Beneath Sunny skies, shaded by old pine trees, several past and current parishioners of St. Paul Lutheran Church along with many area residents and various dignitaries gathered on West Main Street Sunday, April 27, to unveil an Ohio Historical Marker for the first Lutheran Synod.

Marjorie Ream, a church trustee, welcomed those who assembled for this special moment in history. American Legion Leo Ryan Post 58 Color Guard took part as well.

The Rev. Ronald Murdock, former pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, gave a brief history of the church. He stated, "This is the site where in 1818 a log church once stood for Lutheranism in the wilderness. A rock at the site in front of the cemetery marks the cornerstone of that log church."

Don Huber, Academic Dean of Lutheran Seminary and Church Historian at Capital University gave Lutheran history of Somerset. Lutheran congregations formed in Perry County beginning in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. The Mother Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, sent missionary pastors to Ohio to preach to the growing number of Lutherans moving to the state.

St. Paul congregation was formed in 1812 under the leadership of William Forester. On Sept. 14, 1818 the joint synod of Ohio, the first synodical organiztion of Lutheran's west of the Appalachian Mountains, and one of the earliest predecessors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was founded in Somerset at the original log church on the West Gay Street site.

St. Paul's current church, on West Main Street was constructed in 1844.

During the program, Huber asked the crowd if they noticed all of the headstones faced east - facing Jerusalem for the coming of the resurrection.

Ohio Bicentennial Commission member Phil Ross state communities, local governments and local historical societies bring the topic along with funding to the commission for the markers.

Patrick Mooney, also of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, and member of the Religious Experience Advisory Council, a 22 member inter-faith group, explained there is a lot of research and documentation work for the application of these markers. He expressed appreciation to Jim Dittoe, Marjorie Ream, and Bob and Pat Sterner for helping in the process of making the marker a reality.

Also, addressing the crowd was Andy Verhoff of the Ohio Historical Society, Bill Schmeltzer, Somerset Mayor, Dave Snider and Doug Miller, both members of the Perry County Historical Society. Speaker of the House Larry Householder also attended and presented Ream with a framed certificate from the House of Representatives, and Ohio flag and gavel.

The dedication ceremony was lead by Rev. Murdock, June Taylor and Mid Murray unveiled the marker.

A similar ceremony and refreshments followed at St. Joseph's Parish near Somerset.

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