The settlement of Frankenmuth and the organization of Saint Lorenz Evangelical Lutheran Church began together when Pastor Wilhelm Loehe of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, inspired by Michigan circuit riders seeking help to bring the Gospel of Christ to Saginaw Valley Chippewa Indians, directed Pastor August Craemer and fourteen other immigrants to this area in 1845. They cleared forests south to the Cass River, built log houses, and dedicated a log church on Christmas Day 1846. A second church, a frame structure, was erected in 1852 and enlarged in 1864, serving until the present church was completed in 1880. The settlers named the colony Frankenmuth by combining Franconia, their home region, with mut, the German word for courage. On September 26, 1880, fifteen hundred people gathered to dedicate the monumental Gothic Revival church, designed by Cleveland, Ohio, architect C. H. Griese, as the third church built by Frankenmuth’s Evangelical Lutherans. Its elevated pulpit dates from 1864, when it was built for the earlier frame church across the street, while the baptismal font and the stained glass of the narthex, nave, and apse are original. In 1895 Frankenmuth native John Herzog, a master wood carver, was commissioned to design and sculpt the altar in honor of the congregation’s fiftieth anniversary, and in 1967 transepts were added to accommodate the growing congregation.