Zutavern Church served German farmers in Lawrence Township

For many years in the 19th century, the German farmers living in the southeastern part of Lawrence Township met every Sunday to worship in a little brick building known as the Zutavern Church.

The church was small, about 50 feet long and 35 feet wide, sitting on a foundation of sandstones. The building was surmounted by a bell tower. A small cemetery was located next to it. The congregation had various formal names through the years, including the German Presbyterian and Lutheran St. Paul’s Church of Lawrence Township and St. Peter’s Reformed Church.

The church was organized in 1822. One of its first ministers was the Rev. Heinrich Coloredo, a remarkable man who served congregations in Tuscarawas, Holmes and Coshocton counties. A German native, he came to the United States in 1833. For the next 13 years, he traveled by horseback through the three counties, organizing German Lutheran churches and giving encouragement to those already established.

According to a history of Ragersville, Coloredo always carried a gun with him as he rode through the forests to protect himself against wild animals.

He died in 1846.

In 1833, Conrad Zutavern, a prominent farmer in Lawrence Township, and John Streely Sr. donated a tract of land on what is now Zutavern Church Road for a church and a cemetery. Zutavern owned the well-known Belltower Farm south of Bolivar. The church took its name from him.

The first church at the site was a log structure. It served both farmers in Lawrence Township and residents of Bolivar. The brick church was built in 1851. Services were conducted in the German language.

According to a history of the Southeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the farmers in Lawrence Township wanted to build the brick building on the site of the log church, while Bolivar vicinity members wanted it in town. There was a difference of opinion, but eventually the farmers prevailed with their choice of site.

The Bolivar people continued to attend the Zutavern Church, “but with some feeling of dissatisfaction. They looked forward to a time when they could have a church in their own community.”

In 1843, the Bolivar members who spoke English organized a Lutheran congregation in their town. Then in 1853, a portion of the German membership left to form an independent congregation in Bolivar that eventually became the St. John United Church of Christ.

As the years went by, the Zutavern Church congregation dwindled in number and services were halted in the 1880s. So, in 1894, the members made the decision to auction off the church building and property.

The auction was authorized by the church trustees, J.C. Zutavern and John Kline.

The items to be sold included two communion tables, a communion pitcher and two cups, a large iron stove, a small bookcase, about two dozen benches, one armchair and a large German Bible.

The sale was to be held on Sept. 22, 1894. However, the sale did not come off because the members decided to repair the building and reoccupy it for church services.

“In the meantime, however, some very mean thief had removed the cornerstone from the building and stolen the contents of the small box within it — some $5 or $6 worth in coins and other valuables, and, a loss which is most regretted, papers containing list of members of the church from its foundation to 1851, when the old log structure was replaced by the present brick building with sandstone base,” the Ohio Democrat newspaper in New Philadelphia reported on Sept. 27, 1894.

It is unclear if services were resumed after that, but the church building was torn down in 1913. A photo of the church in the 1908 Atlas of Tuscarawas County shows the building abandoned.

In 1972, a lintel stone from the original building was discovered on a farm in the area. Since it was the 150th anniversary of St. John United Church of Christ, church members decided to mount the stone in concrete and place it on the site of the old building.

In the years that followed, little was done to take care of the stone. In August 2025, members of the Bolivar Historical Society cleaned up the church property, which is now owned by a man in North Canton. That included the commemorative stone, which was covered with moss and lichen.

Future plans include installing a sign giving a short history of the church, along with a picture of the brick building, according to George Baumgardner, a member of the society.