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In 1772 at a time when Henry William Stiegel was at the zenith of his career,
he, with his wife, conveyed to their fellow Lutherans in Manheim a plot
of ground on which to build a church - for five shillings and "in the month
of June yearly forever hereafter the rent of One Red Rose if the same shall
be lawfully demanded."
Whether
the rent of a red rose was actually ever paid to Stiegel is in doubt although
persistent tradition is that twice the token payment was made. Certain
it is that this sentimental and lovely red payment was virtually forgotten until 1892, one hundred twenty years after the deed containing the red rose
clause was written. In that year, a local physician, J. H. Sieling,
conceived the unique idea that a churchly all-day festival might well be
built around a revival of the payment of one red rose to a descendant of
Stiegel, if such a one could be found. Thus the Festival of the Red
Rose was instituted and a Stiegel descendant in the person of John C. Stiegel
of Harrisonburg, VA came to Manheim in 1892 to receive one red rose from
Zion Lutheran congregation. Since that year, on each selected Sunday
in June, the congregation of Zion Lutheran Church pays the debt of one
red rose to a selected Stiegel descendant in the ancient deed of seventeen
hundred seventy-two.
Henry William
Stiegel is one of the most celebrated characters in Lancaster County history;
and as long as the Festival of the Red Rose is annually observed and as
long as the major museums of our land continue to honor Stiegel by exhibiting
the lovely glassware which came from his Manheim glassworks, the story
of Stiegel and his town of Manheim will continue to illuminate the ages
of history. |
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