On 14 October 1906, a group of Germans from Russia organized the Free Evangelical Lutheran Pilgrim Congregational Church. Early members included: Nicholas Schnell, Heinrich Stroh, Conrad Ross, David Sitzmann, George Walker, John Pheif, Henry Dietrich, Henry Feierstein, Peter Bohl, Jacob Liebsack, John Kammerzell, David Kühn, and Henry Rupp.
The first church building was located at Vine and Division Streets. Services were continued there until 1956 when a declining membership led to a union with the Park Community Congregational Church. This congregation was organized in a newly developed part of the city in 1956 and met in the Dodge School Auditorium until its own facility was built at Oak and Bismark the following year.
In 1961, the Park Community Congregational Church and the First Congregational Church (which had been founded in 1887) merged under the name of United Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ. The property of the First Congregational Church was sold and a new sanctuary was dedicated at 504 E. Bismark Street in 1964.
First Location:
Vine & Division
Grand Island, Nebraska
Second Location:
Oak & Bismark
Grand Island, Nebraska
Third Location:
405 E. Bismark St.
Grand Island, NE 68801-8002
308.382.6166
Rev. C. W. Würschmidt (1907)
Rev. F. Woth (1907-1909)
Rev. F. Cafert (1909-1914)
Rev. John Braun (1914-1919)
Rev. J. P. Wagner (1919-1920)
Rev. J. Hoersch (1922-1925)
Rev. William C. Woller (1925-1932)
Rev. A. Claus (1933-1936)
Rev. R. Uhlmann (1937-1938)
- Buechler, A.F. and R.J. Barr, eds. History of Hall County Nebraska (Lincoln, NE: Western Publishing, 1920): 342-343.
- Eisenach, George John. A History of the German Congregational Churches in the United States (Yankton, SD: Pioneer Press, 1938): 257.
- "History" - United Congregational Church (online)
- "Liste der Deutschen Kongregationalen Gemeinden." Illustrierter Kirchenbote Kalender 1926 (Redfield, SD: Redfield College Press, 1926): 65-71.
- "Namenliste der Prediger und ihre Adressen." Illustrierter Kirchenbote Kalender 1926 (Redfield, SD: Redfield College Press, 1926): 76-79.
Records of the United Congregational Church and its predecessor congregations covering the years 1887-1970 have been microfilmed and are available at the Nebraska State Historical Society.
