DISCOVER HERITAGE ROUTE 23

In the early 1900s, several German Lutheran families migrated from Ohio to farm the pine-stump wilderness around Mud Lake. Such land sold for fifty cents an acre. By 1906, these families were holding services in their homes. The congregation was organized in 1907. The first "church" was a one-story shingled log house. A tower was added to house a large and beautifully toned bell that had been donated. A Baptist congregation bought an empty church in Mikado and had it moved to Barton City using six teams of horses and log rollers. When the Baptist Congregation failed, the church was purchased by Augusta Kohlman and given to the Trinity Lutheran Church. It was dedicated in 1937.