Trinity Lutheran Church evolved from the first German Lutheran settlements in the Monroe, Michigan area. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 started a tide of immigration and Monroe became a regular landing station for steamers traveling from Buffalo and other ports on Lake Erie. As early as 1828, German Lutherans from Baden and Bavaria settled in and around Monroe, an area consisting of a few stores and humble dwellings. On the Fourth Sunday in Advent, 1833, the Rev. Friedrich Schmid, horseback traveling Lutheran pastor from Scio (near Ann Arbor), conducted a Lutheran communion worship service in the Episcopal Church in Monroe for these German families. He returned every six to eight weeks.

The Lutheran pioneers formed a congregation in 1834 named Zoar, elected elders from the German community, and built a log church in 1839 four miles southwest of the city of Monroe. This is presently known as St. Paul's Lutheran Church on Albain Road, west of Telegraph.