers and our people were
allowed to watch. Even the kitchen and the cellar of the parsonage were
done by workers from Vrbas. If cheap foreign labor works more cheaply,
there is a big question.
There were about 60,000 Kronen left
in the community, so many of the Groschen (pennies) flowed into the community
treasury as a share of the cost, as value added tax or payment in arrears, so
the taxpayers were always of assistance to each other. And the depressing
loss usually offset the savings.
There was another large festival day
in the community on the 15th of May, 1904. The tower was finished, so the
church tower button and cross could be placed on top of it. This was the
day of the Kirchweih (church fair). A small box was encased in the button
which contained the index of names of all the marriages which belonged to the
congregation on this day. Unfortunately a shot pierced through the button
later in the year. Certainly this was never expected!
The consecration of the tower was
held before an innumerable amount of people. Ten schoolgirls dressed in
white and decorated with flowers followed the tune "A Solid Fortress is Our
God". The girls came ahead of the cross from the school to the church
where the village pastor addressed the crowd. Then the cross was placed on
the 40 meter high tower which is the highest spot in the village and it was
slowly pulled up from the crowd. Each was lucky who could pull on the long
rope. It was our father and mother who placed this great symbol of love
for our Father's house. The German music band accompanied this act in a
solemn manner. Carpenter Hartwein and son from Stari Vrbas and plumber
Gutsohn from Paschitschewo (Altker) who were above on the peak quickly finished
and from the dizzying height the latter held his oaths from the breath-taking
crowd. Reverend Engisch from Sekitsch said the blessing for the work that
men's hands built to honor God. "Our dear Evangelical congregation in
Feketitsch, in memory of this day at a time when the Protestant heart willingly
sacrifices to work hand in hand on this beautiful work in honor of the almighty.
In the aftermath our children were admonished that they should be as one people,
as brothers. But in the afterworld our children will be devoted to the
admonition that they be one single nation of brothers. One in belief, one
in the love of one another, one in the hope in God."
During the summer of 1904 an organ
was ordered from the Rieger Brothers of Budapest. It cost 2,728 Kronen,
the sum of which was raised from donations. The index of names of the
contributors is kept in the "Golden Book" of the community. On the
first line were listed the following with their donations: Nikolaus Weber (220
Kr.), Georg Bittlingmayer (210 Kr.), and Dr. Johann Scherer with 200 Kronen.
The brass pipes of the organ were sacrificed at the end of the world war.
In 1923 they were replaced with the same thing for about 4500 Kronen.
This sum was donated by American citizens. On the altar the cross symbol
came with the inscription "Honor to God on High". The large altarpiece was
a picture of Jesus in Gethsemene garden. It was a generous donation of
Georg Bittlingmayer and his wife Katharina, born Weber, which they endowed in
memory of their daughter Katharina. This was evident from the inscription.
The picture was painted by Dr. Geza Bðrsðmenyi, a lawyer from Groß Wardein.
The picture frame was donated by glazier Fritz Lehr. The black cloths on
the altar and the pulpit were donated by the women occasionally employed by Rev.
P. Scherer. The two vases were donated by the couple Anton Scheer and
Margaretha Morrell. The yellow altar cloth and the beautiful tablecloth
for the wine jugs are gifts from the wife of Dr. Ferdinand Hamel of Crvenka.
She was the daughter-in-law of our pastor. Of the 6 candle holders two
were donated by brothers Philipp and Karl Häuser and Philipp's son. These
brothers also donated the altar Bible. The four remaining candle holders
as well as the crucifix were already in use in the old place of worship.
The church was not completely
furnished until fall and waited for the official opening. There were 21
benches on the left side for the women and 18 benches on the right side for the
men of which 5 stood along the length of the church. Behind the pulpit was
the bench for the pastors. On the opposite side there was one bench for
the female teachers and one for the female ministers. On the right side
there was a large side door to the side street. The church floor under the
benches was wooden boards but all the other areas were covered with beautiful
cement slabs. Twelve large windows with iron frames let all the bright
light shine in. On the windows on the south and west sides shades were
hung up which were donated by Friedrich Dietrich in the name of his son Ludwig.
At the exit were two collection boxes, one for some church purpose and the other
for the community's poor. The towering church was supported by 4 columns
and in the middle stood the organ with a lyre donated by Karl Spengler.
Four plaques served to display the song numbers. - The width of the church is
13.50 meters, the length is 31 meters; inside dimensions are 11.50 x 29.80.
The cost of the church construction
was put together by treasurer Peter Gutwein and would be put in print. Te
following expenses were noted:
|
1. |
|
To the architect Jakob Klein, Uj-Verbasz: 31,700 Kr. - H.
|
|
2. |
|
Supplement for gold-plating:
360 Kr. - H. |
|
3. |
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Supplement for roof gutters: 130
Kr. - H. |
|
4. |
|
Supplement for the foundation:
450 Kr. - H. |
|
5. |
|
To the architect for the altar
construction: 589 Kr.45H. |
|
6. |
|
For all 454,430 bricks: 11,613
Kr.94H. |
|
7. |
|
For all 25,000 roof tiles :
342 Kr.72H. |
|
7. |
|
Building plans from Taltarga
and Cocek with expenses : 912 Kr.11H. |
|
8. |
|
Included in above # 8
|
|
9. |
|
To the bell founder Seltenhofer for the
new bell: 1,421 Kr. - H. |
|
10. |
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To revise the two old bells:
140 Kr. - H. |
|
11. |
|
A bell cage of iron (700) and
daily wages for the mounting: 760 Kr. - H. |
|
12. |
|
Included in above # 12 |
|
13. |
|
To the cabinetmaker Hamm for the benches:
1,476 Kr. - H. |
|
14. |
|
To the cabinetmaker A. Konz for the
pulpit (400) and two benches (200): 600 Kr. - H. |
|
15. |
|
Included in above # 15
|
|
16. |
|
For the organ (3,728) and the tower
clock (1,100): 4,828 Kr. - H. |
|
17. |
|
Included in above # 18 |
|
18. |
|
To the building foreman and engineer Berzeller:
400 Kr. - H. |
|
19. |
|
Various other expenses : 1,015 Kr.31H. |
|
20. |
|
Various objects donated in the value of:
1,133 Kr.66H. |
| |
|
Total:
57,828 Kr.39H. |
This was the end total presented to
the planned Kirchweih (church festival) on the last Sunday in October 1904.
The cost included the 2 large cross beams and 4 columns with it which were
needed to strengthen the choir loft.
The official opening of the
completely finished church unfortunately could not be planned. There were
objections to the weight of the choir loft. The treasurer had concluded
the column for expenses too quickly. The church could not be officially
opened until the 15th of January, 1905, after the desired crossbeam was
installed. It was a very warm, sunny Sunday, which seldom happened at this
time of the year. Everyone was back on their feet again and before the
start of the church service the church was crammed full.
The official opening was conducted by
the following clergymen: Karl Petri, Consenior from N. Schowe; G. A. Famler from
Torschau; G. A. Wagner from N. Vrbas and Ferd. Hamel village pastor. The
festival sermon was held by G.A. Famler. He was the first to preach from
the Sämann decorated pulpit.
On this day Ludwig Jung and
Philippina Hermann were married and Luisa Gerber, daughter of Heinrich Gerber
and Theresia Fetzer, was baptized. V. Pratscher and Theresia Müller were
the first to be confirmed in the new church. The first eulogy was held in
the new church for Wilhelm Hðckel (Morell) on the 24th of January, 1905.
It was decided that although they
were forced to celebrate Kirchweih on the 15th of January, in the future
Kirchweih day would be celebrated on the last Sunday of October again, as
before.
An exceptionally fine decoration in
the church was the two chandeliers. Its cost was generously sacrificed by
the widow of David Rettenbach, born Mar. Elis. Weber. The one chandelier
had 30 electrical candle lights, the other had 16. The practical
chandeliers were ordered from Vienna in 1914 and cost 2000 Friedenskronen (peace
crowns). The church was thankful for the kind-hearted contributors for the
introduction of the electrical circuits. The third chandelier was already
in use in the old place of worship and was donated by three brothers: Friedrich,
Nikolaus, and Johann Dietrich.
