Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1910 — CHURCH'S FEAST OF ROSES. [ARTICLE]

CHURCH'S FEAST OF ROSES.

Tulpehocken’* Rent, One Red Flow* e», 'Will Be Dne- Next Month. Everywhere In the Lebanon valley interest centers in the annual feast of roses, which is to be held in June in Tulpehocken Reformed Church, three miles east of Myerstown, close to the line separating Lebanon and Berks counties, the Lebanon correspondent of the Philadelphia Record says. For ten years this feast has been Tieiarannually at the Tulpehocken church, and payment of one red rose In June as ground rent has been made to the Wister family of Philadelphia,, as the (descendants of Conrad Wister, who gave the ground on which the church is erected.

The inauguration of the feast of roses at Tulpehocken was brought about by the discovery by the Rev. J. H. the pastor, that the deed executed by Conrad Wister to the first trustees of the church made such provision, but that there had been no observance of the ceremony for many years. Since Pastor Welker’s discovery special services commemorating the event has been held annually, and it has been planned to hold them on a more elaborate scale than ever this year. However, death recently entered the home of the Wisters at Philadelphia, claiming a daughter of Dillwyn Wister, the head of the family, and therefore'it has been decided that the services in June would be quite formal. It has been hoped that all members of the Wister family would attend the service and come to the church in a special train, but this feature of the observance has been abandoned.

Tulpehocken Reformed church is the oldest and one of the most important churches of the reformed denomination in the Lebanon valley. It has a long and Intensely interesting history, and because of it having been served by the two Lelnbach brothers — Thomas H. and Charles—for over half a century It is commonly known as the Lelnbach kirche. There have been three churches since the beginning in 1744. The first was a log building, the second of stone and the present edifice, a large two-story structure, of nicely dressed limestone. The Rev. Mr. Welker, who is now serving his twenty-sixth year, is the fifteenth pastor of the congregation, which is probably the wealthiest in the Lebanon valley. The land given by Casper Wister to the Tulpehocken congregation consisted of upward of forty acres, and It has been found to contain large deposits of limestone, which bring good royalties each year to the congregation. Aside from their pastoral duties, the ministers serving the congregation have always found time to cultivate the thirty and more acres of farm land on the tract, and until recent years there was the "church mill,” which now turns out its grist for another than the pastor.