St. Paul's UCC Church - Marthasville, MO - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

County of church: Warren County
Location of church: 103 S. 2nd St. & E. South St., Marthasville
Phone: (636) 433-2482
Church built: 1906
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival

Marque text:

  "During the early part of the nineteenth century, German Evangelical families moved into the Marthasville area. By 1861 the congregation had its first meeting in an old log school house one half mile east of Marthasville. Up until that time the people from the Marthasville area had to travel to either Holstein or Femme Osage to worship in a German Evangelical Church. The first resident pastor began a ministry here in 1863.

  "On Easter Sunday of 1864, the new church was completed and dedicated to the service of God. The total cost for the church was $1500. The congregation consisted of forty families at this time.

  "A new bell was purchased in 1865 and the first parsonage was built in 1866. Cemetery ground was purchased for $130 in 1874 and in 1875 a Sunday School building was built with an addition added in 1895. A new organ was purchased for $400 in 1893.   "Through the years the congregation continued to grow so the decision was made for the building of a new church. Our current church building was dedicated in 1906 and built at a cost of $8340.00.

  "Prior to 1911, all services were conducted in German but an interest in having English language services were offered in the evening. In 1938, the congregation decided that ‘all worship will from now on be in English only’.

  "The parsonage (now the Youth House) was completed in 1914 with electric lights installed in the parsonage and church in 1922.

  "The congregation joined the Evangelical Synod in 1927 and the denomination merged with the Reformed Church in 1934 becoming St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church. In 1957 the denomination merged with the Congregational Christian Church and we became St. Paul’s United Church of Christ.

  "Growth of the church again required additions so in 1936 the men of the church dug a basement under the church and completed the addition for $671.11. The basement served the church in many ways until a new educational building was built in 1963.

  "A community need for a preschool led to the Sassafras and Scissors preschool being started in the educational building space for youth activities and Sunday School.

  "Over the years St. Paul’s has reached out to the community. This was especially evident in times of trouble such as the floods of 1982, 1986, 1993 and 1995. More recently, the church housed the Southern Warren County Food Pantry.

  "In April of 2010 our sanctuary was struck by lightning which resulted in a fire. Thanks to the quick response of the fire department, the structure sustained moderate damage. As a result of much hard work, the repairs were made as well as many additional upgrades to the church that probably wouldn’t have been made for some time.

  "We hope the church and community may continue to grow together with the church providing the spiritual growth as it has in the past." ~ St. Paul's UCC Church