A History of our Church

 

 

Beginnings
Our church's roots reach back a century and a half to a small prayer meeting when Racine was just a growing village of about 900 people. John and Barbara Niebergall and their friend Henry Young, who had recently arrived from the East, were German-speaking Evangelicals with a missionary spirit. They Invited an unbelieving friend, Mr. J.C. Schmidt, to a prayer meeting at the Niebergall's home on Main Street. Their prayers were so powerful that Mr. Schmidt committed his life to Jesus, and the seed for a new church - this church - was firmly rooted in the minds of these four people.

 

Rev. Matthias Hauert officially organized the church a few months later with the Niebergalls, Schmidts, and Henry Young, along with five other people, formed the initial congregation.

 

The church members met in private homes until a schoolhouse on College Avenue and Seventh Street became available. In 1848, the same year that Racine became a city; they constructed their first house of worship on Chippewa Street (now Park Avenue), between Seventh and Eighth Streets.

 

The church was originally called the Salem Church, but the name was later changed to First Evangelical Church.

 

Continuing Growth
It wasn't long before the growing congregation of First Evangelical Church felt the need for a larger facility. A pastor reported "many of the members on their knees asked God to bless the undertaking." The second church building was begun in 1870 at 721 Park Avenue.

 

First Evangelical Church was an active congregation from the start. The Sunday School was greatly emphasized; for a while separate services were held on Sunday afternoons. A choir was formed in 1864, the first Women's Missionary Society was organized in 1888, and a Young People's Alliance was started in 1893. Over the years two large-scale building improvement programs were carried out (1912-1916 and 1929) to add additional Sunday School facilities to the church structure.

 

The church remained strongly evangelistic in its outreach throughout this period of growth; there are records of numerous revivals taking place. First Evangelical Church was greatly concerned about supporting missionaries throughout the world.

 

In 1944 the church celebrated its 100th Anniversary. By that time its membership had grown to 324 people, 65 of whom were children. These dedicated church members also had a dream for the future: a new facility that would be built on the corner of Main and Eleventh Streets.

 

The Last Fifty Years
As the plans for the new building progressed the church was renamed. In 1946, when the old Evangelical Association merged with the United Brethren in Christ, the church became known as First Evangelical United Brethren Church, or EUB.  Our present building was dedicated in June of 1951.

 

In 1968 the church was renamed again due to the merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches. Since that time the church has been called Evangelical United Methodist Church, or EUM.

 

Our church's centennial booklet included this comment: "What a sense of joy will come, when...we shall learn what our Savior has been able to do in the redemption of souls, through... this congregation." Our members still reach out to others in Racine and elsewhere, sharing with them the saving message of the gospel. Today only blocks away from the place where that first prayer meeting was held, our church continues to let its roots 'go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love'