St. John's United Church of Christ

The congregation of St. John was organized in 1848, the same year that Wisconsin became a state. At first, religious meetings were held in a log house upon a piece of land on which our present church stands, the land was purchased from Julius Schleisinger for the sum of one dollar. St. John's United Evangelical Lutheran Church was adopted as the name of this congregation in 1854. Records of the very early years were destroyed by fire. The earliest pastors were no doubt of the "circuit rider" type who came at irregular intervals to hold services and to take care of weddings and baptisms. Prior to 1850 the Reverend Fuchs and Reverend Sauer served as pastors. Reverend Meiss was our first resident pastor in 1850. The Gospel was preached entirely in the German language during these times. The Civil War was at its height when teams of oxen hauled stones to the top of the hill for the erection of a substantial stone building at a cost of $3,000. This church, which is still our house of worship, was dedicated on September 14, 1864. c he designed and had at Fred che's Foundry. Friction arose between the Lutheran and Reformed groups within the congregation and several families severed their membership with St. John's and organized St. Paul Lutheran Church here in Slinger in 1875. In 1889 St. John's congregation became a member of the Evangelical Synod of North America. It was in 1891 the Ladies Aid was organized and today it is known as the Women's Fellowship. Around 1896 the Hartford and Slinger congregations were served by one pastor who resided in Hartford. The interior of the church was completely renovated in 1899. This included painting of the walls, a new altar and pulpit, new pews and new windows at a total cost of $1,353.15. We elected our own resident pastor, Reverend H. Mueller, in 1908. At that time a new parsonage was built at a cost of $2,200. In 1923 a Schaefer pipe organ was purchased by the Ladies Aid. That same year a basement was excavated under the church. The building adjacent to the church serves as our education facility and houses Sunday church school rooms, the office of the church secretary as well as the Pastor's study.