February 8, 2012
SANTA CLAUS, IND. — MCF House Movers of Petersburg, Indiana, will very slowly transport the 1880 “Deutsch Evangelish St. Paul’s Kirche” this morning for a distance of just under one-half of a mile to its new home in Santa Claus Park.
The 132-year old country church will join the town’s newly-restored 1935 Santa Statue plus the Santa Claus Museum, founded by Holiday World matriarch Pat Koch, at the site of the original Santa Claus Park.
The church stands 70 feet tall (including steeple and weather vane). It will be moved with steeple and original church bell intact, along with the following contents: altar, cast-iron woodstove, Reed pump organ, native poplar wood benches and pews. The church, which weighs approximately 50 tons, will roll on three sets of dollies pulled by a tractor truck.
Another historic building will join the church and statue at Santa Claus Park on February 14. The original Santa Claus Post Office, built in 1856, will be moved in the same fashion from Holiday World, where it has served as a doll museum since the theme park opened in 1946.)
The non-profit Santa Claus Museum funded the purchase of the church as well as today’s move. Donations may be made to help with this and other projects through the organization’s website at http://SantaClausMuseum.org.
