BY WESLEY YOUNG
SALISBURY POST

And here’s the steeple...

And at Christiana Lutheran Church there are lots of happy people, pleased with their new steeple.

‘‘When this church was originally built, they had intended somewhere down the road to put a steeple on it,’’ the Rev. Carl Haynes said.

Sometime finally came Tuesday, when a crane lifted the new 50-foot-tall steeple onto its spot atop the tower of Christiana Lutheran Church on U.S. 52.

It all got started because the tower was leaky. The church learned that a new steeple would solve the leaking problem, not to mention finish the way the church was supposed to look.

Just one problem: money.

Then church member Claude Hamilton stepped forward and said he’d donate the money. Hamilton died before the steeple could go up, but his gift made the steeple possible. The new steeple cost $52,500, and Hamilton donated the entire amount.

Schafer Manufacturing Co. in Troutman built the steel-frame fiberglass steeple, which stands on a five-foot base that’s not visible from outside the tower. The base weighs about 800 pounds, while the steeple itself weighs another 1,200 pounds.

A crowd came out to see the steeple go up, and the preacher was there to videotape.

‘‘It is built to withstand anything up to 200 miles per hour,’’ Haynes said.

The congregation voted unanimously to approve the new steeple, after they had a chance to see drawings.

The church will dedicate the new steeple April 18.