The four-alarm fire that gutted Downtown’s magnificent Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2018 raged for hours. Thick, black smoke billowed from the historic structure at Ninth Street and Highland Avenue, while the fire’s red-orange flames caused immeasurable damage to the church’s interior.
The blaze, caused by sparks from equipment used by a contractor to remove a gutter, essentially left only the walls of the church standing, along with the trademark bell tower.
Since, Trinity’s 170-some congregants have worshipped elsewhere during a painstaking restoration of the 1878 Victorian Gothic-style church. That effort has made considerable progress but faces ongoing obstacles, most notably a lack of funds.
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The decision to rebuild came after careful consideration; some half of Trinity members live outside Milwaukee. “It would have been easy, and there was a lot of encouragement from outside for us to just pack up and go to the suburbs,” says the Rev. Douglas Peters, Trinity’s pastor. “But the city needs this church.”
Trinity’s restoration is comprehensive. All original architectural details, including the vaulted ceiling, have been emulated, and updates and additions include a new sprinkler system, upgraded lighting, central air and heat, and, for the first time, insulation throughout the building. The initial restoration cost was pegged at about $23 million, a figure that has grown to as much as $25 million. Insurance covered about $17.5 million.
“We knew we had to raise money,” says Peters, who joined Trinity in 2019. “Then came COVID-19, which paused everything. We had scaffolding in place at the time that was costing us $600 per day. Then there were other skyrocketing costs.”
The bulk of the remaining costs – about $3 million – will likely need to come from fundraising and private donations, Peters says. Work yet to be done includes the purchase and installation of a large pipe organ and rebuilding of one of the steeples. “If we had all the money we needed right now, it would probably be done in two years,” he says. “But we need to raise more money. It may take us 10 years to complete. But it’ll get done, one day.”
Trinity members have been gathering for services in the church’s undercroft (that is, basement) for the past three years. The church plans to have a service this fall in the unfinished main area. “We’re going to have one service to raise awareness, get the community together and enjoy it,” Peters says. “Hopefully, it will lead to some additional fundraising, which is what we need to keep the ball rolling.”
As workers scurried about the church on a late spring morning, Peters pointed to a scorched door that he says saved Trinity from complete destruction by preventing flames from reaching the bell tower. “If that had happened, the bells would have crashed down,” Peters explains. “There are three bells that each weigh two tons. They would have destroyed the foundation, and we would have been starting from scratch.”
