Lutheran Church of the Atonement
1 Center St., Oneonta, NY 13820
Worship Schedule
Sundays - 10:00 a.m. (Holy Communion 1st & 3rd Sundays and Festival Sundays)
Coffee hour follows worship
Wednesdays - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday School - 1st & 3rd Sundays during worship
Bible Studies - 1st & 3rd Tuesdays - 1:30 p.m.
History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement - Oneonta, NY 11/25/02
By Leonard W. Pudelka
The formation of a Lutheran Church in Oneonta, N.Y. began at a convention for Lutheran youths at Central Bridge, N.Y., held on November 3-4, 1902. At that Hartwick Synod gathering for Luther Leaguers, the Reverend J. M. Bieber of the Binghamton Lutheran Church, called for the founding of what was to become “ The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement” in Oneonta. Those present urged the convention president, the Reverend J.H. Weaver, to take the necessary steps to proceed with the proposal. He appointed the Reverend G. A. Getty of Zion Church, Cobleskill and the Reverend Doctor Frank Wolford of St. Mark's Church, Middleburgh, to conduct an investigative canvass to determine the need for and feasibility of a Lutheran congregation in Oneonta.
Highly encouraging results from the survey instigated the beginning of services on Tuesday evenings in the Church Parlors of Oneonta's First Baptist Church at 12 Grove Street from February 3 rd through August 16 th , 1903. Pastors Getty and Wolford officiated. Attendance at those services indicated a genuine interest in establishing another church in “The City of the Hills.”
The then Universalist Church on Ford Avenue became the site of the first Communion Service of the Lutherans on Sunday, May 3, 1903. President Weaver officiated and the Reverend T. G. Traver of Hartwick Seminary preached the sermon. On Tuesday evening May 5, again at the Universalist Church, the congregation adopted a constitution and elected its first Church Council. Twenty-five people became charter members and a Lutheran Church was underway in Oneonta.
Services continued on Tuesday evenings in the First Baptist Church Parlors until September. The arrival in August of the congregation's first pastor, the Reverend Henry Manken, Jr., necessitated another change of venue to the YMCA “lecture room” on Broad Street for the Sunday morning worship. They conducted their services there until November 1904. The congregation purchased the former Baptist Church on Grove Street for $1,500. after that congregation moved into their newly constructed building at the corner of Academy and Chestnut Street. Atonement now had a church “home” it would occupy for the next fifty-nine years.
With the expansion of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad shops in the second decade of the Twentieth Century and the subsequent influx of families from Pennsylvania, where the Lutheran population was abundant, Atonement's membership grew. The Church underwent many additions and improvements during that time. Nineteen eleven saw the purchase of the parsonage adjoining the Church and the payment of the Church mortgage in 1918 and that of the parsonage in 1923. Improvements to the Church continued.
In 1928 when Hartwick College, a Lutheran Church affiliated institution, arrived in Oneonta, the congregation entered into a close relationship with the college. The Church's fourth pastor, the Reverend Robert VanDeusen, drew many of the young college students from both Hartwick and the State Teachers College into Atonement activities. The Church aided the subscription to attract Hartwick to town by pledging $7,500. toward that project. During World War II, the Reverend Doctor William Boomhower, sixth pastor of the congregation, also served as an adjunct professor in Hartwick's Department of Religion, which further cemented the close college-church ties.
Over time, discussions occurred of either making major renovations to the Grove Street Church or constructing a new one. The early Fifties saw the addition of a new oil heating system to the facility. The unfortunate malfunctioning of the new heating system, after a few years, spread greasy dirt and dust throughout the Church, plus a natural disaster in the form of a flood, caused by a January thaw in 1959, replaced the renovation considerations with those in favor of building a new structure. The headlines from the Oneonta Star announced “Floods Hit City-Area; Church Badly Damaged.” The temperature had risen to 52 degrees and was accompanied with 1.28 inches of rain, which melted the considerable snow cover and caused volumes of water to cascade into the City. More than six inches of water flowed into the Church's basement, damaging the kitchen equipment, baseboards, flooring, and causing considerable harm to the back wall foundation. The damages were in excess of $10,000. Hartwick College came to the Church's assistance by making space available for worship services in the new chapel and rooms for Sunday School for as long as necessary.
Under the direction of Atonement's tenth pastor, the Reverend Doctor Harold Fry, the congregation undertook serious fund raising and planning for the new church. Together with the purchase of a lot at 58 West Street plus a gift of property at number 1 Center Street by the trustees of Hartwick College, the building project took shape and Atonement and the College drew even closer together. A “Festival of Dedication” began Sunday, February 17, 1963 followed by a dedication dinner on Tuesday, February 19. A community Service took place on Sunday, February 24 th. Regular congregational worship began in the new church on Sunday, March 3, the First Sunday in Lent, 1963. On May 3-5 the congregation celebrated its sixtieth anniversary in Oneonta.
In 2005 the Lutheran Churches of Otsego County–Atonement, Oneonta; Evangelical, Hartwick Seminary; St. John's, West Burlington; St. Matthew, Laurens–together created the Otsego County Lutheran Parish (OCLP). The Reverend Paul Messner , S.T.S. serves as the Pastor of the OCLP churches and is assisted in the ministry by Sandra Shear, (AIM).
Music is an integral and major part of Lutheran Worship. The choral tradition has been strong at Atonement's services over the years. In recent years musicians such as Grace Gibson, Jeanne Briggs, Chris Odell, and Marilyn Roper have served as organist and/or choir directors. Luther's music worship tradition continues at Atonement; the Christmas Eve candlelight service is a good example of that heritage.