Emmanuel Baptist Church traces its history back to the arrival of Mennonites in Marion County in 1873. The group that established Emmanuel Baptist was not historically Mennonite, but came in 1876 from the Volga German colonies around Yagodnaya Polyana. This group worshiped originally in a little stone school house on the Jacob Ehrlich farm, one and one-half miles northwest of Marion.
The congregation of St. Mary, Help of Christians at Loretto was founded in Illinois, Kansas, about four and one-half miles south of Pfeifer as is an offshoot parish. The founders of the new parish were:
Peter Basgall
John W. Basgall
John K. Basgall
Casper Holzmeister
John P. Roth
Jacob Stremel
Leo Stremel
Anton J. Stremel
John R. Stremel
Adam Stremel
John P. Stegman
Adam S. Urban
George J. Urban
Joseph M. Urban
Adam Urban, Sr.
Martin Urban
George G. Urban
The Volga German immigrants who settled in Marienthal established the Catholic Church of St. Mary.
Location:
210 N. 2nd
PO Box 7
Marienthal, KS 67863-0007
620.379.4427
At first, church services for Liebenthal residents were held in homes or in the open air (weather permitting) whenever an itinerate priest would visit the village. The first Roman Catholic church was completed in October 1878. The complete church measured 48x28 feet, with a sacristy of 15x15 feet on the west side, all of native stone. In the fall of 1889, a parish house was erected and in the year 1897 the first parochial school, measuring 60x3O feet, was built.
By 1891, a large church building had already been constructed by the Seventh Day Adventists who had settled in and around Lehigh. Among the early members of this congregation were:
A. Harder
F. Becker
George A. Ehrlich
Heinrich Stabel
Jacob Weber
Conrad Sell
Peter Becker
Christian Stabel
In 1901, a large part of the congregation relocated to Shattuck, Oklahoma, and joined the Seventh Day Adventist Congregation there.
The earliest parish records for Trinity Lutheran Church in Lehigh date back to 1890.
Before 1924, the congregation was affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. After 1924 it was affiliated with the Iowa Synod of the Lutheran Church. In 1956, the building closed its doors and was removed.
St. Michaels Parish was founded in 1911 and in 1922 became a mission of the Sacred Heart Parish in Cordia. By 1929, the Sacred Heart Parish was in dire financial circumstances, while the LaCrosse congregation was growing rapidly. This prompted the Rt. Rev. August J. Schwertner, Bishop of Wichita, to move Rev. Fr. Hard, resident Priest in Cordia, to LaCrosse. The residents of Cordia agreed to sell their rectory to LaCrosse and in spring of 1929, the house was moved to the corner of 9th & Lincoln Streets in LaCrosse where it stood until being dismantled in the mid-1960s.
First Lutheran Church is part of the Seeds of Faith Lutheran Parish founded in 2007 that includes, along with First, Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Hoisington, Hope Lutheran Church in Rush Center, and Peace Lutheran Church in Albert.
The congregation has been affiliated with the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ since 2016.
Location
304 Columbia
LaCrosse, KS 67548
Phone: 785.222.3339
The effort to build a church in Buckeye Township in Ellis County was lead by James Ross and John Miller. Consecrated to St. John the Baptist, the Catholic church was dedicated on 29 November 1906 after three months of construction.
The families headed by the following men were the founders of the new parish:
James Ross
John Miller
Cornel Stecklein
George Schmidt
Alex Geist
Adam Pfeifer
Michael Geist
Peter Schoenfeldt
John O'Laughlin
Andrew Pfeifer
Lawrence Maschka
Alex Royer
Emmaus Lutheran Church was organized in Hoisington in 1910. Emmaus began English-language services in about 1935.
Emmaus merged with St. John Lutheran Church north of Susank to form Concordia Lutheran Church in Hoisington in 1955.