Based on the 1767 census of Norka, a majority of the 218 families were of the Reformed faith; 16 families (7 percent) identified themselves as Lutherans; 6 families (3 percent) as Roman Catholics. By 1906, the Norka Parish, which also served the colonists living in Huck and Neu-Messer, had grown to 23,179 members. Of those, 385 were Lutheran, the remainder being of the Reformed faith.
The Norka church was constructed in the center of the colony. The colony's first organ was purchased in 1791. In the early years, separate church services were held for the Lutheran and Reformed faith families. A new church building was constructed in 1822 on the site of the original building.
Construction of the third church building began in 1880 on 9th street. The cornerstone was laid on 24 June 1880 during a worship service attended by former Norka pastor Rev. Gottlieb Bonwetsch, the Rev. Gottlieb Jordan from neighboring Balzer and the Rev. Wilhelm Stärkel, who was the pastor of the Norka parish at the time. The cross was placed atop the steeple on 6 October 1880. The church was built in the Kontor style with white Doric columns and stately doorways. The dome of the edifice could be seen from miles away. The basement walls, serving as the foundation of the massive structure, were made of mortar and stone about three feet thick. At its widest and longest points, the dimensions of the foundation measured 127 feet wide by 175 feet long.
In the balcony at the back of the sanctuary, a new pipe organ was installed in 1891. The organ had been manufactured by E.F. Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Germany, and was the 586th organ (Opus 586) built by the company.
The church in Norka was officially closed in 1935 and torn down in 1939.
Norka was founded on 15 August 1767 by the Government about 65 kilometers southwest of the city of Saratov. Its inhabitants were mostly of the Reformed faith, although some were Lutheran. The colonists were primarily from the Hessen area of present day Germany. Norka grew from a fledgling settlement to become a large and very prosperous colony.
According to Jacob Dietz, Norka was named after the river along which it is located. The source of the Norka River is 2 to 3 kilometers west of the colony. The land surrounding the river was covered by tall grasses, shrubs and scattered forest areas.
There was a cholera epidemic in Norka in 1848 and 1849. There was a large fire in the colony in 1872.
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
218
|
753
|
|
|
| 1769 |
212
|
772
|
400
|
372
|
| 1773 |
219
|
957
|
501
|
456
|
| 1788 |
206
|
1,358
|
690
|
668
|
| 1798 |
225
|
1,660
|
845
|
815
|
| 1816 |
300
|
2,509
|
1,274
|
1,235
|
| 1834 |
445
|
4,113
|
2,095
|
2,018
|
| 1850 |
465
|
5,951
|
3,081
|
2,870
|
| 1857 |
628
|
6,300
|
3,251
|
3,049
|
| 1860 |
483
|
6,894
|
3,289
|
3,065
|
| 1886 |
877
|
7,641
|
3,898
|
3,743
|
| 1891 |
727
|
10,200
|
5,202
|
4,998
|
| 1894 |
|
10,518
|
5,302
|
5,216
|
| 1897 |
|
6,843*
|
3,381
|
3,462
|
| 1905 |
|
13,500
|
|
|
| 1910 |
|
13,623
|
|
|
| 1911 |
|
14,174
|
|
|
| 1912 |
|
14,236
|
|
|
| 1920 |
954**
|
7,325
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
7,292
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
6,913
|
|
|
| 1926*** |
1,062
|
7,466
|
3,648
|
3,818
|
| 1931 |
|
7,707****
|
|
|
*Of whom 6,815 were German.
**Of which 902 households were German.
***Of whom 7,454 were German (1,057 households: 3,640 male & 3,814 female).
****Of whom 7,693 were German.
Reformed
Lutheran
Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764 . Translated by Adam
Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 351.
Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies . Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869.
List of Populated Places of the Russian Empire , vol. 36 (Samara Province). St. Petersburg, 1864.
Minkh, A.N. Historical and Georgraphical Dictionary of the Saratov Province (Saratov, 1898): 688-691. Online .
Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II , 14 February 1769.
Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 622.
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Richard Rye (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 319.
Preisendorf, J. Personal manuscript entitled "Out of the Volga Region - Chronicle of the Colony of Norka."
Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen , Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland): 344-345.
"Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Norka: A German Colony in Russia (Steve Schreiber)
Norka (wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russian
Norka, Russia (Facebook)
Norka: A Passage in Time (AHSGR Video Documentary).