Page Contents for Altenburg, Missouri

Statistics & Facts

Location

History & History-related items

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Statistics & Facts

The Missouri state capital is Jefferson City.
The population of Altenburg is approximately 307 (1990), 352 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 138 (1990), 138 (2010).
The amount of land area in Altenburg is 2.297 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers.
The distance from Altenburg to Washington DC is 718 miles.
The distance to the Missouri state capital is 161 miles. (as the crow flies)
Altenburg is positioned 37.63 degrees north of the equator and 89.58 degrees west of the prime meridian.

Location

near the Mississippi River, off I-55, south of Ste. Genevieve and Perryville, and north of Cape Girardeau and Jackson.
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History & History Related Items

Altenburg was settled in 1839, and these settlers set up the first seminary west of the Mississippi in the following year. Shortly thereafter, once the church sanctuary was finished to the point that installing a pipe organ was considered safe, the first pipe organ west of the Mississippi was installed. The church thus started was the flagship of a church movement that resulted in the formation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod some years later, and this synod has grown into one of the largest church organizations in the world.

Altenburg, along with several other towns established by the same Saxon immigrants, used German as their native language until 1953, eight years after the end of World War II, when they officially converted to English. This is one of the latest, and is the latest of which I am aware, that a town converted from an official language other than English.
Other historical resources are available in Altenburg, and the library of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, with information about Altenburg and surrounding communities.
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