St. Peter in Joliet holds game-day fundraiser for replacement of 100-year-old roof

St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church recently replaced its roof for the first time in more than 100 years, a reminder of the church’s place in Joliet history.

The church at 310 Broadway St. holds a game day Saturday, an opportunity for St. Peter Evangelical to replenish funds after paying for the $250,000 roof replacement and for Joliet residents to connect with one of the city’s longest standing churches.

“If you don’t want to play games, just come for the food,” said Steve Kapella, church treasurer and an organizer for the fundraiser. “Or come for the games. Come for both. But just come.”

Games include board games for kids. Games for adults include euchre and Mexican train dominos.

The menu features a couple of Joliet favorites – Smolich sausages and Milano buns. Ball Park Franks will be served, too. A silent auction will be held for assorted gift baskets.

Food will be for sale. Admission is $5 for the event that runs from 1 to 6 p.m.

The roof was ripped apart by a summer storm last year. While the church was able to draw from its savings to pay for the roof replacement, it needs to build back its accounts quickly.

“We’re in a perfect storm right now because next year we have to spend spend $60,000 on air conditioning,” Kapella said

St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church is like a lot of Joliet landmarks. It’s been around so long that people may take it for granted But the church needs to raise money to keep going.

The congregation stands at 360 members, which is much larger than the 26 people who formed the church in 1857. But it’s far below peak membership in the range 0f 2,600 in the 1960s, when St. Peter, like many older churches in Joliet, saw its largest numbers.

The original church was established at a Joliet fire station, said church historian Mark Kroll, who also is president of the church board.

“We didn’t move to this site until 1858, when a frame church was put up,” Kroll said. “It was replaced by the stone structure in 1884.”

The stone structure is the existing church building, now 128 years old. An extensive remodeling in 1919 included a new roof, which lasted until last summer.

“It went from pandemic to pandemic,” Kapella said, noting the 1919 remodeling occurred during the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic that had been unparalleled until the COVID-19 pandemic of the last few years.

The 2021 storm that tore up the roof also blew the ceiling into the church sanctuary.

All the repairs have been completed, which means anyone who wants to visit the church for a Sunday service will find it in good condition.

Kapella said the church welcomes visitors to its Sunday services just like the door is open for those willing to help at the Saturday game-day fundraiser.

“That’s our mission actually – to mission for the neighborhood,” he said.

The church hosts activities beyond those of its congregation, including senior services and a chess club brought to the building by Joliet Township. The school building, no longer serving as a school, does provide space for activities and was used for COVID-19 vaccinations. It will be used for the game day fundraiser.

The church also has a relationship with the Bicentennial Bluffs Neighborhood Organization, which advocates for the surrounding neighborhood.

St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran since it was formed in the mid-19th Century served as a mother church for other Lutheran churches that developed in surrounding towns later. Before those churches were formed, Lutherans would come to Joliet for Sunday services and membership today still includes out-of-towners who come to the church on Broadway Street because of long-standing connections.

Many of the members today trace their ties to the church to grandparents and great-grandparents.

Karyl Holmstrom’s family connections to the church go back to the 1920s.

“It’s been part of my life since the beginning,” Holmstrom said of her connection to St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church. “It’s family to me – going way back with our relatives. We’ve had cousins galore who went to this church. They all were hardworking farmers.”

Holmstrom, also a member of the church, was at the church this week working with Kapella to get the school building ready for game day. They are looking forward to a good turnout

“This is the one public fundraiser we’re doing for the (roof) project,” Kapella said.