Peace Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)

The people who founded Peace Lutheran Church came to Tacoma from the Volga River in Kolb, Russia in the 1890s. One reason for the immigration was the Russian Government’s determination to Russianize all its subjects. As a result, a lot of Germans left. Those who settled in the Tacoma area first attended services at Trinity Lutheran Church but then began meeting in private homes and organized their own Lutheran church, signing a charter on May 9, 1909 with 61 voting members. A flat-roof parsonage had been moved from south 116th and L. Streets and were purchased for $3500. Services were held in German, and a parochial school existed which taught the German language to the children. Classes were held in the church basement and each child paid 50 cents a month if his parents were not active in the church. In the 1950s there were 249 members of the congregation with 176 Sunday School students. Use of the German language dwindled and ceased. In 1945, the constitution was amended to give women the right to vote at business meetings. Due to a change in the ethnic background of the people in the church area, the church now receives a subsidy from the ALC and works cooperatively with other church groups in the inter-city area.

From the guide to the Peace Lutheran Church, Tacoma, Washington, Records, 1909-2012, (Pacific Lutheran University)