For those who have traveled past the intersection of Cook and O’Day Roads over the past few weeks, you’ve noticed that St. John Lutheran Church’s parsonage is missing! It really plays tricks on your mind to no longer see the building there.
The parsonage wasn’t torn down but moved by the Elkins Moving Company of Hudson, IN.
Per Don Harter, Co-Chairman of the Facility Committee, “We needed to move the parsonage, due that the new structure will be within inches of the east wall of the parsonage. As most people know the Keuhnert dairy Farm was the high bidder and moved the home just west of the church. Everything went very smooth. The plants around the parsonage went back to the Herb Keuhnert family ( they where a memorial for Herb) The cost and the weight was the buyer’s responsibility. Roger Keuhnert, Greg Salesman, and others on the site committee helped get the site ready for the next phase.
Mr. Fred Elkins, President of Elkins Moving Company, commented during a telephone interview that the parsonage weighed between 40 – 50 tons.
It was jacked-up, fitted with a moving suspension and trucked approximately 1/4 mile due West on the Cook Road and now resides on it’s new foundation on the North side of the road.
For congregational members who helped build the parsonage, Mr. Elkins also commented that, “This building was very well built. It’s one of the few buildings of its size with steel I-beams in its floor”.
Vintage photo of St. John’s parsonage under new construction. Good work St. John’s builders!
