Immanuel United Church Of Christ
Immanuel United Church of Christ, 100 N. Kattman Avenue in Crothersville will no longer open its doors for worship services as of August 21, church officials said this week.
Everyone is invited to attend a Celebration of the Church Legacy in a final service at 3 p.m. this Sunday, August 21.
The church has experienced declining membership and attendance over the years.
“Immanuel’s legacy however, will live on for many, many years due to the generous financial arrangements the church has made to support various organizations in Crothersville, the United States and around the world,” said C. W. ‘Bud’ Walther, pastor of the church.
“There are many folks in Crothersville and beyond who have ties to Immanuel through baptism, confirmation, marriage, membership and friendship,” he said.
The earliest church records of the 1860’s show that German immigrants to Crothersville founded the First German Reformed Church with a frame building located at the south end of Kattman Ave just east of the present day German Reformed Cemetery. Like many churches formed by America’s growing immigrant population, services were conducted in their native language.
In 1874, the current brick church building was constructed at the corner of Kattman Avenue and Howard Street.
Two years ago, brick masons making masonry repairs uncovered a metal box placed inside the walls containing early church history of the 1870’s
In the 1930’s the German Reformed and German Evangelical churches merged. Locally the church became known as Immanuel Evangelical and Reformed Church. In the late 1950’s the E&R churches merged with the Congregational Christian denomination to become the United Church of Christ.
The present church building was built in 1874 with living accommodations to house the minister and for instructional use. An educational addition was added in 1949 with a stage, kitchen, and social room