Immanuel Lutheran’s stainless steel structure ready for Easter debut
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A crane lifts Immanuel Lutheran Church's new steeple atop the new bell tower on March 19.
More than 50 years after the destruction of the original structure and another year of waiting for it to be installed, Immanuel Lutheran Church in northeastern Hamilton County near Polk finally has a proper steeple again. And, as an added blessing, it was installed just in time for Easter Sunday!
The stainless steel bell tower and shining steeple, built by Pre-Wel Manufacturing of Omaha, was installed with the use of a crane last Tuesday, March 19, as church members and neighbors watched the spectacle on a crystal clear and sunny day.
Two of those in the crowd of spectators were Pre-Wel founder Doug Wilshusen his wife, Jean.
“I used to go to church here when I was young because I grew up in North Bend (west of Fremont),” Wilshusen said. “I would come with my grandparents. They used to farm a couple of miles from here.”
Wilshusen’s family ties to Immanuel, however, go back even further than that. His great grandfather, John Wilshusen, an immigrant from Germany in 1838, was a charter member of the church. He said his great grandfather married woman from Missouri and the couple had five children. After his first wife died in childbirth with twins, he sent to Germany for another woman whom he married and had four more children. His grandfather, John “Otto” Wilshusen was the last.
Founded as a Lutheran mission by members of Zion Lutheran Church of Hampton in 1879, Immanuel built its first church house in 1881, replacing it with the current structure in 1902.
According to Wilshusen, the original steeple was struck by lightning in 1972, but that was just the beginning of the troubles for the cross-topped spire.
“In ‘74 the good Lord thought he’d tear it down and He did,” Wilshusen said, reporting that the damaged structure was blown off in a wind storm—what insurance companies refer to as an “act of God.”
Some years later the steeple was replaced with a fiberglass model which now sits in a field about a mile west of the church waiting to be pushed into a burn pile.
Then a couple of years ago Wilshusen received a phone call from a cousin who recalled a statement the manufacturer had made replacing the steeple more than a decade earlier at a family reunion.
“I said ‘Boy, I’d sure like to put a bell tower and steep on top of that church. That little fiberglass thing they’ve got up there is embarrassing,’” recalls Wilshusen of the statement he had made.
Wilshusen, who is now retired from the business says he talked his son, who now runs Pre-Wel, into building the structure and selling it to the church for the cost of labor and materials. That price tag was $80,000.
“If they were rebuilding with wood up there it would have been a lot more,” Wilshusen stated. “That’s 83 or 84 feet up there at the top of the cross and it’ll be pretty close to that.”
He said rebuilding with wood would have required scaffolding and a crew willing to work at that height with wood and shingles.
While the lower bell tower portion of the structure looks like it’s made of white-painted wood with siding that matches the rest of the building, Wilshusen said it is made of flat sheets of 18 gauge stainless with a bead cut into it to make it look like siding.
“You don’t normally paint stainless,” Wilshusen said, “but the women of the church wanted to the bell tower to be painted white. The nice thing about it is there’s no maintenance on this thing unless the paint comes off.”
After the finished 7,500 pound steeple and bell tower were delivered to the church in two pieces in April of last year, they sat for another nearly 12 months while a company was found to install them. That company ended up being Skyline Construction, Inc. of Lincoln.
On the day of the installation, Skyline showed up with a crew of workers, a crane and a telehandler equipped with a bucket for accomplishing tasks like attaching the top of the cross to the hook on the crane.
The bell tower was installed in the morning and secured with four one-inch bolts that were six feet long. Wilshusen says it was a close fit as there was only a quarter inch of tolerance on each side of the base.
After the crew went into Polk at around noon to get lunch, children from the adjoining Immanuel Lutheran School trooped out to where the shining steeple stood in the parking lot east of the church building to have their picture taken with the spire before it was lifted into place.
About half an hour later as the crowd grew, the Skyline crew began to filter back from lunch and things got moving.
Raising the steeple
First, an eye at the top of the steeple’s cross was attached with a strap to the hook of the crane and ropes were attached to the bottom of the steeple so men on the ground could keep it steady and stop it from spinning as it was raised to position on the bell tower.
As the crane began to lift the steeple from its position on the parking lot, the wind, which had been increasing throughout the day, began to pick up even more causing jitters among those watching. However, the sheer weight of the steel structure and the attached ropes seemed to help it stay steady even in the gusty breezes.
Over the next thirty minutes or so, the steeple was slowly raised more than 80 feet and maneuvered into position over the waiting bell tower. Catching the sun’s rays it flashed like a mirror with every turn.
Then the process of lowering it precisely into position began as crew members waited inside the bell tower to guide the process. The steeple was raised and lowered to within inches of its resting place several times over the course of the next few minutes until shouts of victory arose from the men in the tower indicating it was finally in place.
All that remained to be done was to bolt down the steeple, place the trim on the base of the bell tower, clean up and head for home.
When finally complete, the cost of building and installing the new bell tower and steeple is expected to top $200,000 according to church members. They say part of that cost is being offset by a contribution of $36,000 from the Hamilton Community Foundation. HCF Executive Director Tammy Morris says the donation came from the Carl Chader and Harlan and Emma Jane Peterson Funds at the foundation.
The new steeple will be formally dedicated on April 28 with a special church service at 9:30 a.m. followed by a potluck dinner.
