All of the information about the beginnings of this church indicate that it was started by German immigrants who wanted to maintain their Lutheran heritage. They met, bringing whatever catechism they had brought with them, at Adam Kastner's. Although the contradiction seems to be when the church was actually organized. Most of the information states that the church was organized by Adam Kastner on his death in 1767. With the total loss of all of the records in 1916, the original organization will remain a mystery.

Photos were taken 12 May 2012 by Jeanne Hicks and are copyrighted to Jeanne Hicks.

The following information is transcribed from a booklet dated 15 Jul 1978:

"This booklet has been compiled under the direction of the Historical Committee of Philadelphia Lutheran Church, Route #2, Dallas, North Carolina 28034 through the information assembled by the Bicentenial Committee of Gaston County: and is hereby dedicated to all those pioneer ancestors of Kastner's Church in humble gratitude for the great heritage which they have given to Philadelphia Lutheran Church. May we always promote and revere this great heritage in such a manner that it will continue to be transmitted unto generation after generation."

The first Lutheran congregation located in what is today Gaston County was originally known as Kastner's Lutheran congregation. In the absense of the church records, which were destroyed in the flood of 1916, much information about the church and its cemetery comes from other sources and from oral tradition.

Adam Kastner, at the age of thirty-eight, along with his wife and five children sailed on the ship Patience from Rotterdam, Holland, going via of England, and arrived in America at York County, Pennsylvania in September, 1748. After remaining there for a while, Adam then moved his family to Piedmont, North Carolina. Tradition tells us that Adam, father of the Costner family in our area, held religious meetings in his home. It is assumed that a log church was constructed on the Kastner property some time later. A cemetery was begun at the same time. The first person buried in the cemetery (who has a marked stone) was Adam Kastner. His death in 1767 left the congregation without a spiritual leader since the earliest Lutheran minister did not come to North Carolina until the middle 1770's. Adam was buried on the hill near his home. With his death we trace the history of Kastner's Lutheran Church and Cemetery.

The early congregation was known as Kastners or Costners in the early records. As late as the 1820's the references are made to Costner's Church. However, by 1776 the congregation had the name changed to Philadelphia, which has been used since that time.

This cemetery contains many markers since it served the congregation of Kastner's as the only burial ground until 1916, with only a few burials after that year. The oldest markers are soapstone slabs, shaped and inscribed by hand. The earliest deceased were children and relatives of the Kastners. Other families - Cloningers, Fridays, Garrisons, Linebergers, Hoyles, Pasours, Plonks, Rhynes, Rutledges, Thornburgs - are buried along side their friends and fellow church members. Even after a church was built very close to the South Fork River in 1798, the congregation continued to travel to their burying ground on the hill overlooking the river and the church. Of course, not all the members of the church chose to bury in the cemetery. Some preferred their own family cemeteries which were closer to home and where other loved ones already rested. By 1916 a sizable cemetery covered the slope. Only because of a natural disaster - the flood which destroyed the church - did the congregation cease burying at the old cemetery.

Kastner's Church Cemetery embraces 149 years of history. The congregation experienced wars, economic depressions, epidemics of various diseases, and changes in the world surrounding them. Yet they remained faithful, and many allowed themselves to rest in the ground near Adam Kastner, whose desire for religious services resulted in the formation of Kastner's Lutheran Church and Cemetery.

Dallas Church Observing 200th Anniversary
County's Second Oldest Church Has Anniversary

Published in the Gaston Gazette 29 Oct 1967
By Elsie Hamilton, Gazette Church Editor

Martin Luther, nailing his '95 Theses on Oct 31, 1571 to the door of the Castle Church at Wittemberg, Germany, could not have dreamed that his actions would result in a new church or that this new church would spring up in America, founded just 25 years earlier.

But over 200 years later settlers from Luther's homeland were coming to America to escape intolerable conditions and to seek an opportunity to live, work, and worship as free and God-fearing folk.

One of these settlers was Adam Kastner of the Southern Rhine country who came to the colonies in 1748, stayed a short while in Pennsylvania, and then made his way across the Blue Ridge mountains into North Carolina. By-passing the settlements on the Yadkin river, he crossed the Catawba River and came at last to the South Fork where he built his home on the west bank of the river.

The first concern of the German pioneers, of course, was shelter and food. These needs taken care of, the thoughts of the settlers turned to setting up a place of worship.

This need heavy upon his heart, Adam Kastner caled together his friends, and together they discussed the organization of a Lutheran church, the church of their faith. It was agreed that services would be held in Kastner's home and that Adam would lead the worship, using the Bibles, hymn books, catechisms, and books of sermons and devotions brought from Germany.

The church was named Kastner's Lutheran Church, and upon the early church rolls appeared the names of Rudisill, Friday, Lineberger, Hoyle, and Hovis. The church bore Kastner's name until 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence, but he died in 1767 shortly after the church's organization without living to see a regular pastor for his beloved congregation. His body was the first to be laid to rest in the church cemetery.

The first church was constructed of hewn logs, heavy and strong enough to withstand the rigors of wind and storm, snow and parching un for 31 years. The name of the church was changed perhaps because the people desired a Biblical name, just as babies born in to these German families were given Biblical names. The name chosen was "Philadelphia" taken from Revelation 3:7-13 -- the church against which there is no word of complaint.

In this little log church the German settlers were nurtured in the Christian faith through Word and sacrament. Here, in this crude structure, was the place where the people came for the baptism of their babies, the confirmation of their young people, youth, the marriage of their young couples, and the funerals of their dead. New names were added to the church rolls: Dellinger, Smith, Plonk, Pasour, Hoffman, Rhyne, and Rhodes.

The human drama witnessed by those who worshipped in the church of logs is a part of the nation's great history.

These people knew the friendly Catawba Indians, some of whom cared for the family of one of the church founders, Michael Rudisill, while the farmer journeyed to Philadelphia for seed.

They knew, too, the battle for freedom in the new land where they had come to escape the various forms of bondage, although it meant fighting the English who had helped them come to this country. A son of Adam Kastner, Jacob Costner, with his neighbors signed this resolution:

"We hereby faithfully unite ourselves under the most sacred ties of religion, honor, and love to our country, firmly to resist force by force, in defense of our natural freedom and constitutional rights against all invasions, and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our lives and fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country, whenever the wisdom and council of the Continental Congress shall declare it necessary."

After the war, Philadelphia church was served by laymen and infrequent visiting ministers until 1785 when the Rev John Godfrey Arndt (Johann Gottfried Arends) came to serve the Catawba area congregation as area pastor. Married in 1776 to Hanna Rudisill, daughter of pioneer Michael Rudisill, Pastor Arndt was practical physician and informal banker to the Philadelphia members.

A second log church was built in 1798 on what was possibly a part of the original Adam Kastner grant. Today a large ironwood tree marks the site, which is on the Ocie Hoyle property near the old John Lineberger house.

In 1803 when the Lutheran Synod of North Carolina was organized, the 62-year-old Arndt--worn and blind--was elected president. He served Philadelphia until his death on July 9, 1807.

The brothers, Philip and David Henkel, later served the congregation. In 1811 Philip was secretary of the North Carolina Synod, and David served three years as secretary of the Tennessee Synod, of which he was instrumental in organizing and of which Philadelphia Church became a part. The Henkel family operated a printing business, and many catechisms, religious books and aids printed for use in the Tennessee Synod churches remain in some of the families of the congregation.

Years passed, and in 1845 there came to Philadelphia her first native Gaston County pastor, Jesse Reuben Peterson, affectionately known as Father Peterson. It was during Father Peterson's pastorate that the North and the South rose in arms against each other, and many of Philadelphia's young men left home to fight for what they thought was right.

A portion of a letter from 2nd Lt James Wellington Lineberger to his sister Elizabeth Quinn reads:

"I am in camp near Garysburg, NC. We have tolerable hard times and war's come coming near, I fear. We had a brisk little fight the 28th of July at Coon's Mill eight miles below Garysburg, but we put them through in quick time. The loss on our side was small compared to the Yanks. Our company came through safe though the shells fell thick round us. I think it rained as hard that evening as it ever did, but we took it and stood square up to the Yanks. There is some sickness in our regiment. Some are going out every day or two....I must tell you we have preaching regular now. We have a chaplain, Rev Peter Nicholson."

The war over, Philadelphia's log church was torn down and replaced by a larger frame building, where the men sat on one side and women on the other. The plank building was in use until July 1916, when the waters of the South Fork climbed its banks and swept away the 49-year-old church with all the church records.

Going up in 1917 was the present frame church, sitting back from a deep curve in the Philadelphia Church Rd. The church was built further from the river, perhaps as a precautionary measure in the event of future floods. In April 1958 construction was begun on the educational building, with most of the work done by members. The educational unit was built under the leadership of the Rev C E Lutz.

Many memories have the folk of Philadelphia: the members who walked to church to give a rest to the horses who had worked hard all week; the couple who had so many children they brought their food in a trunk to an all-day worship and communion service; the five-year-old who accompanied his parents to the altar rail for communion and caught his head between the rails; the Rev A R Beck who led the service, preached the sermon and played the organ when the organist was unable to attend; the music played on the new pipe organ by Horace T Beam Jr and thte "specials" sung by Charlie and Carl Lineberger.

These memories and many more will be recalled Sunday at 3pm when members of the congregation present an outdoor dramatization, "Some Little Power," written by the pastor's wife, Mrs William B Carr. Many long hours have gone into writing the script, making costumes, and rehearsing the 200th anniversary pageant.

Climaxing the pageant, Pastor Carr--the congregation's first full-time minister--will challenge Philadelphia members with the words of St John written from the Isle of Patmos to the Church at Philadelphia in 95AD:

"..I know what you have done. See I have given you a door flung wide open, which no man can close! For you have some little power and have been faithful to my message and have not denied my name. Because you have obeyed my call to patient endurance, I will keep you safe from the hour of trial which is to come upon the whole world, to test all who live upon the earth. I am coming soon: hold fast to what you ahve--let no one deprive you of your crown."

Homecoming Day Set Sunday at Philadelphia Church

Published in Gastonia Gazette 24 Jul 1953

Homecoming will be observed Sunday at Philadelphia Lutheran Church, one of the oldest churches in the North Carolina Lutheran Synold.

The Philadelphia church was organized in 1767, 186 years ago. It was first called Kastner's Church, after Adam Kastner, on of the congregation's chief promoters. mr Kastner moved into the neighborhood in 1750 and remained there until his death in 1767. he was the first to be buried in the church cemetery.

In 1776, the name of the church was changed to Philadelphia Lutheran Church.

The first church was erected with hewn logs. This building stood for 100 years and was replaced in 1867 by a frame building. A dedication service was held in the new church on May 10, 1867, conducted by the Rev Timothy Moser. This building was ruined by the flood of the South Fork river in 1916 when all church records were lost to the high waters, which rose within 16 inches of the roof.

In 1917, a new church was erected at the present location, north of Dallas.

During the past several years, the church has been remodeled and expanded in size. Improvements include three additional Sunday school rooms and an organ room for the instrument which was purchased recently. Both the exterior and interior of the church were repainted, floors refinished, and a new carpet installed in the sanctuary.

The Philadelphia church has furnished many members for other congregations and sent out leaders in their professions, among whom are Andrew Costner, a promoter of Gaston Female College in Dallas; J M Rhodes, a textile manufacturer; and the Rev John Rhodes, who died in 1841.

The Rev J G Arends served as pastor of the church from 1785 until his death in 1807. During the later years of his life, the pastor became blind and was assisted by the Rev paul Henkel until 1803.

Other pastors who are known to have served Philadelphia church are Phillip Henkel, 1808-1814; Daniel Moser, 1814-1821; David Henkel, 1821-1830; Adam Miller Jr, 1831; George Easterly, 1832; Adam Miller Jr, 1833-1844; J R Peterson, 1845-1897; H J Mathhias, superintendent, 1897-1898; W A Deaton, 1899-1907; P D Risinger, 1907-1911; A R Beck, 1912-1917; C E Fritz, 1917-1919; C N Yount, 1919-1922; J L Thornburg, supply, 1922; E C Cooper, 1922; C K Rhodes, 1922-1928; B E Petrea, 1928-1932; F M Speagle, 1932-1947; C K Rhodes, supply, 1947; and W H Dutton, 1947 to the present.

Rev Mr Dutton announces that all former pastors, former members, and friends of the congregation are invited to attend the homecoming services on Sunday. Dinner will be served picnic style in the church grove.

A former pastor, Rev C K Rhodes, will be guest preacher at the 11am service, when Holy Communion will be administered. Sunday school will convene at 9:45am, under the leadership of Carl McGinnis, superintendent.