St. Luke's United Methodist Church (Dubuque, Iowa) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church
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U.S. Historic district
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 Location in Iowa
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1199 Main St. Dubuque, Iowa |
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| Architect | George Kramer |
| Architectural style | Richardsonian Romanesque |
| Part of | Upper Main Street Historic District (ID86002102) |
| NRHP reference No. | 98000387 |
| Added to NRHP | April 23, 1998 |
St. Luke's United Methodist Church is a beautiful old church in Dubuque, Iowa. It is known for its special style of building, called Richardsonian Romanesque. This church is located at 1199 Main Street.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. This means it is an important historical building. It is also part of the Upper Main Street Historic District. St. Luke's is part of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church.
This church has more Tiffany stained glass windows than any other church in Iowa. These windows are very famous. Experts say the building is important for its religious history in Dubuque. It is also special because of its unique Richardsonian Romanesque style and its amazing Tiffany glass.
Contents
A Look at St. Luke's History
The story of St. Luke's Church began a long time ago. It started when the city of Dubuque was first being settled. Barton Randle gave the first sermon in Iowa on November 6, 1833. The first church services were held in a log cabin in 1833. This cabin was in what is now Washington Square.
Over the years, the church moved to different buildings. New buildings were built in 1834, 1839, and 1853. The church moved to its current spot at 12th and Main Streets for the building we see today.
Building the Current Church
The church building that stands today was built in 1896. The church members started worshiping in this new building in 1897. This building is famous for its large collection of over 100 Tiffany Stained glass windows.
People have called it "one of the five finest Religious Tiffany collections in the world." There is a special window called "Angel among the Lilies." It is said that the angel in this window looks like the young daughter of the people who paid for it. She had passed away. Since 1990, the church has worked hard to fix and protect these beautiful windows.
The Historic Pipe Organ
The pipe organ inside the church is also very old and interesting. When the Farand and Votey organ was bought, it was so big that it needed two train cars to bring all its parts to Dubuque. The train could not cross the river. So, barges were used to float the parts across the river. Then, they were installed in the church.
The organ has about 1,000 pipes. When it was first put in, it was one of the biggest organs in the area. Over time, other organs have become larger. This pipe organ has 36 ranks of pipes, which means about 2,200 pipes in total. It was fixed up in 1992 by the Fowler Organ Company from Lansing, Michigan.
More to Explore
- St. Luke's Methodist Church (Monticello, Iowa), another historic church in Iowa.
