French explorers led by Pierre Yax first settled the area now known as New Baltimore in 1796, when Chippewa Indians inhabited the vicinity. Fabian Robertjean made the first government land purchase in 1820, and twenty-five years later Alfred Ashley of Mount Clemens built the first sawmill and dock there; in 1851 he platted the village of Ashley, managed a hotel and general store, and opened the first post office in his store in 1852. German pioneers arrived in 1853, clearing land along the Salt River for their settlement. The area was renamed New Baltimore in 1855, incorporated as a village in 1867, and as a city in 1931, and became known as a popular place for fishermen and hunters, with an expansive shoreline dotted with summer cottages and homes. In 1863, during the Civil War, Lutheranism began in the New Baltimore area when seven German families formed the original congregation of St. John's Lutheran Church and held worship services in the home of Fritz Turkow. Five years later they moved to an old chapel rented from the Baptists, and in 1870 they erected the church structure on property given by Gilbert Hatheway in January 1869. Services and religious instruction were offered only in German until 1916, when English was introduced with one English service a month; German services were discontinued in 1934. St. John's also houses a Hinners mechanical action organ acquired in 1905.