One Township's Yesterdays Chapter LI  

The Evangelical Church

In the year 1872, there was erected, about one and a half miles east of Zion Church, in the lower part of the township, a house of worship for the congregation of what was designated as "The Emmanuel Church, of the Evangelical Association." The location was not far south of Lost Lake, in the northeast corner of the crossroads south of the present KELLER farm. It was right in the corner, near the roadside. It was called the "Albright church," and was so designated on maps of 1881 and prior, but it went by the official name of the Evangelical Association.

This original church edifice, built in '42, was moved in 1899, or rather was wrecked and rebuilt in the present village of Culver, with an addition which made it about twenty feet longer. Some years later, the church was further improved by being brick veneered and otherwise changed. The remodeling was done in 1924, and the church structure of today is as it appeared on the completion of those improvements. Preliminary work was begun under the direction of a building committee in March, 1924. The cornerstone of the new church was laid Sunday afternoon, May 25, 1924, at an impressive ceremony with Rev. J. W. METZNER, of Elkhart, delivering the dedicatory address. The completed church was dedicated on September 28, 1924, with appropriate dedication day services.

When the Evangelical Church building was moved in from the country and set up again in town, it traveled a distance of some two miles from its old location south of Culver. The church in the country had two entrances. In town, it lost one of these, became more modern (and have you noticed how fast those old-fashioned two-entrance churches are disappearing almost everywhere?). Well, the town church accepted one entrance, located in a corner of the building. The new church, as it now stands, is frame, with brick veneer.

There are several Evangelical churches in the township. Besides the church at Culver, there is one at Hibbard, one at Rutland, closed for quite a while but reopened this past year, and the East Washington and the West Washington churches in the Washington neighborhood.

These churches were originally on the Twin Lakes Circuit. Of late, the Rev. V. V. HAMMER, of Hibbard, has been preaching the Circuit, which includes Washington, Hibbard, Rutland, and Twin Lakes.

The Culver Evangelical Church was founded in September, 1899.

Years ago, there used to be an Evangelical church west of Burr Oak. An old map, drawn prior to 1881, shows it, designating it as Evangelical and locating it on the northwest corner of the W. OVERMYER land, at a crossroads, west of Burr Oak. Of these roads, the one running north and south passed by the west side of the OVERMYER farmhouse The church has long since disappeared. This WILLIAM OVERMYER farm later was GEORGE OSBORN's. The farmhouse was burned to the ground.

The Evangelical Church at Hibbard was dedicated in 1913. Celebrations of the anniversaries of the event have been held in later years. We read of one such, held on Sunday, December 14, 1924, the eleventh anniversary, the speaker being Prof. H. R. HEININGER, of Naperville, Ill.

From fragmentary data, the writer attempts to piece together some of the history of the church in this township. It is related that there were several Evangelical parsonages in what is now Culver; and that the first of these was originally "in the square", in the corner of which is now a frame building, at the northwest corner of Main and Madison streets. This parsonage was in the Circuit.

Concerning Washington church, some interesting data has been gathered by members of the congregation.

"The Washington Society," according to the church historian, "was organized by HENRY PRETCHEL in 1880 from a part of the Pleasant School. house appointment, located near the south shore of Maxinkuckee Lake. This society disbanded, part of it uniting with the ZECHIEL society, namely: J. C. ZAHMANn and wife; JOHN SNYDER and wife; WASH OVERMYER and wife; DEBOLT KLINE, Sr., and wife; GEORGE KLINE and wife; DANIEL FREY and wife; THEO KLINE and wife; J. L. SCHUERMANN and wife; DEBOLT KLINE. Jr., and wife; and MARY KRIEG. ZACHMAN was the first class leader.

"They first worshiped in a school house near the church from 1881-86. Here PRECHTEL held a revival in 1881, which proved a success. In 1886 our people helped to build the M. P. church, one mile east from where our church now stands, for the privilege of worshiping here, and holding English services. In 1891 our people found it expedient to withdraw and in the same year began preparations for an Evangelical Church. H. E. OVERMYER, pastor, called a society meeting and elected a board of trustees, namely: WM. CURTIS, Pres.; WM. KLINE, Sec.-Treas.; Wash OVERMYER. These with J. L. ZACHMAN and A. SAVAGE were made the building committee. The church was 28 x 44 feet. The cost of the church, exclusive of the lot and donated work, was $1,350.00. D. MARTZ, P. E., dedicated it February 21, 1892. $308.00 was raised on this day, which more than covered the debt. A Young People's Association was organized on March 14, 1895, with 46 members. First president was CHARLES MARTZ.

"In 1880 the women of the Evangelical Association who were filled with missionary spirit, petitioned the Board of Mission for the privilege of organizing Missionary Societies in the local churches. The General Conference of 1883 granted the petition. District organizers were appointed to carry out the work of organization.

"In 1892 Mrs. S. S. ALBERT, organizer for the Elkhart District, organized a Society at Washington church. Rev. J. REES was then pastor of the church. The first president of the Society was Mrs. CLARA KLINE. As the first meetings were held at the church after Sunday school, the men and women attend the meetings and for that reason most of the men and children were listed on the early membership roll of the society.

"The charter members were Mrs. SARAH CURTIS, Martha Krieg, CLARA KLINE, SARAH KLINE, Mother ELIZABETH KLINE, VICTORUA KLINE, Mrs. GEORGE KLINE, Mrs. SCHUERMANN, LIZZIE SAVAGE, ALMEDIA OVERMYER, Grandma SNYDER, Mrs. NORRIS, KATE BURKETT, and Grandma FREVERT. Of this number only Mrs. SARAH KLINE remains as an active charter member."

The Washington Sunday school was first organized in 1870 in the old school house.

At the Hibbard Church a meeting of the men of the Hibbard Circuit was held on December 11, 1933, for the purpose of organizing an Albright Brotherhood Society. The guest speaker for the devotional service was EARL SNYDER, of Culver. The officers then elected were: Rev. V. V. HAMMER, president; WILLIAM Lake, vice-president; WAYNE KLINE, secretary; and RAY WHITE, treasurer.

Our record of the Evangelical pastors is meager. This work, begun by the writer, has been interrupted, so the notes following are far from complete. The names of some of the pastors, with one or more years of their service in the township, might be mentioned:

• Rev. CHARLES McCONNEHEY (1905).
• Rev. J. E. YOUNG (1913-14. He came to Culver in February, 1913, from Ridgeville, Ind. Early in April, 1914, he was returned to the Culver Evangelical Church, and Rev. TIEDT to the Culver Charge.)
• Rev. F. L. SNYDER (1916).
• Rev. J. H. RILLING (1931-32-33-34, at Culver. He retired in May, 1934, and moved to South Bend, having completed 37 years of continuous service in the conference.)
• Rev. R. L. HALEY (1934-35, at Culver. He came from Peru, Ind., to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Reverend RILLING.)
• Rev. Virgil V. Hammer (of the Hibbard Circuit, including St. ,Paul Evangelical, Washington Evangelical, etc., was assigned in May, 1-9,34, to Terre Haute.)
• Rev. CHARLES YOH (Hibbard and Washington, 1934-35.)
• Rev. H. HAZENFIELD (Trinity and Rutland, 1934-35.)

Hibbard Circuit was divided in May, 1934, for the ensuing year, Hibbard and Washington to be served by Reverend YOH, and Trinity and Rutland by Reverend HAZENFIELD. Brother YOH, the new minister, preached his first sermon at Washington early in June, 1934. He came, a young man, from the Theological Seminary at Naperville, Ill.

This Seminary was well represented at a memorable meeting at Washington in October, 1934, as their male quartet was on the program and the two ministers, Reverends YOH and HAZENFIELD, were students from there. At this meeting, JOHN and WILL KLINE and B. A. CURTIS sang a trio from the song book which was used when the Washington Sunday school was first organized in 1870 in the old school house, and as children they learned to sing the song, "My Sweet Home in Heaven."