Seen on eBay: Concordia Lutheran Church Plate, circa 1952

This plate shows a picture of 's second church building in 1952. The present building was constructed in 1954.

The description in eBay reads: Very nice ceramic plate, representing the Concordia Lutheran Church, in Maplewood, MO.  This is 9.75 inches in diameter and is dated 1952, with no nicks or chips, no damage.  This plate was made by Homer Laughlin, Eggshell, Georgian.

On the back of the plate is this history of the church:

Concordia Church had its beginning in 1889, when a group of Lutherans met for the purpose of considering the possibility of conducting services in a section known at Benton, in the western part of St. Louis. The meeting and also the first services were held in a hall at Manchester and Prather Avenues.

In 1890, the hall on the second floor of a building on the southwest corner of Forest and Bruno Avenues was rented for church purposes. It was there that the Christian Day School had its beginning in 1891.

In the latter half of the nineties the congregation purchased its own property and erected a modest frame building at 7255 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood.

This remained the home of the congregation until the present church was built and dedicated at the corner of Sarah Street and Marshall Avenue on October 4, 1914.

Concordia, one of the largest Lutheran Churches in St. Louis County, is conducting three services each Sunday morning to accommodate its 1,018 communicant members and 1,578 souls and is looking forward to the times that a new and larger house of worship will be built to the glory of God on the present site.

From Concordia Lutheran's website:

We began as a small German speaking country Church in 1892–the horse and buggy were very much in vogue and Manchester Avenue was just a dirt road. A Christian day school was soon organized...beginning with three pupils. However, by 1895 enrollment was up to 42 students.

As the church grew, it outgrew its first building–constructed another–outgrew that one; and finally in 1954 the third house of worship was dedicated to the glory of God.