Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1980. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church is a historic church building in northeastern Darke County, Ohio, United States. Located south of the village of Versailles, it is believed to be the region's last remaining log church built during the period of settlement.”
Wikipedia article St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church (Versailles, Ohio), CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 25 National Register listings in Darke County · listed in 1980 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.80002988- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Co., locating near Versailles, where they spent the remainder of their days ; he departed this life in 1853, and his wife in 1869. Prosper, the subject of this sketch, was born in France, on the 12th day of August, 1833 ; he, with his parents, came to Darke Co., in 1847, locating in Patterson Township, where he received his education in the common schools. He celebrated his marriage on the 2d of October, 1856, with Miss Adaline Trion, who was born in France in 1840 ; in 1869, he moved to Versailles, where he has resided ever since ; he engaged in the manufacture of tile, which business he still carries on, and, in 1879, he added the grain business, operating the Commercial Elevator - he handled, last year, about 22,000 bushels of wheat, 10,000 bushels of oats, and about 2,000 bushels of corn, and, at present, is prepared to handle all kinds of grain. Mr. Dabe has had his full share of township offices since his residence in the county - served as Trustee of Patterson two years, Assessor one year, Treasurer two years, and Trustee of Wayne two years. Mr. and Mrs. Dabe are active workers in the cause of religion, being members of the Christian Church. They are the parents of fourteen children, of whom twelve are living, viz., Peter, Lewis, Edmond, Jennie M., Charles, Anna, Mary, Lawrence, Harry, Clara, Franklin and Lucy. Mr. Dabe has accumulated a considerable amount of property by his hard labor, in which he has been nobly assisted by his good and industrious wife.
HOR VTIO DYE, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Versailles. F. L. Dye, the father of Horatio, was born in Miami Co., Ohio, in the year 1808 ; Sarah Lafevere, his wife was born in Miami Co., Ohio, in the year 1810 ; he came to Darke Co. in the year 1855, where he continued to reside till the death of his wife, which occurred in September, 1866, after which he sold out and moved to Sydney, Ohio, where he married Ann Easty in the year 1868, and at present resides there. Horatio, the subject of this sketch, was born in Miami Co., Ohio, on the 7th day of April, 1834 ; lived with his parents till he was 23 years old, working on the farm during the summer season and attending the district school in the winter ; obtained a good common-school education. When he was about 23 years old, he bought a farm of 82 acres in the same county, and engaged in the cultivation of the soil on his own responsibility, and on the 2d day of December, 1858, was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Perry, in Miami Co.; she was born in Miami Co. on the 16th day of
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 248 specimens
collected within 10 miles of St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church between 1911 and
1975: 233 Animalia, 10 Fungi, 5 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by Albrecht, C., Albrecht, C., Valentine, B. (Barry) & Valentine, B. (Buena), Andrew R. Moldenke and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Versailles, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 4 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
Named in the fire insurance atlases
Sanborn surveyors printed an index of the
town's establishments at the front of each atlas. This property is named in
one, read straight off the scanned sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
only known changes in the memory of the present congregation. a red velvet covered stool and is diagonally placed in front of a dozen matching choir and the original organ stool were stolen in 1976.The loss of these two items are the that are covered with white wood siding.and feature three lancet windows on each side. the window panes have an unusual snowflake sandblast" design from an early period. ST.
PETER'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.A square belfry with louvered windows and endboards _ unaltered x altered A hanging kerosene lamp with hand painted shade was located over the pulpit, but it deteriorated with pilasters measures about 4 feet across and hangs in the center of the church.A wood burning box stove, obliquely recessed openings which have no woodwork for the double hung sashes. Since the church has no electricity seventeen more ornate seats with curved arms and backs.Some pews are set vertically century house of worship.
The white plastered walls with no ornamentation have three The pulpit area in the front of the church, raised seven inches from the congregation, The bleached ash floors now have a red carpet down a center aisle.The church is A large hanging kerosene lamp that has four arm extensions with delicate glass globes patented in 1860,is located close to the pulpit area. winged buckeye.A plain dresser-cabinet that is used for storage looks like house Some of 8.
Statement of significance
(in one paragraph) Xarchitecture St.Peter's Congregation was not born of a division of another congregation's dissent, survivor of the mid-19th century log churches constructed during the settlement of western a church service which includes an ice cream social is held in the fall for descendents Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Ohio.It was built by the St.Peter Evangelical Lutheran congregation in 1850 to serve exterior of this log church is much as it originally was except for the tower and belfry Seibt donated 1 acres for a church and cemetery on May 9, 1850.The congregation carved pulpit and storage furniture is.extremely unusual to find. _science of members and friends.ni -art -archeology-prehistoric have kept the church property in good repair.
1850 This sturdy German church is historically significant because it is the only known community planning The Klipstine family who live across the but because of a real need fora church in a distinct new settlement.Frederick Frengott believed to have been added in 1867 according to the original German record.The interior Sidney Daily News, August 3, 1979.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 80002988, 16 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
4 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.